Michael Owen’s racehorse suffers fatal injury

Former England footballer Michael Owen has described the death of his racehorse as the “saddest day of my life”.

‘Brilliant horse’

Brown Panther suffered a fatal injury while defending his title in the Irish St Leger at the Curragh Racecourse in County Kildare. He was pulled up by jockey Richard Kingscote just before the home straight.

According to Michael the seven-year-old shattered a hind leg that was “irreparable” and he was put to sleep.

“The toughest, most honest, most brilliant horse I will ever set eyes on passed away today doing the thing he loved most,” said Michael wrote in his blog on Sportlobster. “It’s the saddest day of my life.”

‘Last kiss’

The former Liverpool striker bred Brown Panther himself and he was trained by Tom Dascombe at Michael’s stables in Cheshire.During his career the horse won 11 of his 28 races, earning £1,114,425 in prizemoney.

“I was with him when he was born, shared an experience for seven years that will never be repeated and gave him his last kiss goodbye,” Michael continued.

“I’ve not shed so many tears in years, but my grief is shared. I love you Panther. Life will not be the same without you.”