Phil Foden’s first racehorse has already given him quite a story.
Wreck It Ronnie was beaten more than 20 lengths on each of his first two starts. On his third, he went to Goodwood and beat a horse the bookmakers considered almost unbeatable.
That horse was Najidi Storm, an unbeaten Juddmonte colt by Frankel and brother to St Leger winner Logician.
He started at 1/33.
Which means if you put £33 on Najidi Storm to win, you stood to make £1 profit.
Wreck It Ronnie was 10/1 and won.
Najidi Storm became the shortest-priced loser in British racing history, while Foden suddenly had his first winner.
How Phil Foden Named His Racehorse
Wreck It Ronnie is named after Foden’s eldest son, Ronnie, already a familiar face around the Etihad with a sizeable social media following of his own.
Foden owns the three-year-old alongside Gary Gillies and racing tipster Scott Shearsmith. He is trained by Charlie Pike at Danebury Stables near Stockbridge in Hampshire, a long way from Foden’s Stockport roots.
His football schedule has so far kept him from seeing the horse at the races, but he is involved from a distance. Pike deals directly with the ownership trio over plans and progress, while Foden keeps in touch through their WhatsApp group.
Premier League football tends to make midweek afternoons at Goodwood slightly awkward.
The Other Horse Was a Frankel
If Wreck It Ronnie arrived with questions to answer, Najidi Storm arrived with rather fewer.
Juddmonte owns him, one of the great breeding operations in racing, and Harry Charlton trains him.
Then there is the pedigree.
Najidi Storm is by Frankel and a brother to Logician, the unbeaten St Leger winner who looked a serious racehorse for John Gosden before illness interrupted his career.
Najidi Storm had also done his bit on the track.
He won on debut at Kempton in August, beating 12 rivals, and arrived at Goodwood with the sort of profile that makes a small novice race look straightforward.
Three horses went to post.
One of them was expected to win.
The Favourite Never Got Past Him
There was no hard-luck story for Najidi Storm to blame.
He led early before Kieren Fox took Wreck It Ronnie past after the first furlong. From there, the 10/1 shot looked increasingly at home on the soft ground and had opened up three lengths by the final furlong.
Najidi Storm closed late, but never got there. Wreck It Ronnie won by a length and a half, with the only other runner another 76 lengths away.
The conditions clearly played their part. The winning time was nearly 11 seconds slower than standard, while Wreck It Ronnie was racing on turf for the first time after two heavy defeats at Kempton.
Charlie Pike had found something that suited him, and suddenly his colt looked a very different horse.
No missed break, no interference, no great excuse.
The 1/33 favourite simply couldn’t catch him.
So, How Mad Is 1/33?
Pretty mad.
Odds that short are rarely seen because there is almost no financial reason to back the horse.
A £330 bet on Najidi Storm would have made £10 profit.
He was considered incredibly likely to win.
Instead, he became the shortest-priced loser recorded in British racing.
The previous benchmark was 1/25. Royal Forest was beaten at Ascot at those odds in 1948, while Doom matched the unwanted record when she lost a two-horse race at Ripon in 2023.
It was a record that had stood since 1948.
Then along came a horse called Wreck It Ronnie.
Foden Was Watching From Portugal
There was one fairly important person missing from Goodwood.
Foden was in Portugal with Manchester City for their Champions League meeting with Porto.
He still hasn’t watched his horse run from the track.
That doesn’t mean he was ignoring proceedings.
Gillies said Foden had been active in the owners’ WhatsApp group and was “absolutely buzzing” when Wreck It Ronnie won.
Even some of the paperwork surrounding his involvement had been completed around the football trip after the ownership came together quickly.
It is quite an amusing first taste of ownership.
Foden hasn’t made it into the parade ring yet, and he’s already got a story most owners would happily dine out on for years.
A Footballer With a Racehorse Isn’t New
Football and racing have been crossing paths for decades.
Sir Alex Ferguson had Rock Of Gibraltar. Michael Owen built his life after football around Manor House Stables. Wayne Rooney, Paul Scholes and plenty of others have owned horses.
There is something slightly different about the way Foden has started, though.
There has been no expensive headline purchase or grand announcement.
He bought into a horse with Gillies and Shearsmith, named him after his son and joined the owners’ WhatsApp group.
Trainer Charlie Pike works directly with the ownership trio over the horse’s progress and plans.
That’s ownership.
Admittedly, most syndicate members don’t have to fit their trainer updates around Champions League away trips.
When Does Phil Foden’s Horse Race Next?
For now, Wreck It Ronnie’s next race has not been confirmed.
There will certainly be more interest when he does reappear. After two heavy defeats at Kempton, his first run on turf produced a completely different result and gave trainer Charlie Pike something to work with.
A little restraint is sensible. Wreck It Ronnie has won a novice at Goodwood, not suddenly become the next Frankel because he happened to beat one of his sons.
The same applies to Najidi Storm. One defeat doesn’t make a well-bred Juddmonte colt useless. Racing would be considerably easier if horses developed exactly as their pedigrees and starting prices told us they should.
They don’t.
Foden may own better horses in future. He can certainly afford to.
But spending more doesn’t necessarily buy you a better first winner.
His is named after his son, started at 10/1 and beat a Juddmonte-owned Frankel colt at 1/33 while Foden watched from Portugal.
Not bad for his first horse.
