Horse racing is not just a sport for bettors and racing enthusiasts. Many of the biggest sportspeople across the world love to take in the exhilarating and fascinating action that can be found at some of the biggest events throughout the world. One sport in which players are particularly interested in horse racing is Cricket, with many famous cricket players enjoying a day at the races or even investing in the sport themselves. Whilst they are some of the biggest sports stars throughout the world, they are just like every horse racing fan, enjoying the racing action and taking part in promotions such as horse racing free bets!
Here, we are going to go through some of the biggest horse racing fans who are also cricket players, looking at those who enjoy the sport and those who have invested in it!
Brendon McCullum
Despite not being a current cricket player, the former New Zealand international and current England men’s head coach, Brendon McCullum, is a huge horse racing fanatic. McCullum is a racehorse owner, breeder and punter, meaning he lives and breathes the sport of horse racing! He has been involved in horse racing for many years and has been known in the past to have a large stable of horses!
Since taking on his role with the England national cricket team, he has scaled back the time he spent investing in horse racing, only continuing to take an interest when time allows. Yet whilst being part of the England national team, he took the chance to name one of his horses after Ben Stokes, as he claimed the horse was a big chestnut, strong with a pale face and dodgy legs, also claiming it had a big heart like Ben Stokes.
Craig Kieswetter
The former cricketer and professional golfer is known mostly for his natural talent and ability to play different sports to incredibly high levels; however, Craig Kieswetter has seen his post-cricket playing career take him into the heart of the family line in racehorse ownership and breeding. With Il Etait Temps running in events in the last Cheltenham festival, Craig Kieswetter enjoys spending his spare time around horse racing despite saying it makes him incredibly nervous.
Describing horse racing as similar to sitting in a cricket changing room whilst the game is ongoing, Kieswetter was raised and is now based in South Africa. He fell into the National Hunt game during his time playing for Somerset, after he famously lost a set of table tennis to legendary trainer Martin Pipe and then bought a jumps horse in training at his Pond House yard.
Simon O’Donnell
Simon O’Donnell had a sporting career that reads like a schoolboy’s dream, as he began to play both cricket and Australian rules football from a very young age, and with the tough choice to pick one, he stuck with cricket and never looked back. After retiring from cricket following the 1992/1993 season, he decided to fully dedicate himself to his lifelong passion for horse racing. In 1994, he formed a horse purchasing and management consulting company in the form of O’Donnell Thoroughbreds International. The company managed to win its first Group One event in 1997 and has since had plenty of fantastic successes. Simon then became the host of Channel Nine’s racing broadcasts and is known to be one of the most iconic commentators around, as he was also the host of The Footy Show and The Cricket Show.
Michael Holding
Part of the West Indies Cricket Team, Michael Holding might be more popular as a cricket commentator. Widely regarded as one of the greatest pace bowlers in cricket history, he was nicknamed “Whispering Death”! However, this superb cricket player was also a massive fan of horse racing, and throughout his time in England, Australia and New Zealand, he would often visit stud farms just to simply touch horses and be around them.
He said many players would enjoy a day at the races for relaxation. In contrast, he found this would never be recreational for him due to how invested he was in the sport, as he would return from the track physically exhausted and mentally worn out, yet it would help him take his mind off cricket!
In 2009, he was invited to participate in the Royal procession. He went for lunch with Queen Elizabeth II at Windsor Castle, then joined the procession in the carriages for that famous ride down Ascot straight. The rest of the day was spent in the Royal Box!
These are not the only cricket players who are interested in horse racing, with many others throughout the sport enjoying the exhilarating and exciting nature of the sport. Cricket stars such as Jonny Bairstow, Stuart Broad, Ravindra Jadeja and Ricky Ponting are all known to enjoy their horse racing.
