Original subtitles

Yeah, I'm happy with that. Heels down.

- Want me to show ya? - No, thanks.

I've got Franny next to me.

Looks good.

- It does, it looks good. - She looks…Yeah.

It's gonna be different when I'm actually on the horse.

I'm only on a bit of plastic.

Desperate to have a go.

I knew you would.

- Yeah. Away she goes. - There we go!

- I want a go! - Hey! Oh!

Come on, your dad's on it. You can do it.

Aw, why do you have to… See, it…

- I want a go. - You're so predictable.

- Get on it the right side, then. - So predictable.

Sorry. I'm not trying to take your…

- Steal her thunder? - Not trying to steal her thunder.

- You'd never do that, would you, Michael? - No, I wouldn't do that.

Oh, my word! I don't think I can get my leg up.

Are we up? Are we up?

That one's…

I think I've dislocated my hip.

There you go. Look at him.

Is my back straight?

Your bum needs to be more in the air and your shoulders down.

Bum down. Oh, no. My thighs have started hurting.

Keep your bum down.

Oh, boy! He's just gonna take off the floor.

Give me my whip! Give me my whip!

You're gonna break it.

Never lose it, never lose it.

You can't lose something you never had.

Good morning.

It's a crisp winter's day here in Cambridgeshire.

And what better way to start your day than with ABBA.

I've been asked to do the Magnolia Cup,

which is a women's charity race.

So I'm going to go to the race stables today and have a go.

So in basic terms, you're going to be a jockey?

In basic terms,

Dad wants me to become a jockey.

Because Dad's dream was one of his kids being a jockey.

I'm the eldest child.

Growing up, I can remember little bits of his career,

but I was still fairly young.

Having horses was such a big part of my childhood.

Dad's really supportive with the dressage, but he doesn't know too much about it,

so I think it definitely will bring me and my dad closer,

doing the Magnolia Cup.

When I told him, he's straight away,

"Oh, my gosh, you need to do well, you need to do this.

What horse are you going to ride?"

The way you think, the way you believe, the way you act, the way you walk,

the way you look at people…

You can beat half of them before you start.

Dressage riders don't typically become jockeys,

so I guess you could say I'm trying to prove something to myself, as well.

I want to prove that I can put the work in and, and do the best that I can.

Yeah, it's, it's a massive challenge ahead of me.

Yeah, you'll have a good time. It'll be fun.

God. I don't know how I feel, to be honest.

What the girls said from last year, once you get to that start line,

the race is the easiest part.

Training-wise, it comes down to the strength side of things.

Yeah, it's just so different to, like, what I'm used to.

because, obviously, the dressage is completely different.

It normally takes years to become a jockey.

I've got eight months to learn a whole new way of riding.

Dressage is all about precision, control, balance

and getting every movement just right.

Racing is all about speed.

I'll be riding in a totally different position using muscles.

I don't normally train, being a dressage rider.

I'm not experienced with racehorses and riding racehorses,

so I'm definitely say I'm out of my depth slightly

and it'll take a bit of time to adjust.

Morning, all.

I'll tell you what, me and my missus love each other at the moment.

I don't know what's happened.

She genuinely likes me for the first time ever.

- I love the auctions. -

Buying your horses, finding new owners, speaking to the breeders,

that buzz of the hammer banging down and going for a celebratory drink

because you've just bought what could be a superstar.

I want to buy as many as we physically can buy

and send the business really flying.

Michael at the auction, he always tries to tell me it's work,

but I've known for years that it's not work.

He's like a kid in a sweet shop.

It's pretty, but it's just so short and compact.

It's like, you like small, stumpy fellas, don't you?

Not big, fat tall ones

When we go to the sales, he's the minister for fun.

I'm here as social secretary, that's my nickname amongst them.

They're long, hard days.

So his jolly personality gets us through it.

Right, let's go and buy some horses.

♪ One, two, three, four ♪

The auction works a bit like this.

Stud farms from around the globe spend years

carefully breeding their prized horses.

When the horses turn one, we call them yearlings,

they're then brought to an auction.

And here's where Manor House Stables comes in.

We're like matchmakers.

We buy these yearlings,

not to make a quick profit,

but to pair them with my pool of owners.

The big challenge, I guess, for me, I'm going head to head with bidders

who have much deeper pockets than mine.

280, 290, 300 thousand.

You have people like the king of Qatar,

people from Bahrain, a lot of American money, at the moment,

Australian money, buying the horses

that are worth a million quid, two million quid.

We'll never get that.

Some of them are…

- Pie in the sky? - Yeah.

My sweet spot for my clients is anything between sort of 30 to 100 grand.

I don't wanna be left with too many horses for 100 grand because…

I sleep quite well, and I want to continue that theme.

This is on our short list.

What I love about her is the way she moves,

she's tremendously athletic. She wants to do it.

- Finding that willing partner… - Yeah.

It's just a little window into their attitude.

Strong, isn't it?

Michael is very odd about spending money.

He won't think twice about spending money on a horse,

but if the kids leave a light on in the bedroom, he will hit the roof.

Or if I want to redecorate the bathroom because the paint's falling off the wall,

he'll be like, "Well, you know, is that really necessary?"

Right, we've got one going through the ring in about five minutes.

Run, run, run!

All right, hips around side to side.

It's a long process to get to the Magnolia Cup,

and it starts with the fitness tests.

It's going to be hard graft.

- We're bidding on this. - Yeah.

But our family is super competitive, yeah.

And up, down.

Should we bid the reserve?

- One… - One…

- And… - Two…

And…

- Should we push it? - Yes.

Go on.

Just hold it Gemma. Not too low. Keep going, hold it.

Come on, Gemma.

The need to win is part of the family.

It just will always be a competition.

Out, in, out…

I think that definitely comes from dad.

It's us at the moment.

We're on it at 90 here.

- Boom. - But I'm very happy.

- Super job. - Well done. Well done.

Let's go and celebrate.

- Keep going. - Go on, Gemma. Come on.

Really strong, girls. Well done.

Well done, girls.

My legs feel like absolute jelly. I can't even walk.

The pain, the burn, honestly, is like, it's just horrendous.

Would we like a drink?

Lads?

Five Coronas?

No, thanks. On the job, aren't we?

I'm fine for now, honestly. Appreciate it.

Bloomin' heck.

Later.

Well, you can sod off now. There will be no later.

You wrote in your autobiography

you're kind of living

your life in reverse.

Could you tell us

what stage of life you're in now, then?

Bloody hell!

Not for me. Don't look at me like that.

That's how rumours start. You look at me and then…

The strange thing is I never thought it was in reverse.

Back in the day, he wouldn't touch alcohol.

Not a drop.

And he used to get really angry

with his brothers and his dad for drinking, and frustrated.

And now it's like…

Flippin' heck, Michael.

You can carry it next door for dinner.

I haven't eaten yet.

But now, if I go out,

I am the last person on the dance floor.

I am the last person at the bar.

We are getting kicked out.

And my mates are like, "Come on," halfway through the night.

I'm like, "No way. This is only just getting started."

You're cute.

We need to be friends, okay?

As part of the Magnolia Cup process,

they will put you on a few different horses,

and they'll just get sort of a general impression

of everyone where they're at.

I know, it's cold.

Just calm down.

All right, Gemma, if you're happy, you'd just like to just let him trot on.

Okay.

I know Dad and my family are gonna want me to do well.

And I think there'll be a little bit of pressure,

just in the fact that we've obviously got an incredible facility in Manor House,

so there is a bit of expectation on me to, to be up there.

So, hands down into the withers, up into your light seat.

Racehorses have a different build to dressage.

Slightly different personalities as well.

When you're on a racehorse, you cannot switch off.

Whoa. Whoa.

These horses are unpredictable.

When half a tonne is wanting to do something,

you're trying to control it, and you're only 55 kilos,

it's very, very dangerous.

I think I might just walk this one round.

Yeah, I would. You're going to be in a little bit of a kicking match there.

This one's full of it.

The first thing she needs is absolute bravery.

You'd have a fair chance of dying

if you have got no idea how to control a horse.

Now, she's a experienced horsewoman.

She's very, very talented when it comes to horses.

But this is a different kettle of fish.

Do you want to trot him down this side,

- ask him to go into canter? - Yeah.

Once he's gone a couple of strides for you,

- then up into your position, okay? - Fine. Yep.

Okay, girls, we're all happy with the rides?

Lovely, Ruth!

Well done!

Do you want to go next, Gemma?

Yep.

You know what's coming, don't you, mate?

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

You're okay. Well done.

Good recovery.

It is a lot harder than I first anticipated.

It's all good fun…

until you, like, land on the floor.

Long days, aren't they?

Hundreds of messages not replied to.

We'll go back to the hotel.

You can have an hour getting on top of everything.

Not that.

- Sounds good. - Right?

Chris is laughing.

Sound man will poke his head around any minute.

There he is!

Ahh! They're loving my innuendos.

So, we bought three horses.

Two hundred and seventy three grand spent.

Over a quarter of a million.

Mm.

Let's just hang off on that new kitchen you wanted.

How to turn a happy day into a sad-- Look at the eyes!

Time to go.

Zola looks like granddad, I think.

That's harsh.

Why?

Granddad's bald, skinny.

I think I've offended him.

- Who does Belle look like? - Oh, don't…

Don't give him that one, 'cause he's going to say me.

All right?

- Hello. - And I am starving.

Was that your mum's?

- Yeah. Nice? - Yeah.

- Wish you could cook it like your mum. - Yeah. Mm.

Don't use your fingers. What do you think they're for?

I wanted the end bit.

There's gonna be more than one end, isn't there?

What was the thing you like at the end?

The conclusion.

I got the highest fitness score out of everyone there.

- Standards so good though. - Is it?

Mm.

Yeah, but you've not seen people ride properly yet, have you?

Did you get on it?

Well, eight years ago, when I did the thing.

Dad did a charity race at Ascot.

Despite only having got on a horse

for the first time this year,

and having fallen off twice in the last week…

The question was not whether he would win, but whether he'd get round in one piece.

And they're off!

On the extreme left, in the dark blue, Michael Owen on Calder Prince.

He did surprisingly well.

Golden Wedding wins the Prince's Countryside Fun Charity Race.

Michael Owen and Calder Prince second.

For a moment, I thought I had a right chance of winning it, but what a thrill.

A big round of applause, please, to Michael Owen.

He has brought it up quite a lot about the fact that he didn't even ride before

and then he came second.

So he's definitely wanting to remind everybody.

I think my wife just despairs of me.

You know, I just get an idea, and that's it.

Once I'm locked onto something, there's no stopping me.

It's actually a little bit annoying that he did that well,

because now he's, "Oh, well, I came second,

so you're going to have to win it to beat me."

- Dad fell off-- - And got back on and rode in the race

and came second.

Gemma hasn't fallen off once and she'll come third or worse,

so what's the best to do?

Yeah, well, the standard is rubbish when you did it.

I hope you win.

I'm thinking of having a massive bet on you.

- No, let's not do that. - Let's not do that.

- That's silly. - Go on. That'd be so funny.

I watched an orca documentary last night.

It's so good.

I'm fascinated by the way they hunt.

Aye, they are the cleverest animals.

So clever. Have you seen them?

Yeah.

He's got a weird obsession with orcas.

Don't know why.

He doesn't watch, you know, films or anything like that.

But no, the one thing he does watch is, er, orca documentaries.

At some point, I've looked at some clip of an orca,

really thought, "Oh, my word, that's cool",

and then watched the next one that's dropped up

and the next one, and now, because I watch every one,

loads of orca things come down on my feed.

So, despite you lot taking the mick out of me,

it's only Instagram that sort of shoehorned me into

being an orca pervert.

- And you know I'm petrified of the sea. - Yeah.

We were in the Maldives, and he did not shut up about orcas.

He genuinely thought there was an orca in the Maldives sea

and he would not go snorkelling because he was too scared.

What type of animal is an orca?

- It's, it's a whale. - It's not a whale.

- It's a shark? - No.

One-nil to me.

- Go on. What is it then? - It's a dolphin.

It's, it's the biggest of the dolphin family.

- Oh, wow. - Boom!

Right. So, today…

Every year before Christmas, we hold a yearling parade

to sell our horses that we don't yet have owners for.

Because if I don't, they're then accumulating costs for me.

We've got 21 horses for sale.

- Oh, Jesus. - Yeah, that's quite a lot.

We all know we've taken the biggest risk we've ever taken,

but we've never not sold them before, so I'm still confident.

No one else coming, is there?

Don't want to be spotted doing this.

At the yearling parade, we'll dish out brochures for potential owners.

We have free food and free drinks,

and, you know, let's all just celebrate and get together.

Er, how do you do this?

Aha!

How are you, guys?

I can't get the staff, see.

How are you? Nice to see you.

Hi. Lovely to see you

These are clients of ours

and good friends as well.

So you have got a friend?

One more than I've got.

I'm no oil painting, but you're one of my ugliest owners.

Thanks for that!

How did you get into horse racing?

Don't blame me.

It was his fault.

The best thing you've ever done.

Came for a tour, bought a horse.

I'm just gonna say a few words, but thank you.

Great to see you. I'll see you in a moment.

Look at that.

I've not even chinged a glass, and you've all gone quiet.

Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to Manor House Stables.

I know many of you have been here before,

but we have got some new faces, so, delighted to welcome you here.

We've been assembling our new yearling stock for next season.

Hugo's excited because he's going to train them no matter what.

The parade's going to last 15, 20 minutes.

- You're going to be very efficient. - Well, we'll see. We'll see.

We're going to see 21 yearlings that are all for sale.

So let's go downstairs. Cool.

There we go.

I've tried to get away from it being like the hard sell.

Now, that's quite a hard balance when you need to sell.

Right, let's begin.

So this is A Son of Kingman, who's been here about four or five weeks now.

There is no negotiation.

I don't make any money on the sale of a horse.

I don't mark it up.

So when I sell a horse, it's for exactly what we've paid.

And of course, the training fees then is how we make our money in the future.

One of the world's leading sires.

- Is this the one? - The one your Dad wants? Yeah.

But we keep getting loads of people

wanting it

and I keep phoning your Dad saying, "we haven't sold it yet."

I really like it.

I'm absolutely delighted with the value we got for this horse.

Oh, we were talking about you.

Just walk him back and move forward for me, please.

This is a rocket, this one.

I'll buy that and that.

Okay.

Looks to me like a really fast, powerful sprinter.

That's two horses sold.

The next horse we're going to see is the most expensive horse

that we've bought in sales this year.

Do you fancy it?

I'm more into the dogs.

That concludes our parade.

Well stuck out, guys.

He's gonna be a good horse, isn't he?

It's just whether he's going to be a great horse.

Erm, is he thinking of getting a horse or not?

I think so.

I think we sold two horses.

Well done, team. Very slick.

Ready for home.

You know you can't wear that hat because it's got a hard peak.

These are, like, beyond ugly.

Well,

if you fall off at speed with that peak, you'll break your face.

Dad set up for me to go up to Manor House

and ride Sir Alex Ferguson's horse,

which was obviously quite a bit of pressure.

That's the boss', Sir Alex's.

She could be the only Owen that's had a hairdryer treatment

of Sir Alex.

- I never got it. - What?

When Sir Alex used to bollock us in training,

everyone used to nickname it the hairdryer.

He never bollocked me, really.

But if you ride it badly, you could get the hairdryer.

Do you have a mentor for this process?

I've done three winters in Mumbai.

Franny Norton.

He's had thousands of winners.

He's just so passionate about the horses and the industry and what he does.

So I'm really lucky to have, have him. He's great.

We haven't got time to tell you my injuries.

Jesus Christ. Erm…

I had a compound fracture of the leg up here where me,

where the bone come right through when a horse reared over on top of me.

I've done both collarbones.

I've punctured me lung twice.

I've done me ribs, broke me arm, I broke me leg.

Erm, she'll be fine.

You're not nervous at all?

I'm a bit nervous.

It's just everything that, like, I don't know.

It's like, my stirrups are going to be short

and my position is going to be different.

It's going to take time.

- You won't get it straightaway. - Yeah.

You being relaxed is massive.

You know, a horse can hear a human's heartbeat from like…

- Ah! Metres. Yeah. - …metres away.

So if you're like, anxious and nervous

and your heart's racing, they'll feel that.

Yeah.

Did you do dressage or showjumping?

- Yeah. But not… - Not to her level.

Just a leisure rider. Just a bit of everything.

But the horse landed on me twice.

Just, literally, just…

broke my back two places, hip in five.

Pelvis.

You've had a few injuries like me.

Yeah.

Shall we have a look-see if these are ready or…

Yeah.

He won't do anything naughty, will he?

- Nah. - He won't, like, buck her off?

No, he doesn't buck, does he?

No.

- There he is. - Hello, boy.

Erm, you look a bit slow.

Oh, he's nice, isn't he? Tiny.

Is he looking like he's in a good or bad mood today, Charlotte?

Just ignore him, because he's just trying to wind her up.

Come on.

Thanks.

She won't be going a full gallop.

I mean, the first time she's going to sit on a thoroughbred,

you don't go from trotting

to sprinting as fast as you can when you've got a young horse,

because you're going to be susceptible to injuries.

Wait, am I following you?

So it will just be a steady canter, like 60% pace.

Okay.

Ooh!

Steady on, Gemma.

Steady, Gemma.

Bloody hell, Gemma!

Whoa, whoa, whoa!

That's way too fast.

Was that me or was that [bleep] fast?!

Yes.

Fuming.

It did look quick.

Let's not let her just run away and look pretty.

- You know what I mean? - Yes.

Let's just take a bit more control.

Shall I be the one to bollock her?

I'm not telling her off.

I'll just act oblivious

'cause to be fair, I am.

- You've got three points on your licence. - Why?

Twelve and you're out.

- Why? - Speeding.

If Hugo was here, you would be severely bollocked.

We didn't even do anything wrong.

And you should have controlled her.

Your first day and you're running a gallop.

You're like months and months and months off it.

If anyone told me, "Don't go fast",

- then I wouldn't-- I-- - But you know it's a cantering morning.

There was never a word saying, "Right, we're going to gallop today."

- But it wasn't a gallop. - Mm, verging on it.

When a horse gets alongside each other,

they think, "Oh, I'm galloping", you know, "I want to race",

so then they lock on. And then you, you know, then you get into a,

a ding-dong and obviously, then you start going too quick.

If someone's clear and says you cannot overtake, then that's fine.

Then the communication needs to be better then, to not do that.

He's honestly, I hate him sometimes.

It was a miscommunication.

I didn't know that I needed to be in single file.

And, yeah, it was, it was one of them. You live and you learn.

Probably why it felt so fast.

Right. You might have to give me a hand untangling these.

What have you done with these?

- Where's the end? - Here.

Let's shake it.

Have you spoken to Dad since yesterday?

Er, no.

He wasn't happy.

I'm not sure if it's because it was Sir Alex's horse,

he probably was…

Is that what made him a bit more…

- You're not supposed to do that. - Not supposed to do that, but…

That's the whole point of going to learn things, isn't it?

Yeah.

The thing is with you two, you clash, and because you said your bit,

then he has to say something. You're both so similar.

Yeah.

- Should we just, like… - Oh, sod it.

…pop them on the tree and, yeah, let's just get them on.

We might argue, but we've always been a close-knit family.

And at Christmas, everybody just stops and comes together

and, yeah, it's given me some great, happy memories over the years.

You want your chocolate?

I had two brothers, two sisters,

so there was always something going on in the house.

It was always an exciting place to be.

There we are. Perfect.

- Is that you, Michael? - Yeah.

Could you give me a hand?

Here, love. Here, love. Open that.

We'd always open presents in the morning,

go to the pub while Mum was cooking Christmas dinner back home.

I'm not sure if an animal has wee'd on this.

It absolutely stinks.

I thought the exact same. It's horse wee.

Oh, yeah.

It's been in the horse box. It's horse wee.

Yeah, that's horse wee down there, yeah.

Oh, this is really smelly.

We'd only spend about an hour and a half in the pub

and all come back for Christmas lunch, and then obviously all night,

you'd be playing with the toys that you'd just been given.

It's a dream come true.

That's nice.

- That is nice. - It is rather, innit?

That's you, that, mate.

We've got an orca.

You have as well.

You bunch of helmets.

When we're all getting on, we're all having a go at each other

and taking the mick out of each other.

But my love towards my family is,

you know it, I don't have to tell you.

- Flick. - Am I getting it over this side?

Yeah. Just try and get a bit more around there.

- Flick. - Yes. Gemma.

Gemma taking part in the race has really given me a new lease of life

and feeling that we're all in this as a family together now.

And it's a brilliant feeling.

I'm bored now.

Can we finish now? I'm getting bored.

Reminds me of when I was giving birth,

and he was just lying on the bed next to me, reading his racing post.

- I'd be fuming. - No racing post.

- What are you supposed to do? - Be supportive.

Oh, get lost. I wasn't not supportive.

I offered you a read of it.

What are they? Maltesers?

How high do you think you can throw it in the air and catch it in your mouth?

Oh, do you know I nearly knocked my teeth out?

You are David Brent.

Look at that for a beautiful… Oh, look at that.

See, that's changed everything, innit?

Look. Oh, my God. That's just… Ah!

No farting.

Get it as close to the, like the knobbly end as you can.

No, close to the knobbly end.

- Oh, this side? - Yeah.

I've got my face in horse piss.

How many have we got to go?

Why are you struggling carrying me?

No.

Oh, this is perfect size here.

There's so much that we can do here.

Good teamwork, this, isn't it?

Yep,

That--

Oh, for God's sake. You absolute helmet. Who did that?

It's nobody's fault. It just happened. That there.

- It's got to be someone. - That there.

Can you reach over that?

Someone got the chair?

- Yeah. - Aw! It was so easy.

Yeah.

Again. No! No! No!

You did that on purpose.

Jesus Christ.

Kaiser, you little idiot.

Did he do two--

Oh, shit.

Three?

Kaiser!

Oh, that's, it's bloody sideways.

- Oh, no, don't. - Are you joking?

Yeah, it's lopsided.

That's going to do our head in.

What do you want for Christmas, Louise?

You know what I want.

A new kitchen, please.

Bahrain is going to be a big step towards my involvement in Manor House.

Right, enough now.

My hand's frozen.

- That's quite nice. - Mine's all right.

- Your lad still playing? - Not really. No.

When he first got diagnosed, I remember bursting out crying.

If there's not a cure,

I might not be able to live the life I live now.

Sorry. Just give me a minute.