Rooney’s runner finishes last

Wayne Rooney made an inauspicious start as a racehorse owner when Pippy, his first runner, finished last in the Manor House Stables Lily Agnes Stakes at Chester.

The two-year-old colt, making his debut, was always towards the rear after a slow start and he never got into the race which was run on rain-softened ground.

However, his jockey Richard Kingscote made sure the Tom Dascombe-trained youngster, wearing the colours of the Manchester United and England soccer star and his wife Coleen, got some experience without giving him a hard race in the testing conditions.

“When I went down to the stables I was very impressed and I’ve got three horses there now,” said Rooney. “The name was just what my wife got called when she was younger.”