A FORMER jockey who won millions on the racecourse and an ex-Premier League footballer have formed an unlikely duo in business.
Bryan Cooper won the Gold Cup in 2016 on Don Cossack while Kevin Doyle was a massive part of Reading’s 2005-06 Championship-winning squad.
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Cooper, 30, announced his immediate retirement from racing in March this year having won more than £2million in the saddle.
Doyle, who played for the Royals in the top flight, Wolves, QPR and Palace, hung up his boots in September 2017 and has turned his hand to thoroughbred breeding since.
The two combined forces at the Tattersalls Irish Derby sale on Wednesday when they struck their first big business deal together.
Cooper spent £60,000 on a horse bred by former Ireland striker Doyle – but that’s not where the celebrity connections end.
The former jockey bought the second foal out of Grade 1-winning mare Augusta Kate.
She in turn was owned by a star-studded group that included Alan Shearer, Lee Westwood and Ant and Dec.
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Cooper knows what makes a good runner having been lucky enough to ride superstars in the shape of Apple’s Jade, Don Poli and Our Conor during his career.
That was why he was happy to go to around £145,000 to purchase Sionainn, a three-year-old son of Doctor Dino, at the same sale.
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Cooper said: “He is for a new owner of Dad’s who has given us an order.
“He is going home to be trained and, hopefully, he is a racehorse.
“I love the Doctor Dinos and I was in Willie’s [Mullins] and rode the likes of State Man – his stock just have a great attitude.”
Doyle, who joined Wolves for a then club record fee of £6.5m in 2009, runs Slaney River Stud in Wexford, Ireland.
His dad had bred National Hunt horses for years and he has since taken over the family role, which includes trips to the sales.
The 39-year-old said: “It gives me a buzz. My dad has bred National Hunt horses for years and it is my day today.
“I have always been interested in it and that is what I turn my time to now.
“The family has done it for years and my dad bred a horse called Hollywell, which was favourite for the Cheltenham Gold Cup in 2015, and he won a good few times there too.
“He didn’t win the big one but hopefully there are plenty more to come from us.
“Football is over now and I got what I wanted from it.
“I don’t wake up every morning pining to put my boots on and train – 5-a-side once a week is enough to feed that habit.
“I had a pony when I was growing up and for a year or two I was keen on riding him, but then soccer took over – and thankfully so!”
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