West Ham players buy racehorse for ‘nothing’ – then flog it for £1.4million payday

Six Premier League footballers hit a sensational stroke of luck after investing in a £1.4million horse which was purchased for 'hardly anything'.

The bonanza began when several West Ham players sold another racehorse, Hammers Boy, bagging them a profit of around £40,000, prompting the decision to reinvest. Teddy Sheringham, Matty Etherington, Carl Fletcher, Danny Gabbidon, Clive Clarke and James Collins decided to spend their cash on yet another horse named My Boy Charlie, delivering them unexpected wealth swiftly, reports the Mirror.

Describing the events that transpired in the mid-2000s, around the time when West Ham faced a heartrending defeat by Liverpool in the FA Cup Final, Collins commented that they were all possibly gambling at that period, betting on horses. On the Undr The Cosh podcast, he recalls: "We were all probably gambling a little bit at the time, betting on horses. Clive Clarke was there as well... Irish boy great lad, Clarkey and he knew Fozzy Stack, who was a horse trainer."

Indicating that affinity towards a flutter led to the shared investment, Collins expands: "So because we all liked a punt and all that, we put five grand in each for a horse. There were six of us me, Teddy, Matty, Karl Fletcher, Danny Gabbidon and I think Clarkey. The six of us and Fozzy the trainer had a bit as well, so we were in for five grand and bought a horse called Hammers Boy. Good horse, done really well.

"We sold it for 70 grand, 75 grand maybe. We each took our five grand back and left in what was left 30, 40 grand and bought another one. Didn't know what to call it and Teddy was the only player with a kid at the time who's Charlie Sheringham, so we called it My Boy Charlie. Teddy sort of named it."

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He added extra insight into the deal, stating: "This horse came out first race, bang, bang, and it's an aeroplane. It went on to win Group 2, Group 3. Kieren Fallon ran it. We were away in Austria and we got a phone call off the trainer saying people wanted to buy the horse. We were having a bit of fun with it, but it turned out it was the Irish and the boys in Dubai wanted it.

"We were like, what we talking, Clarkey and Fozzy? What kind of dough you talking? They were like, 'It's big...' We were in for nothing from Hammers Boy. We sold it for £1.4million. Honestly, it was a great horse and we got rid of it £1.4mill. They put it straight to stud, I think, or ran it a couple of times. It doesn't always happen like that!"