‘Stokes’, a three-year-old gelding (castrated male horse) is all set to make his racing debut today in the town of Cambridge, New Zealand. Owned by England Test head coach Brendon McCullum, Stokes has been named after England Test captain Ben Stokes. In fact, in order to devote himself to his horse racing business, McCullum had even went on to sell his $3.5 Million worth house in Christchurch after retiring from international cricket in 2016.
Advertisement
Set up in the year 2013, the former New Zealand captain is the owner of a horse-breeding, training, and racing business named Vermair Racing Ltd. During an interaction with a New Zealand daily around three years ago, he had revealed that whenever he is not involved in any coaching or commentary stint out of his country, he is busy managing this very business with all his heart.
Just the previous year in December, McCullum had found himself in the Group 1 winner’s circle as the co-owner of veteran race horse Defibrillate, in the Zabeel Classic contest worth NZ$320,000 (£166,000).
Brendon McCullum Set To Launch Horse Named After Ben Stokes For Debut Race
Bred by McCullum in his stable and trained by the veteran Kurtis Pertab, ‘Stokes’ will give it his all to make a mark right away on his debut race at Cambridge’s synthetic meeting. As per media reports, Stokes had emerged to be the winner during his previous two trials, and his success would depend on whether or not he manages to carry his form on the day of his first official race.
“He has trained on well from his trials, I couldn’t be happier with him. It will just come down to race day experience and whether he is sharp enough against race day pressure,” remarked Pertab in an interview with Loveracing.nz.
Most importantly, Pertab himself has had a stellar season. Of the 28 starts, he has managed to register 11 wins under his name, including a victory at stakes level.
How Many Horses Does Brendon McCullum Own?
Within three years of its existence, McCullum’s Vermair Racing Ltd. began managing around 18 race horses for more than 80 investors. However, due to cricket-related commitments outside of the country, the number of horses in his large stable has been reduced to 14.
Almost all of these 14 horses are co-owned by him along with Defibrillate’s trainer Graham Richardson.
Cricketers With Pets Named After Cricket Terminology
There have been other instances of cricketers naming their pet animals after a glossary of cricket terms. In 2021, legendary Indian batter Sachin Tendulkar had introduced his pet dog named ‘Spike’ to his fans across social media.
Former India all-rounder and head coach Ravi Shastri had even went a step ahead to name his five dogs as Bouncer, Beamer, Flipper, Skipper, Yorker.
Although not a cricket-related term, but India all-rounder Washington Sundar had named his pet dog ‘Gabba’ as a sweet memory of India’s memorable victory in Brisbane, commonly known as the Gabba.
Sundar had made his Test debut during the match, and had made a notable contribution with both bat and the ball to hand Australia a defeat at the venue after 32 years.
