Jeremy Clarkson horse 'closer to a Ferrari than Morris Minor' to make debut on Friday

Jeremy Clarkson is about to discover how much horsepower his first racehorse possesses.

The ex-Top Gear presenter fronts the syndicate which owns The Hawkstonian, a horse named after the Hawkstone Brewery which produces beer made of ingredients sourced from Clarkson’s Farm.

The grey gelding was bought for £37,500 by Highflyer Bloodstock and trainer Ben Pauling at the sales in June of 2023 and Old Gold Racing put together the syndicate for Clarkson.

All 3,250 shares in the four-year-old were quickly snapped up at £60 each in April earlier this year.

He has now been declared for his first start on the racecourse at Uttoxeter when he will contest last race on the card, a National Hunt Flat race.

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Pauling has been impressed with the son of Jukebox Jury since arriving at his base in the Cotswolds.

“From day one he always seemed a nice individual,” he said. “He’s been in the yard since the backend of last season, and he’s been a joy to train.

“He takes it all in his stride and is a very straightforward customer, which isn’t always the case at this early stage of their careers.”

Pauling’s link to Clarkson is made stronger by the fact that the Pauling family originally worked the land that is now Clarkson’s and taught Kaleb (Cooper of Clarkson's Farm fame) how to farm.

Though it’s very early days for The Hawkstonian, Pauling has high hopes for Clarkson’s first ever runner.

“His work at home has been very good,” the trainer said. “He’s got a great brain on him and we just hope he can be nice and professional on debut. He settles into his exercise at home very well, so hopefully he can do the same on the track.

“On a scale of Morris Minor to Ferrari - for the sake of Jeremy’s [Clarkson] understanding - we’re hoping that he’s closer to the Ferrari end. He’s certainly one of the nicer four-year-olds we’ve got this season, so we’re excited to see him on the track.”

He added: “Without doubt these multi-share ownership syndicates are brilliant. Syndicates like Old Gold Racing are allowing a lot of people into ownership that otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford a larger share. I can only see this concept of ownership becoming more and more popular over the years.”

Ed Seyfried, CEO of Old Gold Racing, said: "I just love that The Hawkstonian syndicate is bringing the experience of racehorse ownership to so many people so inexpensively whilst helping and the Hawkstone Brewery back British farming – even his oats are British.”