Taking a £9,000 racehorse into a multi-million dollar event is just the tonic Kent owner Kevin Neale needed after being told he might lose a leg.

He’s already lost his right leg and recently had his left foot amputated, but the Rainham-based businessman, who spent a decade living it up as a financial advisor for the top English-based footballers, knows how to look at the positives in life.

His purchase of Godolphin-bred Ocean Wind for a few thousand pounds has already paid off, with the horse netting him much more in prize money, but that might just be the start. An invite to next year’s Saudi Cup weekend, which boasts a prize fund of around 30m dollars, could mean his punt at the Ascot Sales in July 2019 becomes more lucrative than he ever imagined.

Ocean Wind - or Dave as he is also known in the stables - is his biggest prospect in what is a growing portfolio of horses that are owned by the Rockingham Reins company, whose offices are now in the Chatham Historic Dockyard.

It’s a hobby that has turned into a successful business and it’s all happened at a time when Mr Neale has been undergoing the most challenging battles with his health - not that he would moan about it.

“Life is slower but that is not a bad thing,” he joked. “I am very positive.

“It is very easy to think, ‘woe is me’, but I have a great family, great businesses and mobility? I am 50, I have less years infront of me than behind me. I always thought when I was younger, give me George Best’s life, and he died at 59, but what a life!”

Mr Neale spent his 30s involved in football, travelling the world as a financial advisor, working and socialising with the likes of Rio Ferdinand, John Terry and Cesc Fabregas.

Horses were always a passion, however. Both his grandfather and father were interested in racing and that rubbed off at a young age.

He recalled: “I will never forget when I was at the Howard School, I asked the teacher to borrow a newspaper and I got reported to my head of year because I went straight to the racing results and not page three!”

He is currently in and out of Medway Hospital on a daily basis, as they attempt to save his left leg. He lost the other one three years ago after picking up an infection from a blister caused by a burn, having got out of a pool in Dubai and forgetting to put on his slippers.

A similar problem affected his other leg, having got a blister while attending the Cheltenham Festival in March. That got worse and led to him losing a foot. By then his recently acquired horse Ocean Wind was already being talked about in the racing world. The last win was at Doncaster in October and Mr Neale appeared during ITV’s live racing coverage, watching from home as the horse won by half a length.

Offers have already been made for Ocean Wind, with one bidder willing to pay in the region of £350,000. Mr Neale reckons it’s worth around twice that amount and has already had to fend off his friend Harry Redknapp after the well-known football manager collared him at the Cheltenham Festival.

Selling now would represent a fantastic return but it’s not just about the money. Racing in Saudi Arabia will take place in February and there is talk of entering other big events next year, including Royal Ascot. Depending on how things go, the horse could then be profitable as a stud.

“He has got everyone talking, which is lovely for us,” said Mr Neale.

“We knew we had something good when he won a bumper in Newbury and he won by about nine lengths. People say you just don’t win it. We destroyed one of Harry’s horses and he came up to me and said, ‘I thought my horse was good, but you’ve beaten me by 12-14 lengths!’ He saw me at Cheltenham in March and said he still wanted to buy it off me. I said ‘no, Harry!’

“It’s been a bit like Del Boy finding the pocket watch. Suddenly you have a huge value horse and we run a business and if any business can turn a £9k investment into what we have been offered then you have to sit and wonder, what should we do?

“But on the other side we may not get this chance ever again. I remember my first winner, I knew I would have made my grandad proud, by doing this, same as my dad. You can’t buy that feeling. With Ocean Wind we have a real beauty.

“We have accepted an invitation to go to the Saudi weekend in February, the exact race is still to be defined. Of course we are going to go and for us, it puts us on the map. These are exciting times.”

Whether or not the owner will be allowed to Saudi Arabia or not will be up for debate. The horse has never won while he’s been trackside.

“I have never watched him win live, never at the track. I am banned!” he revealed.

Mr Neale is continuing to grow his stable and while Ocean Wind is being trained by Roger Teal in Lambourn, Berkshire, he’s also got horses closer to home, with John Best in Sittingbourne.

“Roger has worked wonders with Ocean Wind,” he said.

“I do want to build it up in Kent and John is a great trainer. We will look to work more with him and it will be good if we have horses that are close so we can go and see them. We have eight running at the moment and three we have just bought.”

And while Ocean Wind is paying dividends, it’s not been so good for the other one he purchased on the same day. Mr Neale shelled out £50k for a horse that has run once and never been able to race again.

For Ocean Wind, he is currently enjoying a well-earned break, with five race wins behind him in the last year and much to look forward to in 2021, a year which may well be bitter-sweet for his owner.

Mr Neale said: “I have got three months to try and kill the infection with some really strong antibiotics and if that doesn’t work then we know the inevitable will happen, but there are many more bad things out there at the moment.

“I would just like to add that the staff at Medway Hospital have been fantastic and my next horse is going to be named after the surgeon if she saves my leg - that’s the deal I have got with her!”

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