Sir Alex Ferguson at Cheltenham Festival - everything to know about Man Utd legend's six horses racing

Manchester United legend Sir Alex Ferguson is one of the many famous faces expected to make an appearance at Cheltenham Festival this week with six of his own horses racing in the prestigious event.

The action in Gloucestershire gets underway on Tuesday and takes place until Friday as the horse racing world descends on Prestbury Park. More than 65,000 racegoers are expected to attend Cheltenham Festival every day.

For football fans, there will be added interest in the events involving Sir Alex, whose passion for horse racing appears to have only grown since his retirement from football 11 years ago.

Sir Alex Ferguson has 6 horses racing at Cheltenham Festival

Ferguson has six horses racing at Cheltenham this week and has tipped Hitman for great things this year. He told Thoroughbred Daily News: “I think Hitman will do well. I just feel that he seems to die in the last couple of fences over three miles, but he's back running over two miles and four furlongs. He might just surprise people.”

Joining Hitman are Protektorat, L'Eau Du Sud, Sonigino, Monmiral and Il Ridoto. If all of Fergie's horses were to triumph at Cheltenham, the former Manchester United manager could pocket £400,000 of winnings.

Which races will Sir Alex Ferguson's horses run in?

Wednesday, March 13

• 2:50 pm, Coral Cup - Sonigino

Thursday, March 14

• 2:10 pm, Pertemps Network Final - Monmiral
• 2:50 pm, Ryanair Chase - Protektorat and Hitman
• 4:10 pm, TrustATrader Plate - Il Ridoto

Friday, March 15

• 2:10 pm, County Handicap Hurdle - L’Eau Du Sud
• 5:30 pm, Martin Pipe Handicap - Sonigino

Michael Owen at Cheltenham: 'Fergie only signed me to share tips!'

Manchester United supporters and football lovers will be keeping a beady eye out for Sir Alex at Cheltenham this week. The Scotsman is known for his steely interviews with reporters wanting thoughts on football at the event - last year's verdict on the title race going viral.

One other footballing hero who has already spoken ahead of Cheltenham is Michael Owen, who worked with Ferguson at Old Trafford. He told The Winners Enclosure: “Sir Alex Ferguson, of course. Our passions absolutely crossed paths, I think he only signed me so he could share tips! Sir Alex calls me a lot on Saturdays and we talk about football and racing.

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"As I say he has two horses at my stables so we have a lot in common, and of course, he is obviously retired now and following his horses around the world and having great success so it’s great to see. We used to talk at Manchester United about horses and tips.

“I got loads of my teammates into horse racing, and let’s fast forward to this day and I’ve got my stables training about 130 horses. We’ve got the Brighton team, about 11 of them own three horses with us. Six of the Liverpool team own horses with us, Sir Alex Ferguson has two horses. A group of my colleagues of ex-players and TV colleagues like Paul Scholes, Steve McManaman, Ian Wright, Owen Hargreaves and Andy Townsend to name a few. A lot of the Burnley team have got horses with us so there is a big passion for horses and racing. My business owns a lot of horses for them.”