Ryder Cup star Brooks Koepka and LIV Golf ally Graeme McDowell team up to buy racehorse with help from Meg Nicholls
RYDER Cup star Brooks Koepka and his LIV Golf ally Graeme McDowell have teamed up to buy a new racehorse – with help from Megan Nicholls.
Top jockey agent Nicholls, daughter of legendary trainer Paul, knows a good horse when she sees one.
She was a Grade 2 winner as a jockey and now helps boyfriend Kevin Stott secure a load of big rides.
Turns out she’s also been busy helping Major champion golfers Koepka and McDowell in their other love – racing.
In a video for Tote, trainer Harry Derham revealed Nicholls was instrumental in the purchase of Givemefive.
A winner for Johnny Murtagh on the Flat in Ireland, Givemefive has won one of his ten career races.
The three-year-old gelding collected around £5,000 with victory at Roscommon last month under a strong ride from Ben Coen.
Now he’s set for a future over jumps – and maybe an appearance at the likes of Cheltenham Festival and Aintree if everything goes to plan.
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Derham, who was previously assistant to Ditcheat maestro Nicholls, said: “My cousin Meg has just bought Givemefive for Graeme McDowell and Brooks Koepka.
“He won in Ireland over a mile and a half and he’s rated 69.
“He’s a really likeable, tough, hardy horse who you’d hope would be a good, fun juvenile hurdling prospect.”
Northern Ireland’s McDowell once described himself as a ‘racehorse coming up the inside rail’ when chasing Martin Kaymer down in the 2010 Race To Dubai.
That was the same year he won the US Open at Pebble Beach and sunk the winning putt in the Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor.
A buddy of American Koepka on the LIV Golf circuit, McDowell watched on this week as Luke Donald’s gladiators thrashed the US team in Rome.
Koepka, a five-time Major champ who won the US PGA in May, suffered the biggest defeat in Ryder Cup history when losing 9&7 with partner Scottie Scheffler in the Saturday morning foursomes to Viktor Hovland and Ludvig Aberg.
The American gained revenge on Aberg with a 3&2 singles win on Sunday.
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