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Soccer ace Wayne Rooney and wife Coleen shouldn’t have too much trouble remembering the name of their new £63,000 two-year-old racehorse that’s now officially been called ‘Switcharooney’.

The unraced colt, sired by stallion Bahamian Bounty, is trained at the Cheshire stables owned by Wayne’s Manchester United team-mate Michael Owen, and under the care of top trainer Tom Dascombe.

However, the naming of the colt wasn’t all plain-sailing. Rooney’s first choice of name was ‘Oceans Seven’, but this wasn’t available because the name had been registered to another racehorse several years ago.

Rooney joins past and present Old Trafford footballers like Nicky Butt and Paul Scholes, as well as his manager Sir Alex Ferguson, as racehorse owners.

‘Switcharooney’ is one of two racehorses owned by Wayne and Coleen. The other, a three-year-old bay colt called ‘Tomway’, is named after his father, Thomas Wayne Rooney. Both horses are expected to be racing from April onwards.

The Rooneys have also registered their own set of racing silks which will be worn by the jockey on each occasion either horse runs. The choice of pink and white might have had more to do with Coleen’s interest in fashion than Wayne’s allegiance to Manchester United.

Rod Street, chief executive of Racing for Change, said: “You can bet that these names will go in every punter’s notebook. Rooney has a great strike rate so it's hard to imagine that his nags won't score as well.”

15 February 2012