IT has been a difficult few months for Michael Owen, but victory at his home track of Chester on Saturday may see him turning the corner.

In his main role as a Premier League footballer, injury struck once again forcing him to miss the final part of Manchester United’s season and any hopes of forcing his way back into England’s World Cup squad.

While apart from a few decent wins his passion for racing had not bared too much fruit until Saturday’s success.

But Blue Jack’s excellent win in overcoming a usually prohibitive draw in stall nine to land the totesport 0800 221 221 City Wall Stakes in front of packed Roodee crowd brought a smile back to his face.

His multi-million pound venture in partnership with Andrew Black at Manor House Stables has so far had a slow season. A Listed win for Classic Colori and another success on the Roodee with Julius Geezer in the Lily Agnes Stakes, sponsored by Owen’s yard, had been the highlights.

But Blue Jack gave Owen and trainer Tom Dascombe a much-needed boost.

The son of Cadeaux Genereux, sporting a visor for the first time, managed to get over from the wide draw in stall nine under Richard Kingscote to come through late to land the five furlong contest by a short head from Captain Dunne.

Favourite and last year’s winner Borderlescott was back in third.

A delighted Owen said: “That was a great result. He has been brilliant since we got him and Tom (Dascombe, trainer) has obviously improved him quite a lot.

“We were third in the Palace House and now to win a Listed race, with a horse we thought would be just a good handicapper, is great.”

He added: “It is strange because we started the season with a Listed winner straight away in the Spring Cup with Classic Colori and we were rubbing our hands together thinking it was going to be great, then obviously we had a bit of illness in the yard and as everyone knows when you have that it can take quite a while. But the older horses have stayed pretty consistent through that time, it is the younger ones that have been affected.

“It was a great result today and hopefully that is a turning-point.”

Dascombe was equally delighted with the win and praised his owners. He said: “They have been incredible. We have had a pretty bad time, but they have never wavered – full credit to them and all our other owners.

“We needed that. We haven’t had a great season and lots of things haven’t gone right.

“But this is a bloody good horse. The obvious target is a Group Three at the end of August at the Curragh.

While the Owen yard were celebrating Blue Jack’s win cost one Tote Scoop6 punter a bumper payout of £175,582. He was instead forced to settle for £47.60 worth of compensation for a place dividend after Borderlescott’s defeat.

As a result, the win fund contains £175,582 going into next weekend with £221,917 in the bonus pot.

TODAY’S NAP: Lady Hestia (3.50pm Ffos Las).