A PROMISING footballer who failed in his trial at Spurs was signed by Carlos Tevez’s agent anyway – and has gone onto make him an absolute fortune.
Kevin Stott was scouted by Tottenham when he was travelling the world with the Denmark national team as a promising teenager.
Super Stott has been a sensation in the saddle this season – and one of his biggest wins could be yet to come
Kevin and Meg are a racing dream team hoovering up some of the sport’s biggest prizes
He starred at a junior tournament in Holland and one of Spurs’ scouts offered him a trial.
But Stott was deemed to small to make it in midfield on his two-week tryout with the Under-14s and went back home at a career crossroads.
Not one for school, he wanted to follow in his dad’s footsteps and race for a living.
Little did he know a few years on one of the world’s biggest football superagents would come desperate for his signature.
Kia Joorabchian, who famously orchestrated Carlos Tevez’s move across the Manchester divide and represents the likes of Willian and Philippe Coutinho, knew Stott was the man for him.
After splitting with Rossa Ryan, Joorabchian signed Stott as the No1 rider for his growing Amo Racing yard earlier this year.
Joorabchian has spent mega money building up a formidable yard of top equine talent.
Together, he and Stott nearly reached the Holy Grail of racing just a few months into their working relationship when 66-1 King Of Steel finished second in the Epsom Derby.
They just lost out to Auguste Rodin that day – but the two look like butting heads again in Saturday’s £1.25million blockbuster King George.
Since that agonising Epsom defeat, King Of Steel, who Joorabchian bought for a little over £150,000, has landed a Group 2 at Royal Ascot, and taken his earnings from only four runs to just under £500,000.
But Saturday’s spectacular back at Flat racing’s spiritual home is worth a monster £708,875 to the winner.
Factor in Stott’s roughly ten per cent cut of the winning prize and he’s on footballer wages anyway!
Explaining how his move into the saddle came about, Stott, 29, said: “I played a lot of football when I was younger.
“Playing in a Denmark at a very high level we went around the world on tours and I was lucky enough to get scouted when I was playing at a tournament in Holland.
“I went on a two week under-14s trial at Tottenham and unfortunately it didn’t work out. When I came back I had a year left in school.
“School wasn’t really exciting for me so when I said to Dad I was thinking of riding horses because it was an easy way of not having to spend time in school he immediately sent me over here.
“I’ve never looked back since. This is my 14th year over here now.”
Boosted by the help of agent and girlfriend Meg Nicholls, Stott has rocketed up the racing ranks.
And backed by Joorabchian, he has a new face in the racing game flush with cash determined to give him the biggest and best rides.
The two could even totally disrupt the status quo of the sport, which for so long has been dominated by the likes of Godolphin and Coolmore.
Viewers of the owners’ championship this season will notice Amo Racing, with almost £850,000 in winnings, climbing the table.
Another step towards that mission would be King Of Steel seeing off the Aidan O’Brien-trained Auguste Rodin in Saturday’s race of the season.
The two horses are at the top of the market, with bookies finding their 7-2 odds impossible to split.
But victory would be much deserved for Stott – and yet another trophy to collect this season.
Something he wouldn’t have been able to say if he’d stayed at Spurs.
