Why I love... racing

Whether it's the dogs or the horses, Vinnie Jones loves getting down to the track - especially now that he's an owner. BBC Sport Online's Charlie Henderson caught up with him to speak about his passion for racing.

Many footballers have trouble coming to terms with life out of the limelight once they leave the professional game.

Vinnie Jones has successfully filled that void with a critically acclaimed step into the acting world and a burgeoning film career.

However, perhaps more significantly, he has found a sporting passion which more than sates his competitive appetite.

Jones has been interested in greyhound racing from a tender age but now he has doubled up and added horses to his portfolio of professional sporting interests.

"I was into greyhounds at 10 or 11-years-old," Jones explains.

Jones has enjoyed the dogs since the mid-70s

"Family friends had a lot of dogs and we went to Wembley, Walthamstow, all over really, so it has always been there."

Jones famously introduced Brad Pitt to 'the dogs' when the pair were filming Snatch, Guy Ritchie's follow up to Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.

However, since then Jones has stepped up his interest and, after being a regular punter, he now owns "quite a collection" of greyhounds.

"In the last few years I've started buying my own dogs and I've got about 20 now.

"Some are down in Hove with Derek Knight, others are with Gary Banks at Walthamstow - they're all over the place."

Jones enjoyed his greatest success to date when one of his dogs came home fourth in the dog derby.

"It was the first time I've ever entered and from 143 runners to get into the last six is awesome."

But Jones, as his career suggests, is not happy achieving success in just one field and has recently added another string to his bow.

"I know more about dogs than I do horses but I've got a growing interest now that I've got my own horse - Sixty Seconds."

There is a "buzz" when the stalls open

Jason Weaver rode Sixty Seconds into second on its first outing before Frankie Dettori gave his friend a taste of the winners enclosure.

Due to a tight filming schedule on the his latest film, The Mean Machine, Jones had to watch the horse's latest outing in his trailer on set.

Sadly, after coming first at Leicester, Sixty Seconds finished outside the places on the first day of the Newmarket Guineas meeting.

But Jones remains upbeat about the John Gosden trained horse and still dreams that it will race in the Derby.

"When the traps or stalls open up the buzz is amazing and in the big races I'm terrible - I can't eat and my partner John Ward's the same.

"We're like a pair of teenagers, but then again that's why you're in it - it's all about winning."

Jones suffered the same feelings prior to football matches, but that is where the similarities end.

"In football you could do something about it, but with a dog or a horse it's different, you're helpless.

"There's more adrenaline in football and if you're not running around enough or getting the tackles in you can change that.

"With Sixty Seconds we got a second and a first, yet third time out, when we're odds on favourite, he just ran against the waves.

Jones has his eye on more sporting glory

"We hit a brick wall and Frankie got off not knowing what had gone wrong.

"But what people forget is that horses and dogs are just the same as humans - they have their off days."

To emphasise the point Jones recalls his playing days with Wimbledon.

"I went out in the FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea and I had no legs. After all the preparations there was nothing in the tank."

Defeat at Highbury in 1997 curtailed any hopes Jones had of adding another footballing medal to the one he picked up with the Crazy Gang in their memorable FA Cup win over Liverpool in 1988.

But now he has his eye on more sporting silverware and a double of types.

"It would be thrilling to line up in the derby with my horse and to win the derby with both dogs and horses really would be something."