A regional daily journalist has told how a failed former racehorse helped him overcome a drink problem and turn his life around.

Steven Wright says his life had “hit the buffers” when he first encountered chestnut thoroughbred Adelphi Warrior four years ago.

The horse, also known as Alexander, had originally been bought to race as a steeplechaser but was sold onto a stud farm after losing only two races.

Steven, now working as crime reporter on the Bradford Telegraph and Argus, says he “fell instantly in love” with the horse, recognising “a fellow lost soul in a similar dark place.”

“He was in need of help as much as I was,” Steven told the T&A’s sister title, the Westmorland Gazette.

“His future looked very cloudy. He could have ended up in tins because not many people want failed ex-racehorses.”

The 55-year-old journalist, who lives near Skipton, was passionate about horse racing as a child, but never had chance to ride until he met his horse-owning partner Jenny Loweth ten years ago.

In his own words, Steven was a “middle-aged bankrupt with a failed marriage and a drink problem” when he first met the horse, but he said riding him “set him back on the road to sanity” and the pair now compete in local hunter trials and show jumping competitions.

Said Steven:  “I always dreamed about riding horses as a kid and I got the chance, and now I’m doing it, so that’s the childhood dream come true, but also for him, having failed on the racecourse, I’m thrilled for him. He’s now succeeding in lots of different ways.”

Steven has now turned his moving story into a book entitled Run With Your Heart: How Two of Life’s Losers Found a Winning Partnership, which has sold more than 2,000 copies since being self-published on Amazon Kindle 18 months ago.

The story is now to be published by Racing Post Books as an illustrated paperback, on September 26.

Added Steven: “I hope our story encourages other riders to give ex-racehorses like him another chance in life.”