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Horse Racing Owner Profiles

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  • Horse Racing Owner Profiles

    Always been a bit interested in how some of racing's big owners made their dough. Must be a book in it for someone if it hasn't already been done !

    Rich Ricci ( husband of Mrs Susannah Ricci who has a load of horses with Willie Mullins) has been in the news lately. Seems he might be the man to take over from Bob Diamond at Barclays.

    A lot of the coverage is a bit snidy to say the least but Brian O'Connor did what seems like a balanced enough article before Cheltenham ( if you can get beyond the headline !) in the Irish Times.



    [QUOTE]
    The Fat Cat in the Big Hat
    Owner Rich Ricci has his sights set on Cheltenham. Rich Ricci has his sights set on Cheltenham.

    RACING: He may not like the label of ‘Fat Cat’ but nobody could question Rich Ricci’s love of the Irish jumps game, writes BRIAN O'CONNOR

    JUST AS Russell Crowe has railed against the lazy, tabloid caricature of him as “Hollywood Bad Boy,” then Rich Ricci probably has his own pet-hate label – “Fat Cat.” In a world dominated by the economic fallout of a banking system gone crazy, being a high-flying banker right now is about as fashionable as being German was in 1946. All of which would be okay if you can remain cloaked in anonymity. But Ricci is a high-flying banker who has made the headlines.

    This time last year, he was splattered across UK newspapers on the back of a salary and bonuses of over €50 million from his role as co-chief executive of Barclays Capital.

    “Obscene” and “Wages of Sin” were some of the more hysterical comments, while others took the opportunity to indulge in some less than subtle references to what Barclays banker can mean in cockney rhyming slang.

    It’s little wonder then that when some members of the fourth estate ventured close to Ricci at Cheltenham 2011, the flamboyantly dressed American was heard to say “f**king press.” Maybe that was provoked by one caption on a photograph taken at the races – “Who’s the Fat Cat in the Hat?”

    So Ricci is almost Trappist when it comes to interviews. But despite that he has become one of the most distinguishable figures on Ireland’s racecourses over the last number of years.

    On otherwise mundane winter racedays, where racegoers are usually togged out more for function than style, the 48-year-old American inevitably cuts a flamboyant figure in Homburg hat, perfect-tailored three-piece tweed suits and dark Wayfarer shades.

    Language more associated with the back-stretch at Belmont has been employed at many of the more rustic tracks in Ireland where bad fortune is described as “buzzards luck” and winners are “full of run.” After one of his runners disappointed, Ricci’s comment was characteristically succinct: “It was like going to a job interview and then puking all over yourself!”

    But mostly there have been plenty of winners. The pink colours of Ricci’s wife Susannah have been carried to big race success by major names such as Mikael D’Haguenet, the brilliant novice hurdler of 2009 whose unbeaten season included winning at the Cheltenham festival, and Blazing Tempo, winner of last year’s Galway Plate.

    Almost inevitably then, the man whose name is almost eerily appropriate for a banker right now, and whose pockets are generously deep when it comes to buying horses, is generally referred to as “Richie Rich” within racing.

    On the eve of Cheltenham 2012 up to a dozen horses owned by Ricci are on the list to travel to Prestbury Park, including the Cross-Country favourite Scotsirish, Champagne Fever who tops the market in the Weatherbys Champion Bumper and The Midnight Club who could take his place in the Gold Cup.

    It’s an impressive accumulation of equine firepower, all of it housed in the yard of champion trainer Willie Mullins in Carlow, and all of it sufficient to put only the twin behemoths of JP McManus and Michael O’Leary ahead of Ricci in the Irish owners championship. So far this season alone his team have secured well over €500,000 in prizemoney.

    But whereas McManus and O’Leary are products of a country that has been besotted with the jumping racehorse for centuries, their rival is a curio, a man who emerged from Nebraska to become a major player in the cut-throat London financial scene and whose idea of kicks is to go to National Hunt race meetings and endure the agony of not being able to watch his horses race.

    Ricci likes to be alone when a race is on and is barely able to glance at the big screen in case something happens one of his charges. It’s a curious amalgam of hope and anxiety that nevertheless has turned him into a devotee of a very Irish pursuit.

    “I often get calls from trainers in England wondering why I don’t have horses in training there, considering I’m based in England,” Ricci said in a rare interview before bonuses started provoking unwanted attention. “But I just love Irish racing. The people are fantastic, the atmosphere is really good and the prizemoney is still attractive. My wife and I get a real buzz from it.”

    At a time when owners able to sign six figure cheques for young horses are rare, Ricci is like catnip to any ambitious trainer in these islands. Yet he continues to put all his eggs in the Mullins basket where champion jockeys Ruby Walsh and Paul Townend ride the majority of them.

    “He was introduced by a pal of mine. He enjoys having horses here, simply prefers the Irish set up,” Mullins says. Like most everyone in Irish racing though it is Cheltenham that really floats Ricci’s boat. Horses are bought as potential Cheltenham candidates and anything with a level of form sufficient to get to the festival are trained with the middle of March in mind. In that respect he is as Irish as his name is Italian.

    The flat dirt oval of Fonner Park rather than Fairyhouse was Ricci’s racing option when attending Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, from which he graduated with a degree in Finance. From there he embarked on a career in banking where he held senior behind-the-scenes posts at the Bank of Boston and the Bank of New England.

    He joined Barclays Capital in 1994 where he was responsible for several of its support areas. Many titans of the city earn their chops on the trading floor but Ricci’s speciality was operations and technology and he was also a favourite of the Barclays chief ececutive Bob Diamond who appointed Ricci as the co-chief executive of Barclays Capital, the bank’s investment arm. At the time Ricci was virtually unknown at the top level of London finance with one director saying: “He’s bald and he gets shit done, that’s all we know.”

    According to finance experts one of his greatest coups was being in charge of the integration of Lehman’s North American operation after Barclays acquired it on the back of the infamous firm’s bankruptcy.

    “Rich is smart, hardworking, and in many ways is an outstanding business exec,” one former colleague has declared. “Rich is impatient, hard charging, and yet in my experience behaves appropriately. Never saw any bullying, belittling, or boorish behaviour. In my experience he was candid, frank, and a breath of fresh air.”

    Some who have encountered Ricci at the racecourse say he has a good sense of humour but can be blunt. He has actually named one of his horses Fatcatinthehat. Not surprisingly for a wealthy owner who reportedly flies to Ireland on a private jet, he is rarely short of company. He is certainly an advertisement for the theory of nominative determinism which claims that an individual’s name reflects key attributes of their character, job and indeed life. On those terms Rich Ricci was always going to be someone destined to make a splash in the finance world.

    The splash he has made so far allowed him live in an 18th century mansion in Kent which journalists gleefully reported had seven bedrooms, five reception rooms, two games rooms and a heated outdoor swimming pool. Last year there was also plenty of attention given to how Ricci owned the Grand National favourite The Midnight Club. Ultimately the horse finished sixth to Ballabriggs.

    It was Mikael D’Haguenet’s unbeaten 2008-09 season that sealed Ricci’s love affair with jumps racing. The French purchase won all six of his races over hurdles that season, including a brilliant success at Cheltenham. Mikael D’Haguenet was described as a potential Gold Cup winner but injury interrupted his career and he has failed to recapture his former brilliance in the last couple of years.

    The top mare Blazing Tempo has cut a swathe through some of the more valuable races in Ireland in the past year and is the top-earning horse this season with almost €200,000 in prizemoney, eclipsing star names such as Hurricane Fly and Quel Esprit who are also in the Mullins stable.

    In many ways, Ricci is the embodiment of the type of foreign investment that Irish racing craves. Wealthy, enthusiastic and not afraid to splash out on horses he believes can win, the American has become one of the major players in an Irish National Hunt scene that is beginning to resemble its flat counterpart in terms of the concentration of talent among a relatively small group of owners.

    This being Ireland, such prominence can sometimes result in a certain begrudgery. So much so that if he continues to be so successful, Richie Rich could find out that “fat cat” isn’t the worst thing to be called!

  • #2
    Ricci winners since start of 2011


    Date Course & Going Dist Type Place Horse Weight Race Total € Won *
    09/05/12 Punchestown Y 20f BegCh 1/9 Arvika Ligeonniere (FR) 11-12 Punchestown For Events Beginners S'chase €8,400
    25/04/12 Punchestown H 16f NHF 1/10 Champagne Fever 12-0 betchronicle.com Champion INH Flat Race €49,500
    25/04/12 Punchestown H 24f NovHdl 1/12 Marasonnien (FR) 11-10 Irish Daily Mirror Novice H'dle €47,250
    18/02/12 Gowran Park S 16f Hdl 1/6 Zaidpour (FR) 11-12 Red Mills Trial H'dle €26,400
    05/02/12 Punchestown H 20f MdnHdl 1/13 Allure Of Illusion 11-12 Eadestown GAA & Parish Fair M'dn H'dle €4,350
    28/01/12 Leopardstown Y 16f MdnHdl 1/25 Darroun 11-0 Leopardstown.com M'dn H'dle €7,000
    26/01/12 Gowran Park SH 24f Hdl 1/5 Zaidpour (FR) 11-10 John Mulhern Galmoy H'dle €26,400
    22/01/12 Fairyhouse S 16f NHF 1/9 Champagne Fever 11-12 Nina-Meath Sportsperson'11(P-A)Flat Race €5,600
    22/01/12 Fairyhouse S 17f Ch 1/5 Blazing Tempo 11-3 Normans Grove S'chase €24,750
    22/01/12 Fairyhouse S 20f MdnHdl 1/7 Vesper Bell 11-12 #45 Bobbyjo Restaurant Package Mdn H'dle €7,000
    21/01/12 Naas SH 19f MdnHdl 1/14 Marasonnien (FR) 11-12 I.N.H. Stallion Owners EBF M'dn H'dle €9,800
    21/01/12 Naas SH 19f Hdl 1/4 Mikael D'Haguenet (FR) 11-3 Limestone Lad H'dle €18,150
    31/12/11 Punchestown H 20f Hdl 1/4 Mikael D'Haguenet (FR) 11-12 Follow Punchestown On Facebook H'dle €13,200
    27/12/11 Leopardstown GY 20f NHF 1/11 Ballycasey 11-10 paddypower.com Mobile INH Flat Race €7,000
    26/12/11 Leopardstown YS 17f NovCh 1/9 Blackstairmountain 11-12 Racing Post Novice S'chase €56,100
    18/12/11 Navan SH 20f Hdl 1/4 Zaidpour (FR) 11-12 Tara H'dle €24,750
    17/12/11 Fairyhouse SH 18f Hdl 1/5 Blazing Tempo 10-9 Follow Nina On Twitter Rated H'dle €10,150
    08/12/11 Clonmel H 17f BegCh 1/15 Blackstairmountain 11-12 Clonmel Supporters Club Beg. S'chase €5,600
    04/12/11 Fairyhouse SH 16f NovHdl 1/6 Sous Les Cieux (FR) 11-10 Bar One Racing Royal Bond Novice H'dle €49,500
    03/12/11 Fairyhouse SH 16f Hdl 1/8 Mikael D'Haguenet (FR) 11-2 Motor Neuron Disease Research Hdle €13,860
    24/11/11 Thurles H 22f Hdl 1/5 Zaidpour (FR) 11-10 Rock Of Cashel H'dle €7,000
    16/11/11 Fairyhouse S 20f MdnHdl 1/13 Sous Les Cieux (FR) 11-12 Fairyhouse Membership 2012 M'dn H'dle €7,000
    10/11/11 Clonmel S 20f Ch 1/6 Blazing Tempo 11-5 EBF T.A.Morris Memorial (Mares) S'chase €24,750
    27/07/11 Galway G 22f HcpCh 1/22 Blazing Tempo 10-4 thetote.com Galway Plate €122,000
    19/07/11 Ballinrobe GY 20f NovHdl 1/4 Sicilian Secret 11-12 Eamon Sheridan Plant Hire Novice H'dle €7,350
    01/05/11 Sligo GF 16f MdnHdl 1/13 Riltree (FR) 10-13 Smirnoff (Mares) M'dn H'dle €5,775
    24/04/11 Fairyhouse G 16f MdnHdl 1/16 Sicilian Secret 11-12 Vets promoting Equine Health M'dn H'dle €7,000
    23/02/11 Fairyhouse H 25f Ch 1/9 The Midnight Club 11-3 At The Races Bobbyjo S'chase €26,400
    23/01/11 Leopardstown S 16f MdnHdl 1/21 Day Of A Lifetime 11-12 Frank Conroy Memorial M'dn H'dle €7,700

    Comment


    • #3
      Nice article Lester. There would be a book In JP McManus alone. Not sure its is how it says how he made his breakthrough into mega wealth but this tells you where it is now:

      The latest annual compendium of who’s rich and who’s not (as quite as rich as they once were), sees Limerickman JP McManus again being listed as the richest person in the county.

      Even though he has an estimated fortune of €577m, his place on the list has fallen from 12th in Ireland last year, to 14th this year. Three years ago his wealth was valued at €710m.

      The 61-year-old has accumulated his fortune through stakes in Barchester Healthcare, the Sandy Lane hotel in Barbados, amongst other business interests with fellow multi-millionaires Dermot Desmond, John Magnier and Aidan Brooks. His property with Brooks and Magnier alone is believed to be worth in the region of £1billion.

      While the racing magnate has been known to win big, he’s also willing to share his winnings.

      Through his charitable organisation, the JP McManus Charitable Foundation, and high profile golf pro-am tournaments in Adare every five years, he has raised over €130m for deserving charities across the Mid-West and the country.

      Comment


      • #4
        Good JP Profile from Donn McClean

        P McManus

        JP McManus has always liked to have a bet. As news goes, this revelation is up there with the fact that the Pope has always been partial to the odd prayer or two, but it is reassuringly refreshing to know that one of the most successful gamblers of all time has always got a kick out of the punt.

        In his younger days, he would finish work at lunch time on Saturday and go to a betting office in Limerick. He remembers having a bob each-way on Orchardist in the 1962 Cesarewitch, and straining his ear to listen to the crackly wireless as Orchardist won the race at 25-1, but was disqualified after a stewards’ enquiry and placed second, the race awarded to Golden Fire. He was so gutted that he hardly had the stomach to go and collect the place part of the bet.

        There was no tax in Alf Hogan’s betting office in Limerick on doubles and trebles if one of the horses was odds-against. For win singles, you paid a shilling in the pound, for each way bets you paid a shilling and sixpence in the pound. Then the tax was increased to 20%, and JP stopped betting.

        “I went from being a regular punter to stopping betting on horses completely,” he says thoughtfully now from behind a cup of peppermint tea. “I thought it was preposterous. I was still always interested in gambling, I’d still have a game of cards down in the local pub, nothing that serious, but maybe it was serious enough when you were on a wage. So the taxation was probably a good thing for me in that it made me change direction. I wouldn’t say that I was winning at betting on horses at the time, and it made me step back and have a look at my betting. You see the error of your ways, you learn from your mistakes. I knew that, in order to make money paying 20% tax I would have had to have been very very lucky. It didn’t make sense to continue.”

        On the face of it, the 20% tax was bad for bookmakers’ business. Increase the price of a service and demand will decrease, simple economics. However, McManus believes that the tax could have been a good thing for bookmakers in the long run. It served as a protection tax, in that it took all the wide boys out of the system, the punters who realised how difficult it would be to make a profit when you were 20% of your turnover down before you started. It also had the effect of increasing the punter’s propensity to do multiple bets, doubles and trebles, because you pre-paid the tax on your stake. When he was 21, JP decided that he would like to sample life on the other side of the counter, so he took out a bookmaker’s licence to stand on the racecourse and at Limerick dog track.

        “It wasn’t easy,” he says. “You’re standing at the end of the line, you don’t really know the game, you think you do but really you don’t, you go skint a couple of times and each time you come back you know a little bit more than you did the time before. You have to go and get your job back from your father, go back to work, you work early mornings and late evenings and you think to yourself: ‘I hope I’m not doing this for the rest of my life’. It definitely focuses your mind!”

        Every spare moment that McManus had, lunchtimes, evenings, he had his betting books out examining the figures, trying to work out where he had gone wrong, and it struck him. Maybe the odds weren’t always in the bookmaker’s favour. Why did he have to be only a bookmaker? Sometimes he was laying horses that he wanted to back. Sometimes the value was with the punter. Why couldn’t he do both? Why couldn’t he be a punter when the value was with the punter and be a bookmaker when it wasn’t?

        “I was lucky when I started to punt,” he says. “There was a notion out there that you couldn’t do both, you couldn’t be a successful bookmaker and a successful punter. But, as a friend of mine would say, there’s meat for eating and meat from selling. I tried to do both, and it worked.”

        He linked up with Jimmy Hayes from Fethard who, coincidentally, was born on the same day as JP. They seemed to often want to back the same horses and, between them, they were affecting the market, so it made sense to team up together rather than compete against each other.

        “I really enjoyed those years,” JP recalls. “We travelled the country going racing every day, and there was great camaraderie between all the bookmakers. Bookmakers are, for me, the most honourable people that I have ever dealt with. You don’t need a lawyer when you are going in to have a bet. It is all based on trust. You either pay or you don’t. Contrary to what common perception might be out there, there is great honour among them.”

        JP bought his first horse in 1976. There was no major plot, no major plan, he was just at the sales at Goffs when the Lord Gayle mare Cill Dara, who had been trained by Con Collins to win the 1975 Irish Cesarewitch, came into the ring. He had always loved the idea of having a good racehorse. Being from a farming background, his father having had a really good Irish draft mare, he also liked the idea of breeding thoroughbred horses, so the idea of buying a good mare appealed to him greatly.

        Cill Dara was the first horse to carry the now famed McManus green and gold hoops, synonymous with JP’s beloved South Liberties GAA club in Limerick. The mare carried the colours to victory in the Naas November Handicap and the Irish Cesarewitch later that year, before she was retired to JP’s farm, where she bred a couple of nice horses, including Gimme Five, who finished fifth in the 1998 Aintree Grand National.

        McManus’s association with Cheltenham began three years previously, 35 years ago this year. On his first visit to the Cotswolds, he saw The Dikler get the better of Pendil to land the Gold Cup, and the six-year-old Comedy Of Errors run out an easy winner of the Champion Hurdle. To have a horse carry your own colours to victory at the Cheltenham Festival, to lead your own horse into the winner’s enclosure at Prestbury Park, now that would be something.

        Cill Dara had lit the fuse. JP bought Jack Of Trumps and Shining Flame in 1978, and he bought Deep Gale in 1979. In fact, he went down to Edward O’Grady’s to try to buy Golden Cygnet in 1978, but the star hurdler was not for sale, so he bought Jack Of Trumps instead.

        The great thing about Cheltenham at the time, as now, was that the market was strong enough so that you could have a few pounds on. Jack Of Trumps was entered in three races at the 1978 Festival, the Arkle, the Sun Alliance Chase and the four-miler, the National Hunt Chase. The goal was to win a race at the Festival, so they ran him in the worst possible race, the four-miler. Even though JP didn’t back him, the bookmakers still sent him off at odds-on, Boots Madden up, but he fell at the 15th fence. The following year, Deep Gale was sent off a short-priced favourite for the same race, but he too failed to complete. This Cheltenham Festival victory was proving to be more elusive than may have had appeared at first.

        Jack Of Trumps was second favourite for the 1979 Gold Cup behind Gay Spartan in the weeks leading up to the race. The story of the preamble is well told. On the Saturday before the Cheltenham Festival was due to begin, JP heard that Gay Spartan was injured and was an unlikely runner. He phoned Edward O’Grady to tell him as much, only to learn that Jack Of Trumps was injured that morning and wouldn’t be running either.

        JP laughs at the recollection. To have your hopes raised and dashed like that in one morning was character-building stuff. Such are the vagaries of racing – you can be very certain of very little.

        But it all came right in 1982, when Mister Donovan carried the green and gold hoops to victory in the Sun Alliance Hurdle. McManus cannot remember if he won the £250,000 that was widely reported in one bet on the horse, but he knows that he backed him, and he knows that he got a huge sense of satisfaction from the victory.

        “We got a great kick out of that,” he says. “I hadn’t owned the horse for very long, but he had been laid out for the race, and it all came right on the day. It was great to have a winner at Cheltenham, but the fact that I backed him made it all the sweeter. The money was important.”

        Some 27 Cheltenham Festival winners later, and his hunger remains insatiable. How many is enough? Does it have to be a finite number?

        “I try to have the horses trained for Cheltenham if they are good enough,” he says. “We try to peak for it. It’s not always the ones that you expect that go in, but we’ll take what we can get. We have 27 winners, but it’s like everything, the more you have the more you want. There’s room for another one anyway!”

        Comment


        • #5
          Good read that.

          A few more Id like to know more about.

          Nicholls landlord.
          Harry Findlay
          Robert Ogden
          Trevor Hemming
          The Sizing bloke. Potts ?
          Michael Buckley
          The Barrs
          The Ffos Las bloke Dai something ?
          David Johnson
          The Stewarts
          Paul Roy
          The Leslies
          Philip Hobbs owners Menorah etc

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by Sefton View Post
            Good read that.

            A few more Id like to know more about.

            Nicholls landlord.
            Harry Findlay
            Robert Ogden
            Trevor Hemming
            The Sizing bloke. Potts ?
            Michael Buckley
            The Barrs
            The Ffos Las bloke Dai something ?
            David Johnson
            The Stewarts
            Paul Roy
            The Leslies
            Philip Hobbs owners Menorah etc
            ALLAN AND ANN POTTS - MMD MINING DEVELOPMENTS

            Alan Potts established the Derbyshire-based MMD Group in 1978 after the National Coal Board asked him for a way to prevent large lumps of coal blocking conveyor belts. Potts came up with a sizing machine that became the standard for all UK pits. Since then, MMD has branched out into increasingly sophisticated mining and quarrying equipment worldwide. The company is owned and run by Potts and his wife Ann. Profits at MMD Mining Machinery Developments, the main company, soared from £1.4m to £5.5m on sales up from £25.5m to nearly £35.2m in 2005-06.

            Comment


            • #7
              Hobbs owners are Grahan and Diana Whateley


              Bit about them here:

              Property millionaire Grahame Whateley’s plans to take over Birmingham investment firm Arden Partners have fizzled out.


              The Birmingham Post revealed last month that Mr Whateley, a regular name on the Birmingham Post Rich List, planned to take over the investment firm for about £9 million.

              However, in a statement, Arden confirmed the talks had been terminated without an agreement being struck.

              Mr Whateley, a former non-executive director Edgbaston company, had made an offer of 37p per share.

              Mr Whateley, who heads up Halesowen-based Cedar Private Equity, was one of the original founders of Arden and is said to be close to chief executive Jonathan Keeling.

              Arden said: “The company has been engaged in discussions with Grahame Whateley but these discussions have not led to agreement on the structure of a possible offer and accordingly talks have now terminated.

              “Grahame Whateley has informed Arden that he does not intend to make an offer for the Company and has consented to the release of this announcement.”

              Mr Whateley, aged 67, is chairman of the Cedar Group of companies and beneficiary of several trusts which have net assets of £45 million, which he started over 36 years ago.

              He has been in the property industry for about 45 years, after qualifying as a surveyor.

              He founded Castlemore Securities 38 years ago, which held net assets in excess of £220 million before the downturn in the property market.

              Arden said that while trading in the first four months of its financial year had been satisfactory, it had an uncertain outlook for the second-half of the year.

              According to the Cedar Private Equity website, Mr Whateley is a keen supporter of Shellford Rangers in Halesowen, a local boys’ youth football team, and provided a kit for the squad.

              He has been married to Diana for 36 years, with three children, and they have family homes in Worcestershire, The French Alps and Majorca.

              Mr and Mrs Whateley are keen racehorse owners and have had recent successes, notably with their horses Menorah and Tornado Bob.

              Comment


              • #8
                The John Magnier/Coolmore story is well worth a read..



                Flat racing is made all the more fascinating by the fact that every season brings a fresh crop of thoroughbreds and a new set of dreams for their connections. However, whereas each generation of horses is restricted to a single Classic campaign, in the year-round whirl of bloodstock buying, history has an amazing habit of repeating itself. If you need proof, read on...

                Back in July 1985, at Keeneland Sales, Lexington, Kentucky, a group of sombre-faced Irishmen accompanied by a high-rolling entourage headed by Robert Sangster lifted the already balmy bloodstock market to a new height when paying $13.1 million for a Northern Dancer colt subsequently named Seattle Dancer. The purchase - for which the billionaire Maktoum family of Dubai came off second best - was made on behalf of Coolmore, a stud operation just ten years old but already the largest and most internationally-aware outfit in thoroughbred breeding.

                In a rare interview a decade earlier, the then 27-year-old John Magnier outlined his plans for Coolmore:
                The then 27-year-old John Magnier outlined his plans for Coolmore

                "If we keep stallions here and stand them very cheaply...in a short time we would be buying tenth-rate stallions – and when we went to the yearling sales nobody would want our produce," he said. "We have got to avail ourselves of the outside markets and stand stallions which will have international appeal as well."
                Masterplan

                That evening at Keeneland was all part of the Coolmore masterplan and those who had known Magnier, a tall imposing figure with a steely gaze, from an early age never doubted that he was going to be a big success in life. Magnier grew up at Grange Stud close to Fermoy in Co Cork in an area that had been synonymous with National Hunt breeding for years. Born on February 10 1948, and educated privately at Glenstal Abbey in Co Limerick, he left school aged 15 following the death of his father Tom.

                He helped his mother Evie (whose sister Mimi was married to the late former Jockey Club senior steward Lord Manton) run Grange Sud, and visitors to the farm recall seeing a young John Magnier milking the family's dairy herd. The Magnier family had bred National Hunt horses since the 1850s and Grange Stud's stallions had included Cottage, who died aged 24 in January 1942 and posthumously sired Vincent O'Brien's triple Cheltenham Gold Cup winner, Cottage Rake.

                The O'Brien family from Churchtown and the Magniers went back a long way. John Magnier's mother had been matron of honour at Vincent's wedding in 1951, so it was very appropriate that, in the summer of 1975, John married O'Brien's daughter Susan. The couple now have five children.
                "Exceptional ability"

                Vincent O'Brien, himself a successful breeder long before Coolmore, once said of Magnier: "He is a man of exceptional ability; he thinks big, deals shrewdly, and is most-knowledgeable about bloodlines and everything to do with the stud business. John is so able I feel he would have reached the top of whatever profession he chose, and our very close association has been the greatest pleasure to me - it is a joy to work with someone of his calibre."

                There is mutual admiration between the pair and Magnier said of O'Brien: "Not only would I describe him as a great trainer - he is on a plane apart when it comes to breeding matters - Vincent can compete with anybody in buying on looks alone. He could, I am certain, pick a potential winner, even a future champion, without even looking at the pedigree. Nobody before Vincent, or likely to come after him, could ever match his knowledge of pedigrees and bloodlines. It's uncanny really."

                After taking charge of Grange Stud, the ambitious Magnier bought nearby Castle Hyde Stud to add to his portfolio and by the mid-1970s was building up a thriving operation. Further north, Wing Commander Tim Vigors was developing Coolmore Stud in which Vincent O'Brien, whose Ballydoyle stable was just a few miles away, became a partner in 1973.

                O'Brien recruited Magnier, whom he regarded as "the most capable young man in Europe for the job", to manage Coolmore when Vigors, who was to drop out of the partnership following a divorce, wished to move out of Ireland. Magnier, via bloodstock agent Jack Doyle, had met Vernon's football pools heir Robert Sangster at Haydock in 1971 when in Britain to buy Green God to stand at Castle Hyde. Sangster, 12 years older than Magnier, was impressed by the young Irishman and supported Green God.
                Ambitious

                Both were ambitious and in January 1975 the Vigors/O'Brien partnership announced an amalgamation with Sangster and Magnier, to form an operation known as Coolmore, Castle Hyde and Associated Studs. Gay O'Callaghan, who had run Castle Hyde Stud, helped manage the fledgling operation with Magnier, while other early key members of staff included eventual general manager Bob Lanigan and former jockey Tommy Stack, as well as Magnier's brothers David, who continues to run the family's Grange Stud, and Peter.

                The Coolmore philosophy, dreamt up by Magnier and put into practice through Sangster's wealth and O'Brien's training skills, was to buy into the hugely lucrative stallion market by acquiring potential sires either at the sales or produce them in the breeding shed. A number of other investors were involved and the partnership who owned the $13.1 million yearling, bought through British Bloodstock Agency director Joss Collins, was typical of the make-up of those at the time. Sangster and Coolmore took a 65 per cent stake, Greek shipping billionaire Stavros Niarchos had a quarter and wealthy San Francisco builder Danny Schwartz owned ten per cent.

                Other investors in the various syndicates included Alan Clore, son of wealthy financier Sir Charles Clore, Jack Mulcahy, the Irish-born American steel magnate who had advised Vincent O'Brien to take a share in all his own horses, Paris-based Jean-Pierre Binet, Bob Fluor of the American-based Fluor Corporation, Swiss billionaire Walter Haefner, London insurance broker Charles St George, Scottish aristocrat Simon Fraser, Irish property developer Patrick Gallagher and Yorkshire-based David Aykroyd.

                Vincent O'Brien would be joined at the sales by a trusted team of advisers, including his brother and right-hand man Phonsie, Coolmore's vet Bob Griffin, bloodstock agent Tom Cooper of the BBA's Irish division and the father of Alan Cooper, racing manager to Stavros Niarchos, and colourful Californian agent Billy McDonald.
                Big spenders

                The sales team were entrusted with huge sums with which, effectively, to gamble on a mega scale. But Magnier's bold strategy was soon paying dividends. The first crop of sales purchases included the Derby winner The Minstrel, Eclipse winner Artaius and Be My Guest, who had been bought at Goffs for Ir127,000gns and will always be fondly remembered at Coolmore.
                The first crop of sales purchases included Derby winner The Minstrel

                Having started covering for Ir5,000gns at Coolmore in 1978, his fee rose to Ir75,000gns as he was initially champion first-season sire and then Britain and Ireland's champion stallion in 1982. Be My Guest, who died aged 30 in 2004, is remembered at Coolmore - and at Goffs - by a life-sized bronze.

                There were many other outstanding results on the racecourse or at stud in those early years from such greats as Sadler's Wells, who was bred by Sangster's Swettenham Stud out of a mare bought as a yearling at Keeneland, El Gran Senor, Be My Guest's son Assert, Alleged, Storm Bird, Golden Fleece, Fairy King and Caerleon. They laid the foundations for a bloodstock empire that has continued to grow and while many of the main players, both human and equine, may no longer be around, John Magnier's Coolmore is still a breeding operation without parallel.

                Comment


                • #9
                  This February, at Calder in Florida, Irish vet Demi O'Byrne, bidding for a syndicate from Coolmore Stud, shattered the record price for a thoroughbred set more than 20 years earlier when paying $16.1 million for a two-year-old colt by Forestry. The youngster was named The Green Monkey and, as with Seattle Dancer, who set the previous benchmark of $13.1 million, the Maktoum family of Dubai were underbidders to John Magnier's team. Not much had changed, it seemed, during the intervening period.

                  Coolmore had continued to grow in scale, although these days it has a rival bidding to develop a global stallion operation, in the shape of Sheikh Mohammed's Darley.
                  Most of the one-time key players have gone

                  And while a now 58-year-old John Magnier is still very much at Coolmore's helm - indeed he is now proprietor of the vast stud operation as well as the Ballydoyle training stables - most of the other one-time key players have either taken a back seat or passed away. Robert Sangster, has lost a courageous fight against cancer, while Vincent O'Brien spends much of his time in Australia. Another, unrelated O'Brien, Aidan - a native of Wexford who had shown exceptional skill initially training jumpers - was installed by Magnier at Ballydoyle following his namesake's retirement in 1994.
                  Influx of new blood

                  By the mid 1980s, Magnier and his team were less conspicuous in the sale ring. Sangster raced mainly home-breds and his interests at Coolmore were much reduced by the time of his death. New stallions came from other sources. Danehill was an inspired purchase from Prince Khalid Abdullah for a mere £4 million in 1989, while others were bought from owners such as Lord Howard de Walden, one-time Coolmore partner Stavros Niarchos, Daniel Wildenstein and Lord Weinstock.

                  A new chapter was added to the Coolmore story in 1995. London-born, Monaco-based Michael Tabor, a well-known rails bookmaker who had some spare capital after selling his Arthur Prince betting-shop chain, was holidaying in Barbados and met Magnier and former Coolmore vet Demi O'Byrne, the man who had travelled with Nijinsky when he won the 1970 Triple Crown.

                  O'Byrne, a native of Co Waterford from another famous family of horsemen, bought American Classic contender Thunder Gulch privately for Tabor in 1995 and the colt went on to win both the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes.
                  Magnier became a major player again with new partner Tabor

                  Magnier became a major player again at the top yearling sales with his new partner Tabor, advised by O'Byrne. In 1995, they bought three of the top four lots at Keeneland in July and a Sadler's Wells colt who jointly topped Tattersalls' Houghton Sale at 600,000gns. That colt was named Entrepreneur and marked the arrival of Magnier in a role he had previously not publicised - as a major racehorse owner - when winning the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket.

                  In the same year, Aidan O'Brien had his first Classic successes in Ireland's 2000 Guineas and Derby with Desert King, also owned by the Tabor/Magnier partnership.

                  Those victories opened the floodgates to a string of other successes sporting either Tabor's blue and orange silks or the plain dark blue colours of Magnier's wife Sue. Epsom Derby heroes Galileo and High Chaparral, champions and Classic winners such as Giant's Causeway, Montjeu, Rock Of Gibraltar, Hurricane Run, Stravinsky, Fasliyev, Hawk Wing, Johannesburg, Milan, Brian Boru and Footstepsinthesand mean that Coolmore is once again producing its own stallions, while talented fillies such as Imagine, Shahtoush and Virginia Waters have enhanced an already blue-blooded broodmare band.
                  Friends reunited

                  Derrick Smith has joined forces with Magnier and Tabor in purchases from the 2004 and 2005 yearling sales, as well as in the $16.1 million breeze-up colt. An old friend of Tabor's who at one time manned Ladbrokes' racecourse pitches, Smith is now based in Barbados where he, along with his two partners, has amassed a fortune from trading in currencies. Indeed, these days, for Magnier, Coolmore is just one of many business enterprises. With partners such as top jumps owner JP McManus, Smith, Dublin financier Dermot Desmond and Horseracing Ireland chairman Denis Brosnan, he has a myriad other interests.
                  Coolmore is now more than the rambling couple of hundred acres Magnier took over in 1975

                  He famously, with McManus, owned a 28.7 per cent stake in Manchester United football club, which was sold to American tycoon Malcolm Glazer. The pair have also invested in the Barchester chain of nursing homes, a property company that owns Unilever House in London, leisure clubs, including the Chelsea Harbour Club, and the Sandy Lane Hotel in Barbados.

                  Yet Coolmore is now far more than the rambling couple of hundred acres taken over by Magnier in 1975. Neighbouring farms have gradually been added in Co Tipperary and Co Cork to bring the acreage into thousands, including also Ballydoyle and the Longfield Stud training establishment occupied by Magnier's son-in-law David Wachman.
                  Innovative stuff

                  Two innovations pioneered by Magnier, at first frowned upon by traditionalists and now the industry norm, were the covering of huge books of mares and shuttling stallions to the southern hemisphere often to double their annual earning potential. Along with one of America's most-profitable stallion stations, Ashford Stud in Kentucky, Coolmore also runs one of the southern hemisphere's most prestigious farms in Australia's Hunter Valley.

                  As well as its own flagship stallions, including Sadler's Wells, Giant's Causeway and Montjeu, Coolmore has breeding rights and shares in many other top sires, including Storm Cat and Kingmambo. Since Caerleon lifted the British and Irish sires' championship in 1988, the title has only once failed to go to Coolmore. Caerleon scored again in 1991, Sadler's Wells took 14 titles, while Danehill posthumously scored in 2005.

                  Coolmore's key personnel have changed. Gay O'Callaghan, whose brother Tony is married to John Magnier's sister, long ago left to become one of the most successful modern-day pinhookers, as well as running his own successful stallion farm at Morristown Lattin Stud. The staff line-up, built up over two decades, however, remains the envy of all its rivals.
                  Winning team

                  General manager Christy Grassick is a supreme diplomat from a famous racing family, while Magnier's right-hand man is Paul Shanahan, a cousin of Tabor's adviser Demi O'Byrne, and someone who worked his way through the farm's ranks. Vet John Halley, who runs a practice with O'Byrne, is on hand racing with all the major Ballydoyle runners, and the stud employs two first-class financial brains in Eddie Irwin and Clem Murphy. The marketing, which is such a crucial component at Coolmore, is handled by the Fethard-based Primus Advertising agency run by Richard Henry.
                  Magnier's vision has been more successful than perhaps he could ever have hoped

                  There are many other advisers, including that famed horseman Timmy Hyde, who pinhooks successfully in partnership with Shanahan, while a large number of Magnier's mares are owned in partnership with his old school friend David Nagle at his Barronstown Stud in Co Wicklow. The Coolmore story will have many more chapters, and some will undoubtedly bring about a feeling of deja vu. But Magnier can look back with satisfaction that his vision of producing future stallions has been more successful than perhaps he could ever have hoped .

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    The business on...Andrew Tinkler, Chief executive, Stobart Group


                    The man with all the Yorkie bars?


                    Actually, he's a builder by trade, rather than a trucker.

                    But he has been in charge of the Eddie Stobart road haulage business since 2004. He and his business partner, William Stobart, bought out Eddie Stobart Jnr, the latter's brother and the son of the original founder. Then they floated the company three years later.

                    And how is it all going?

                    Not too badly. Stobart said yesterday that, while the December snowfall cost it £1.5m, it was still on target to hit profit targets for the year.

                    The boss has obviously been putting his foot down

                    Metaphorically speaking – an expansion into rail freight has done well and Stobart has won a string of contracts with big corporate clients.

                    But he doesn't drive the trucks?

                    No, Stobart's fleet of lorries, each one with its own girl's name, is manned by professional hauliers.

                    So how did Mr Tinkler make enough money to buy into Stobart in the first place?

                    A combination of hard work and luck. He met William Stobart when they were both teenagers and even had a part-time job washing the lorries. Then he set himself up as a joiner. On his first job, fitting doors at an old people's home, he was asked whether he wanted a big building contract. He said yes immediately, hired a couple of contractors and started his own building business. It became a huge success.

                    Has the money gone to his head?

                    Not at all, apparently. People often comment on his clothes – he likes a bit of designer clobber – but he remains closely involved in the community near his home in Carlisle, and Stobart Group sponsors a string of local sports teams.

                    What, no vices at all?

                    Not unless you count the gee-gees, his big interest outside work. Having got really into the sport two or three years ago, Mr Tinkler now has 15 racehorses in training with Michael Dods in Darlington. They race under Stobart's green colours, naturally.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Rothschilds cleaning up ...bit about their horse interest history from 2009
                      The Rothschilds' racing heritage

                      10:34am Tuesday 30th June 2009 in History By Gill Oliver

                      James de Rothschild (centre right) and friends celebrating Bomba’s 1909 Ascot Gold Cup Win. Below, a newspaper cutting shows James and Dorothy de Rothschild arriving at the races. Waddesdon, The Rothschild Collection (The National Trust)
                      One hundred years ago this month, a horse named Bomba romped home to win the Gold Cup at Ascot as his proud owner, James de Rothschild, looked on.

                      Born in France in 1878, James went to study at Cambridge University where he developed a passion for riding in point-to-points and hunts. He was a maverick and wiling to take risks, something that made him the subject of good-natured teasing.

                      But, aged just 20, he backed a horse named Jeddah at odds of 100-1 in the 1898 Epsom Derby. The horse made it first past the post and James’ reputation as a fearless gambler was born.


                      Much of his success on the racetrack was shared with trainer Frederick Pratt, whom he appointed in 1903 and remained personally and professionally attached to for 42 years.

                      The Epsom victory in 1909 forms the basis of a new exhibition at Waddesdon Manor celebrating the long and colourful horse racing heritage of the Rothschild dynasty.

                      The collection of archive photographs, letters and other documents reveals James to have been a fascinating character with a deep love of horses.

                      After finishing his degree, he was so keen to carry on with his equestrian activities, he wrote to his parents in Paris asking to stay on at university for an extra year.


                      But at the end of that time, he absconded to Australia in an attempt to experience life as an ordinary person, not a member of the rich and powerful Rothschild family.

                      There he spent 18 months, trying his hand at a variety of jobs, including working as a cowboy on a cattle ranch.

                      On his return, he dutifully took his turn in the bank, as was expected of all Rothschilds, but never lost his individuality, or his love of horses and racing.

                      During the First World War James was lucky to survive an explopsion which blew him out of his vehicle. After recovering from his injuries, he went back to France, continuing to contribute to the war effort as a courier on horseback.

                      Unfortunately, his horse was shot from under him and he was again seriously wounded, the result of which was to make him frail in later years.

                      The other major love of James’ life was his wife Dorothy, ne Pinto, who shared his interest in horses and racing. There are several photographs of her in the exhibition.

                      Waddesdon Manor’s own association with horse racing began after James inherited the estate from his aunt, Alice in 1922.

                      One of the first things he did was build a stud to house his brood mares and in fact it is still active and well-known in racing circles.

                      That same year, James was elected to the Jockey Club and the exhibition includes the original letter confirming his appointment.

                      On show are a couple of caricatures of him as he was a popular subject for the cartoonists on magazines Vanity Fair and Punch, due to his unconventional approach and that he was tall, gangly and wore a monocle. In fact, this was a legacy of an accident he had as a young man, when a golf ball hit him in the face and left him virtually blind in his right eye.

                      Curator of exhibitions at Waddesdon Manor, Diana Stone, said: “I have these visions of James and Dorothy sitting up late on winter’s evenings discussing which mares should be bred and what names to choose for the foals.”

                      Records prove that James had a sense of humour. When his horse Snow Leopard failed to achieve an expected win, he swiftly renamed him Slow Leopard.

                      Even when James was very old and frail, he and Dorothy would come down to Waddesdon every weekend, Diana revealed.

                      “James’ driver would take them down to the paddock and pull up as close to the fence as possible.

                      “He would whistle to call his favourite horse, Palestine and gave him treats,” she added.

                      After James died in 1957, Dorothy took over running the house in conjunction with the National Trust and kept the stud very much operational.

                      Her hands-on approach was evident in that she would arrive at Waddesdon on Friday evening and first thing the following morning would go to see the mares and foals.

                      Visitors to the exhibition can read archived records showing ledger books in Dorothy’s handwriting, relating to the birth and growth patterns of the foals.

                      There are also several hand-typed and signed letters from Dorothy to the racehorse authority, requesting specific names.

                      James was certainly not the first Rothschild to have a passion for horses and racing. Mayer Amschel Rothschild, from the London branch of the family, had a spectacular racing career.

                      In 1871, he won four out of five Classic races, while his nephew Leopold engaged in friendly rivalry with the Prince of Wales who was also an avid race-goer.

                      The French arm of the dynasty were also keen on the sport and bred and raced great stallions, including Brantome who won the French Triple Crown and the Arc de Triomphe.

                      The family’s association with horse racing is still strong and Waddesdon Stud continues to thrive, overseen by the present Lord Rothschild’s wife, Lady Serena Rothschild.

                      And in a splendid nod to the past, her horses still run in the same blue-and-gold colours as Bomba’s jockey sported when he took the Gold Cup a century ago.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        IMMEDIATELY after four frenzied days at Cheltenham, Michael Buckley will be New York-bound for Sunday's opening night on Broadway of Priscilla Queen of the Desert. His name will be up in lights as one of the producers of the jukebox musical based upon the movie of the same name.

                        "If all my festival bets go down and Priscilla gets panned, it will be a disastrous week - but that will not be an entirely new experience for me," he half grins with an air of stoicism. "I've had plenty of setbacks in racing and business."

                        Fortuitously, his financial calamities were ultimately reversed by masterstrokes of inspired enterprise. Right now he is on a roll and in a position to fund his biggest team of jumpers - 16 with Nicky Henderson and two with Jessica Harrington - on the back of selling an online gaming*company, which specialised in bingo, to PartyGaming around 18 months ago.


                        One of the more recent equine acquisitions was Solix, an entry for the Stan James Champion*Hurdle, Coral Cup and Vincent O'Brien County Hurdle, who will make his debut in Britain in Saturday's Totesport Trophy. Buckley, who enjoys a punt, is on at 16-1. Solix won more than pounds 160,000 in France and was ranked in the top flight of juvenile hurdlers when raced by breeder-owner-trainer Guy Cherel.

                        "He has a lot of weight off a mark of 152 and this is a big ask, but he has had plenty of experience with eight races and he stays well," says Buckley.

                        "I watched him work at Seven Barrows*the other morning and I saw nothing to put me off the belief that he's a nice horse. He looks better than many horses when they arrive from France. Nicky seems to like him a lot."

                        Also on Saturday, Buckley's Finian's Rainbow seeks to consolidate his position as favourite for the Irish Independent Arkle with a win in Warwick's Kingmaker Novices' Chase. He joined the team after Buckley watched a video of his first race, a point-to-point at Inch in Ireland, where he would have won but for a last-fence fall.

                        He says: "I'd got it into my head that he was a stayer. Although he ran creditably when fifth over the two miles five of the Neptune at last season's festival, he didn't quite seem to get home and I wondered if he had a breathing problem.

                        "He'd always shown a lot of pace at home, and Nicky's assistant Tom Symonds was the first to mention that he thought this could be a horse for the Arkle. I shrugged off that idea at the time, but Barry Geraghty*said that stayers can have the pace to be competitive in the Arkle, and gave Kicking King [second to Well Chief in 2004] as an obvious example. Barry added that he would expect Finian's to stay three miles, but he considers he has more pace over two than Kicking King."

                        EVER the realist in the light of previous disappointments with hyped horses, Buckley pulls up short of getting carried away.

                        "He has won two novice chases at Newbury and in doing so has beaten a total of four opponents," he says. "He is a lovely horse with a docile temperament, although he gets pretty enthusiastic in his races. He may lack a bit of experience and at this stage [second favourite] Ghizao is the more proven article for the Arkle."

                        An entrepreneur and impresario, Buckley's involvement in racing has ebbed and flowed with the wild fluctuations of his commercial activities. He was going well, still in his 20s, when buying Zeta's Son and a half-share in Grand Canyon. But when the pair completed a fabulous same-day double in 1976, winning the Hennessy Gold Cup and Colonial Cup in South Carolina, the financial tide was on the ebb.

                        "I was at the Colonial Cup and didn't have much money, and my partner Pat Samuel was in a similar position," Buckley remembers. "Before the race a local woman was keen to buy Grand Canyon for $100,000 and we did everything to encourage her, but it didn't happen.

                        "After the win, with prize-money of $60,000, we persuaded the organising committee to give us a $5,000 advance on our prize because we wanted to go to Las Vegas and needed some gambling money. By chance, Elvis Presley was live at the Las Vegas Hilton*and it had been my ambition to see him in a concert. Elvis was fat and fabulous, and I loved it."

                        An accountant originally from East Grinstead and weaned on jump racing at Plumpton, Buckley's world moved at a relentless pace. A kid wanting to make an impact, he was in his 20s and running his first company when acquiring the Falklands Islands Company that owned 75 per cent of the South Atlantic islands.

                        "I got lucky because the price of wool soared and we owned 375,000 sheep," he says. "My company recovered the purchase price within nine months. I was summoned to Whitehall to explain my intentions to the foreign secretary. I went through the financial reasons for making the deal and was told not to accept any offers from Argentina.

                        "By the time of the war my company had been taken over. It was a great era for doing deals. I regret that I never actually got down there, but I was put off by the thought of eating tough old mutton*and having to go all over the island on horseback. I love horses, but riding them is a different matter."

                        Later, he was a founder director of Meridian TV and chairman of a production company that had a dozen shows running in the same year. "They were seriously highbrow intellectual entertainment, such as Birds of a Feather, Lovejoy, and Love Hurts."

                        During the 1990s he turned his attention to the Far East, and was building cinemas in conjunction with United Artists Theatre, and also launched the first Chinese language satellite station in Europe. "I didn't have many horses at that stage because I was spending most of my time in Asia."

                        Then came a major setback. Buckley recalls: "I got buried in the Far East financial meltdown, which meant another non-horse buying period. Timing is everything in business. I was in business there at the wrong time."

                        No matter how gruesome his business reverses, it is clear that nothing wounded him more deeply than an incident at Ascot on January 12, 1990, when The Proclamation was killed in a fall during a novice chase.

                        "I doubt I'll ever again own one as good as him," he says. "I remember being in a London taxi with Nicky when he told me I might well have the next Desert Orchid. He had won a novice chase but Nicky said to me that we could go back over hurdles if I was desperate to win a Champion Hurdle because, in his view, he was at least 10lb better than See You Then. I said let's stay chasing, and a week later he was dead. It was a heartache. If I'd more brains I'd have given up then."

                        The next season he lost another at Ascot, and the same the following season. "The next spring, when Tinryland managed to complete the course there, although beaten 25 lengths, one of the stewards congratulated me," he recalls.

                        His team depleted, to the outside world he had appeared to step away from racing.

                        He says: "It was a wretched experience, but it would be untruthful to suggest I had less horses due to the emotional reasons. It was more down to business not going so well."

                        His festival squad does not look quite as potent as it did at the turn of the year. After a poor run in the Cleeve Hurdle, last season's Coral Cup winner Spirit River is being rested until the autumn. Surfing, beaten at 4-11 at Chepstow last week, is a more likely candidate for the Jewson than the Arkle. Mossley became bogged down in the Warwick mud and, in similar conditions, State Benefit laboured at Chepstow.

                        HOWEVER, apart from Solix and Finian's Rainbow, Buckley has other potential aces to play. Spirit Son, winner of both his starts, runs in the Listed novice hurdle at Exeter on Sunday as a trial for the Stan James Supreme Novices' Hurdle. Lush Life, who has been a slow learner, may go for the Pertemps Final, and Titan De Sarti will run in the Fred Winter Handicap Hurdle or the JCB*Triumph Hurdle, for which he was favourite at one stage.

                        On the official website for the Broadway version of Priscilla, the mini biographies include Buckley's which, after reference to his former involvement in the Falkland Islands, adds "he also owned a factory making stockings and tights - a good grounding for Priscilla".

                        He is modest over his involvement in the show, saying: "I may glory in the title of producer, but in reality that's a misnomer. In the US if we get together enough money to put a show on Broadway they call you a producer as an ego massage and to try to persuade you to put in more."

                        No matter Buckley's title, if this latest visit to the US is as successful as his first, there will be more funds in the horse kitty for next winter.

                        Buckley stars Zeta's Son Won 1976 Hennessy Gold Cup. "Ron Barry was convinced he'd win the next year's Grand National, but sadly he broke a leg in the race."

                        Strombolus Won 1978 Whitbread Gold Cup. "He was one of the two best bumper horses of his generation in Ireland. It took me an age to buy him. When I handed Paddy Sleator a cheque for pounds 16,000 he said, 'no horse in the world is worth that much, but if it was, this might be the one'."

                        Brown Windsor In partnership with Bill Shand Kydd. Won 1989 Whitbread Gold Cup; 1990 Cathcart Chase.

                        Thumbs Up Won 1993 County Hurdle.

                        Grand Canyon Owned a half-share in partnership with Pat Samuel. Won 1976 and 1978 Colonial Cup; 1978 SGB*Chase. Broke course records in five consecutive races.

                        Zaynar A partner in syndicate. Won 2009 Triumph Hurdle, Ascot Hurdle, Relkeel Hurdle. "He owes me nothing. I had pounds 1,000 at 33-1 for the Triumph. I believe he's more of a stayer now, but not everyone in the syndicate agrees. Time will tell."

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          THANKS sprinter ...wonder what they think of Finians now. Has champion chase gold cup double ever been done ?

                          He says: "I'd got it into my head that he was a stayer. Although he ran creditably when fifth over the two miles five of the Neptune at last season's festival, he didn't quite seem to get home and I wondered if he had a breathing problem.

                          "He'd always shown a lot of pace at home, and Nicky's assistant Tom Symonds was the first to mention that he thought this could be a horse for the Arkle. I shrugged off that idea at the time, but Barry Geraghty*said that stayers can have the pace to be competitive in the Arkle, and gave Kicking King [second to Well Chief in 2004] as an obvious example. Barry added that he would expect Finian's to stay three miles, but he considers he has more pace over two than Kicking King."

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Harry Findlay has bought a dog track now ..

                            man with whom the phrase ‘larger than life’ is synonymous, Harry Findlay does not disappoint when he speaks about his plans for Coventry’s Brandon Stadium.

                            “I’m changing the face of gambling,” he says before going on to outline his scheme to take the newly reopened dog track to the forefront of the sport in the UK.

                            A professional gambler and former owner of several high-profile horses including Gold Cup winner Denman, Findlay’s colourful persona and reputation for straight talking have made him an interviewee’s dream and brought about several brushes with the horse racing authorities.

                            The most notable saw him banned from racing for six months, later reduced to £4,500 on appeal, after he admitted betting on one of his horses, Gullible Gordon, to lose.

                            Findlay had bet more on the horse to win than he laid, but after the initial hearing, a typically off-the-cuff reaction saw him vow to cut all his ties with British horseracing.

                            Less than 12 months later, the last of the string of horses he owned alongside his mother had been sold off.

                            So it was something of a shock when in May, two-and-a-half years after ceasing trading, Coventry Dogs reopened under Findlay’s stewardship without the usual fanfare associated with the 50-year-old.

                            “The dog game is in trouble,” said Findlay, who has relocated from Bath to Leamington.

                            “Because of that, first and foremost I wanted to get the dog people in, the 300 or 400 hardcore and in two-and-a-half months we’re ahead of where I thought we’d be.”

                            The relatively unheralded reappearance of Coventry on the dog scene has not stopped Findlay ruffling a few feathers within the industry, however.

                            Typically, tracks take 29 per cent out of the tote, but Findlay’s pledge to take out just half that amount promises to shake up the way the sport operates and for a man not averse to waging thousands of pounds in one bet, represents his biggest gamble.

                            “I’ve owned dogs all my life and I’m doing it for the sport, for punters everywhere.

                            “Coventry is a place where punters get unheard of value, because if you don’t win you don’t come back.

                            “It’s picking up nicely. In the first year you don’t get a grant, but I’m still offering the best prices in the country.

                            “I’m doing it at a loss because I believe in the bigger picture. My ideas will work.”

                            Findlay, who has taken out a five-year uninterrupted lease on the stadium, has plans to stage the Masters next season with minimum prizemoney on offer of £50,000.

                            He is also confident of snaring the Derby, the most prestigious race on the greyhound calendar, from its current home at Wimbledon.

                            “Everyone knows we’re the best in the country, the best track in the world even. If you ask the top 50 trainers they will tell you that because of our safety record and welfare.

                            “Because of our size there’s much less bunching and I firmly believe we’ll get the Derby and all the major races.”

                            A typically out-there claim that he has done more than anyone in the last 25 years for greyhound welfare and the rehousing of retired greyhounds follows before he goes on to explain the motivation behind his switch to the West Midlands.

                            “I don’t want to be in the horse game again and I don’t desire big houses or need big cars.

                            “I’m slowing down on the punting - I’m finding it more stressful now I’ve hit 50.

                            “But I get a buzz from watching the small punters win, knowing they’re getting good value.

                            “What I’m doing is changing the face of gambling. In two years all the other tracks will be doing the same and coming down to 15 per cent.

                            “I’m taking the money from the bookmakers and promoters and giving it back to the people on the street.”

                            The scourge of the bookmakers for so long, Findlay’s intention to be the punter’s friend has more than a ring of the Robin Hoods about it.

                            But, with an infectious enthusiasm for the sport and a customer-centred approach, in Coventry, Findlay may well have backed himself another winner.

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                            • #15
                              Last Years Kerry National owner was owned by US based Irvin S Naylor

                              Bio: Irvin S. Naylor, a York, Pa., businessman and philanthropist, established a record for earnings by an owner in 2011 with $719,725, breaking the former mark by more than $100,000. Won his first Eclipse Award in 2011 with Black Jack Blues, who is undefeated in U.S. racing after arriving from Wales last September. Also campaigns two-time $150,000 Calvin Houghland Iroquois (Gr. 1) winner Tax Ruling, who was runner-up to Black Jack Blues in the Eclipse voting. Had a strong start to the 2012 season with four stakes wins, three of them graded, with Pullyourfingerout, Black Jack Blues, and Via Galilei. A longtime steeplechase participant who until recent years has concentrated almost exclusively on timber racing, Naylor won the 2010 owner title by earnings. He owns Still Water Farm in Butler, Md., and has horses with several trainers. Since mid-2011, J. W. Delozier has trained his principal string and accounted for Naylor's four stakes winners through Sept. 1.
                              and a lot more about him here.

                              Paralyzed in Riding Accident, Naylor Funds Search for a Cure
                              By Stephanie Lawson

                              Editor's note: Irv Naylor, renowned in the steeplechasing world as a former top amateur rider and current owner of leading horses, lost the use of his legs and hands in a fall nearly ten years ago. He has made an enthusiastic commitment to stem cell research as the avenue to discover a cure for paralysis. This is his story of his progress.

                              by Irvin S. Naylor

                              "God does all things for good and with deliberate purpose."

                              Was my mother, Ida Mae, right in her ardent belief in this Biblical paraphrase?

                              My life changed forever about 3:30 p.m. on April 17, 1999. I was riding my good Irish horse, Emerald Action, in the Grand National Timber Steeplechase Stakes at Butler, Maryland. He ran and jumped brilliantly, and was leading as we approached the sixteenth of eighteen fences, when the horse I knew we had to beat, Welterweight, came along side.

                              I can only assume that Action was distracted by the presence of Welterweight, because the always reliable Action arose to the unbreakable stake-and-bound fence only at the last moment. Then a half ton of horse, traveling at 25 or so miles an hour, came down heavily, throwing me to the right side of my face, and breaking the C5 vertebrae in my neck.

                              I remember little after the fall–just that I was paralyzed and could move neither my feet nor my legs, my arms nor my hands. It seemed hours before I was transported, first by an ambulance and then a helicopter, to the shock trauma medical unit of the University of Maryland Hospital. You cannot predict life's vicissitudes; you can only prepare. But nothing could have prepared me for what I saw on being turned face down on a revolving gurney. Lying directly in front of me were both my organ donor commitment card and my living will.
                              Regained Use of Arms

                              Over the next couple of months, I did regain the use of my arms, but progress ended there. Doctors in both Cleveland and Baltimore operated several times on my hands in the next years. But to little avail.

                              Upon returning home about July 15, one of my first commercial deeds was to have a hard look at my balance sheet–fine for a 64-year-old entrepreneur who had started his first company in 1961 with a $20,000 loan from his mother (repaid a year later with interest!)–quite frankly, it staggered me. About a third of my worth was in Snow Time, Inc., a three-ski area holding company which I started with the first ski area in 1964; about a third in Cor-Box, a corrugated box company which I started in 1968; about a third in real estate, consisting of a small industrial park and several farming and commercial properties.

                              I concluded that I should sell one of these about-one-third-each holdings. I loved skiing, especially heli, and the ski business. I knew it better than corrugation, which I developed more as a financial than managerial owner. To sell the real estate would have taken more time than I thought I might have. Therefore, I made the decision to sell Cor-Box and did so in November of 1999. After a tax reservation, I made provision for appropriate legacies and saw, with satisfaction and gratitude, that I still had more than my perceived needs. Over the next four years I sold all of the real estate that I wanted to sell and felt ready to take on the larger challenges I faced.
                              Stem Cells

                              I turned my interest, instincts, and intellect toward a cure for my paralysis; it wasn't long before my research found stem cells and Advanced Cell Technology, the company which in 2001 cloned the first human embryo. I contacted President Michael West who told me that they were looking for venture capital, so I invited them to my home in York for a meeting with half a dozen of my friends who I thought might be interested; they weren't, as ACT was not yet ripe enough even for venture capital. But I did meet Dr. Jose Cibelli (www.reprogramming.net), their pioneering scientist to whom I took an instant liking and in whose work I became mesmerized. His brilliance was fascinating; his optimism contagious; his charm disarming.

                              Jose shortly thereafter left ACT, assisting the Bedford Spinal Cord Research Foundation for a short time; but needing a larger platform, he cast his lot with Michigan State University. We stayed in touch. He confided in me that his work at MSU could move faster with more financial resources. President Bush's restriction on embryonic stem cell research was not helpful. I asked Jose to send me a three-year budget and plan; he did and upon my review I told him that I approved the plan but that I would need a 50 percent partner for the budget.
                              NIH Level Funding

                              It took us only two weeks to find a suitable partner. After a few days of phone negotiations, a state representative and I agreed that Michigan and I would equally fund Jose's team at a level similar to that at which the National Institute of Health proposals were generally funded. We agreed to the aggressive timeline of three years instead of the usual five.

                              Jose's first goal was to create DNA-specific embryonic stem cells to someone who could use them to find a cure for paralysis–and guess who wants to be his first guinea pig!

                              Through a process called "dedifferentiation," Jose and his team were able to convert skin cells back to their embryonic stage. This process allowed for the production of embryonic stem cells without killing an embryo, thus overcoming the objections of those who found the use of human embryos for this purpose morally objectionable. This scientific marvel was publicly eclipsed by another group of scientists weeks before Jose's team were prepared to announce their achievement. Jose was disappointed, but (as was his character), he only worked harder.
                              Michigan Team

                              The "Michigan Team" is now working with models for human injury. They are currently testing these cells for safety and efficacy. They will continue to perform tests until the level of risk is better understood and considered manageable. For cell therapy, these are uncharted waters.

                              Even before I met Jose I felt strongly that stem cells would be the only cure within my life horizon; therefore, I had asked a local friend and plastic surgeon to take a punch biopsy from my right inside thigh. I had sent that for cryostorage in California and for scientists there to begin establishing stem cell lines of my skin.

                              My goal is to have my newly reprogrammed cells injected in the location of my C5/6 injury. But the downsides are serious: death or cancer, (although neither is likely), or a tumor which can probably be excised.

                              My primary fear is pain. I am always uncomfortable now but have no chronic pain. I have a friend in Baltimore with my exact injury also created from a horseback riding accident and he is in chronic pain. I think of him every day. But fear pales in the face of hope–and my hope is to be the first person with my condition to walk from a wheelchair. And perhaps millions worldwide will follow me from their wheelchairs.

                              Hopefully, by spring 2009, I will have returned from London or New Delhi or Beijing and will be skiing in the March sunshine on my favorite Aspen slope.

                              Had Mother been Catholic instead of Lutheran, I suspect by now she would be on the saint's waiting list right behind Mother Theresa. She was the most loving, patient, caring and wholesome woman imaginable. As my sister once said, "She could charm the Devil!" And one of her mantras was that "God does all things for good and with deliberate purpose."

                              I'm glad she wasn't there to see me break my neck and I'm glad she hasn't seen my struggle since. She joined our deceased relatives in 1983. But was it God's plan that I should break my neck, sell Cor-Box, meet Jose, contribute to his stem cell studies and help with a cure for paralysis? Only God–and now, perhaps Mother–knows the answer to that haunting conundrum.

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