Fergie's friend not one to boast

13 April 2012

Two Irishmen, well known in horseracing circles, are now a whole lot more familiar to the footballing world. JP McManus and John Magnier have bought a large slice of Manchester United, investing almost £25million in the Premiership club managed by their good friend, Sir Alex Ferguson.

JP we know - he's the JCB driver-turned-gambler whose famous green-and-gold-striped silks are carried by triple Champion Hurdler Istabraq. But although Magnier's name also appears frequently in racing's annals, he shuns the limelight.

"I detest interviews," he has said. "I don't like publicity for myself because it's boasting and we were brought up not to boast. It's against my religion."

But when you run the world's largest-ever thoroughbred breeding operation, part-own Barbados's famous Sandy Lane Hotel, play on the international currency markets, consort with the likes of billionaire Joe Lewis, pools heir Robert Sangster, Eastender-done-good Michael Tabor and Dublin financier Dermot Desmond, it's hard to go all Greta Garbo. Now the 53- year- old entrepreneur has increased his interest in Manchester United through his and JP's Cubic Expression Company, from 2.9 to 6.77 per cent, making them the secondlargest stakeholders after BSkyB with 9.99 per cent.

Magnier refers football questions to JP and is said to regard the United purchase as "purely financial". Why change the habit of a lifetime? He made his fortune in a sport where most lose theirs.

He left Glenstal Abbey school aged 15 following the death of father, Michael, to help his mother, Evie Stockwell, run the family's Grange Stud and cattle farm at Fermoy, County Cork. The Magniers had bred horses since the 1850s, including Cottage - sire of the Vincent O'Brien-trained triple Cheltenham Gold Cup hero, Cottage Rake. The Magniers and O'Briens go back a long way. Evie was matron of honour at Vincent's wedding in 1951 and it was perhaps inevitable that John married his daughter, Susan, in 1975.

The couple have five children. Magnier's business was then flourishing, albeit on a far more modest scale than today. O'Brien - perhaps the greatest trainer in history - was thriving at Ballydoyle and in 1973 had been made partner in Wing Commander Tim Vigors' Co Tipperary Coolmore Stud.

His son-in-law was networking, impressing Sangster by buying Green God in 1971 for his newly purchased Castle Hyde Stud. Sangster mares patronised Green God and an alliance was formed.

A matter of months before Magnier's marriage, aged 27, the ambitious duo became partners with the Vigors/O'Brien axis. Vigors later dropped out, leaving the financially blessed triumvirate to revolutionise the bloodstock business.

They assailed the world's auction rings, seeking nascent stallions, with unparalleled success. Their assets read like an equine Who's Who of the 1970s and early 1980s - Alleged, Assert, Be My Guest, Caerleon, El Gran Senor, Fairy King, Golden Fleece, Sadler's Wells, Storm Bird and The Minstrel.

In Sadler's Wells, Coolmore have a licence to print money. The outstanding-European stallion of modern times, he covered 196 mares last year at IR200,000gns a go - a tax-free income of more than £40 million.

Sangster took a back seat in the mid-1980s. Tabor, wallet bulging from selling his Arthur Prince betting-shop chain, is now Magnier's right-hand man. They met in Barbados, where Magnier owns a mansion.

Glories were unhalted - Entrepreneur, Montjeu, Giant's Causeway, Desert King, King Of Kings, Stravinsky and now dual Derby hero, Galileo, and sprint star, Mozart. Their string is mostly trained by Aidan O'Brien - no relation to Vincent, but Magnier's shrewd appointment as successor at Ballydoyle on his retirement in 1994.

Coolmore's empire now stretches to Kentucky and Australia's Hunter Valley. The stud also holds valuable breeding rights to Storm Cat, America's most successful active stallion, and was a big noise at this month's Keeneland Sales.

Yet despite his riches and famous friends - including Tiger Woods, David Duval and Formula One boss Eddie Jordan - it is clear that privacy is the one thing that Magnier values above all else.

MORE ABOUT

Athletics, Track And Field

Hurdles

Fergie's friend not one to boast

Read More