John Magnier | |
---|---|
Born | Fermoy, County Cork, Ireland | 10 February 1948
Occupation | Coolmore Stud |
Spouse | Susan O'Brien |
Children | 5 |
Senator | |
In office 23 April 1987 –1 November 1989 | |
Constituency | Nominated by the Taoiseach |
Personal details | |
Political party | Independent |
John Magnier (born 10 February 1948) is an Irish business magnate. He is Ireland's leading thoroughbred stud owner and has extensive business interests outside the horse-breeding industry.
Magnier was a senator in the upper house of the Oireachtas,Seanad Éireann from 1987 to 1989. [1] He is based at Coolmore Stud at Fethard in County Tipperary,considered one of the world's pre-eminent stallion stations,and a nursery of thoroughbreds.
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Magnier was born in Fermoy, County Cork, the eldest son of Thomas Magnier (1909–1962) a County Cork landowner. His aunt Mary Elizabeth Hallinan married Rupert Watson, 3rd Baron Manton, Senior Steward of the Jockey Club 1982–1985, [2] effectively the chief executive of the British horse racing industry.
Magnier received his formal education at Glenstal Abbey in County Limerick but had to leave school at 15 to take charge of the family estate near Fermoy after his father died. [3]
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Magnier later moved to County Tipperary, where he transformed Coolmore Stud into a multi-million-euro international business.[ citation needed ] The business is headquartered in County Tipperary where a number of other stud farms are part of an extensive network which includes Longfield and Castlehyde studs. The operation also has branches in Versailles, Kentucky and at Jerrys Plains, New South Wales, Australia.
Magnier began his association with Coolmore in partnership with his father-in-law and champion racehorse trainer, Vincent O'Brien, and Vernon's Pools magnate, Robert Sangster. They developed the best racing horses and breeding stock, mainly by purchasing the progeny of the great Canadian stallion Northern Dancer [ citation needed ] . Their forays to the bloodstock auctions at Keeneland Sales furthered their rising stock at home. Eventually, Magnier came to head the operation and thus began an upward spiral of success. His racing empire, which became arguably the most successful on the planet[ citation needed ]is nowadays powered by a huge string of blue-blooded thoroughbreds trained at Ballydoyle by Aidan O'Brien, plus dozens of others in the care of a number of other trainers.
Champion sires to have stood at Coolmore include the incomparable Sadler's Wells who was leading sire (by prizemoney won) in Great Britain and Ireland in 14 of the 15 years between 1990 and 2004, though his success in his later years was somewhat eclipsed by the astonishing exploits of three other Coolmore stallions, namely Danehill and his own sons Galileo and Montjeu. Other notable Group 1 winners who have turned successfully to stud duties are Danehill Dancer, Giant's Causeway, and Epsom Derby winner High Chaparral.
Less successful at Coolmore was George Washington, winner of the 2,000 Guineas and Queen Elizabeth II Stakes in 2006.[ citation needed ]. George Washington proved infertile, was returned to racing, and suffered a fatal breakdown in the 2007 Breeders' Cup Classic. George Washington was replaced at stud by another son of Danehill, Holy Roman Emperor, removed from training at the start of his three-year-old season. The strength of thoroughbred talent residing at Coolmore is indicated by the fact that eleven of the fifteen winners of the blue riband of the turf, The Derby, between 1998 and 2012 were sired by Coolmore stallions (High Estate, Fairy King, Grand Lodge, Sadler's Wells (two), Danehill, Montjeu (four) and Galileo)[ citation needed ]
Outside the equine business, Magnier has proven to be an astute investor and together with associates J. P. McManus, Dermot Desmond, Joe Lewis, Michael Tabor and Derrick Smith has enjoyed phenomenal success. A high-profile venture was his stake of 28.89 per cent shareholding in football club Manchester United F.C., which was sold in May 2005 to Malcolm Glazer, an American businessman. A friendship with manager Alex Ferguson was tested in a dispute over bloodstock rights to prolific Group 1 winner (seven wins) Rock of Gibraltar.[ citation needed ]
Magnier is said[ by whom? ] to be the most influential man in horse racing and breeding worldwide, even over Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. While Magnier's fortune is in the realms of speculation, The Sunday Independent estimated his wealth at €2.3 billion in 2018, [4] although this is conservative as Coolmore Stud is valued at more than €4 billion alone, in addition to his personal property portfolio and other investments and holdings. [5]
He is married to Susan O'Brien, a daughter of Irish racehorse-trainer Vincent O'Brien. The couple have five children.
Robert Edmund Sangster was a British businessman, thoroughbred racehorse owner and breeder. Sangster's horses won 27 European Classics and more than 100 Group One races, including two Epsom Derbys, four Irish Derbys, two French Derbys, three Prix de l'Arc de Triomphes, as well as the Breeders' Cup Mile and the Melbourne Cup. He was British flat racing Champion Owner five times.
Rock of Gibraltar was an Irish Thoroughbred racehorse who won seven times at Group 1, including the 2000 Guineas and Irish 2,000 Guineas in 2002. He was at stud in Ireland during the Northern Hemisphere breeding season and in Australia as a Shuttle stallion
Galileo was an Irish Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. In a racing career which lasted from October 2000 until October 2001, he ran eight times and won six races. He is best known for having won the Derby, Irish Derby and King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes in 2001. He was named the European Champion Three-Year-Old Colt of 2001.
Michael Barry Tabor is a racehorse owner. As a partner in Coolmore Stud, he is one of only four racehorse owners to have won both the Epsom Derby and the Kentucky Derby.
Michael Vincent O'Brien was an Irish race horse trainer from Churchtown, County Cork, Ireland. In 2003 he was voted the greatest influence in horse racing history in a worldwide poll hosted by the Racing Post. In earlier Racing Post polls he was voted the best ever trainer of national hunt and of flat racehorses. He trained six horses to win the Epsom Derby, won three Grand Nationals in succession and trained the only British Triple Crown winner, Nijinsky, since the Second World War. He was twice British champion trainer in flat racing and also twice in national hunt racing; the only trainer in history to have been champion under both rules. Aidan O'Brien took over the Ballydoyle stables after his retirement.
Danehill was an American-bred, British-trained Thoroughbred racehorse who was the most successful sire of all time with 349 stakes winners and 89 Grade 1 winners. He was the leading sire in Australia nine times, the leading sire in Great Britain and Ireland three times and the leading sire in France twice.
Coolmore Stud, in Fethard, County Tipperary, Ireland, is headquarters of the world's largest breeding operation of thoroughbred racehorses. Through its racing arm, Ballydoyle, Coolmore also has raced many classic winners and champions. The operation, which is currently owned and run by the Magnier family, has been associated with a long sequence of top-class stallions since the 1850s, originally in County Cork, where stallions still stand as part of Coolmore today.
Sadler's Wells was an American-bred, Irish-trained champion Thoroughbred racehorse and outstanding sire. He was the 1984 European Champion miler after winning the Irish 2,000 Guineas, Eclipse Stakes and Phoenix Champion Stakes in that year. He also finished second in the French Derby and the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes.
Montjeu was an Irish-bred, French-trained thoroughbred horse racing racehorse and sire. In a racing career which lasted from September 1998 to November 2000, he ran sixteen times and won eleven races, including six at Group 1. After winning twice as a juvenile, he was the outstanding European racehorse of 1999, winning the Prix du Jockey Club, the Irish Derby and the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. Four more victories in 2000 included the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes. He was then retired to stud where he proved to be an outstanding sire of winners.
One Cool Cat, was an American-bred, Irish-trained Thoroughbred racehorse and sire.
Dylan Thomas is a retired Irish Thoroughbred racehorse and active sire. In a racing career which lasted from June 2005 until December 2007, he ran twenty times and won ten races. After winning two minor races in 2005 he improved to become one of the leading European three-year-olds of 2006, winning the Irish Derby and the Irish Champion Stakes as well as finishing a close third in The Derby. In 2007 he won three of Europe's most important weight-for-age races, taking the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot, a second Irish Champion Stakes and the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp. His performances led to his being named European Horse of the Year in 2007.
Scorpion is an Irish Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. As a three-year-old in 2005 he won the Grand Prix de Paris and the St. Leger Stakes. In 2007 he won the Coronation Cup.
Duke of Marmalade was an Irish Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. He is best known for winning five consecutive Group One races in 2008, for which he was named European Champion Older Horse. Upon retirement at the end of the 2008 racing season he stood as a stallion for Coolmore Stud, being moved between stud farms in Ireland and Australia. In July 2014 he was sold and relocated to Drakenstein Stud in South Africa.
Shahtoush was an Irish Thoroughbred racehorse and broodmare best known for winning The Oaks in 1998. In a racing career which lasted from August 1997 to September 1998 the filly ran eleven times and won three races. Shahtoush won only one minor race as a two-year-old, but showed top-class form when she finished third in the Group One Moyglare Stud Stakes. In 1998 she finished second in the 1000 Guineas at Newmarket Racecourse and then returned to England to win the Classic Oaks over one and a half miles at Epsom. She was beaten in her two remaining races, finishing unplaced in the Yorkshire Oaks and the Irish Champion Stakes.
Wing Commander Timothy Ashmead Vigors, was a Royal Air Force fighter pilot and flying ace during the Second World War, in which he fought in the Battle of Britain and in the Far East. In civilian life, Vigors began the development of the Coolmore Stud that transformed the breeding of thoroughbred racehorses.
Oratorio is an Irish Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. As a two-year-old in 2004 he won four of his seven races including the Anglesey Stakes, Futurity Stakes and Prix Jean-Luc Lagardère as well as finishing second in the Phoenix Stakes and the Dewhurst Stakes. He showed his best form when tried over a mile and a quarter in 2005, when he defeated strong international fields in the Eclipse Stakes and the Irish Champion Stakes, beating The Derby winner Motivator on both occasions. He was retired to stud at the end of 2005 and has had some success as a sire of winners.
Again was an Irish Thoroughbred racehorse and broodmare. She was one of the leading Irish two-year-old fillies of 2008, when she won three of her five races including the Debutante Stakes and the Moyglare Stud Stakes. She recorded her most important win when taking the Irish 1,000 Guineas on her three-year-old debut, but was beaten in her three subsequent races.
Black Minnaloushe is an American-bred Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. Bred in Kentucky, he was sold as a yearling and sent to Ireland to race for the Irish-based Coolmore Stud organisation. After winning both his races as a juvenile, he was initially disappointing in the early part of 2001 but then showed marked improvement to win the Irish 2000 Guineas and the St James's Palace Stakes. He was beaten in his last four races and was retired to stud at the end of the year. He has had success as a breeding stallion in the United States, New Zealand and South Africa.
Spartacus was an Irish-bred Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. He showed his best form as a two-year-old in 2002 when he ran in four different countries and recorded Group 1 victories in the Phoenix Stakes and the Gran Criterium. He failed to show any worthwhile form in the following year and was retired to stud. He stood as a breeding stallion in Ireland, New Zealand and Australia and had modest success as a sire of winners. He died in 2012 at the age of twelve.
Alfred Nobel is an Irish Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. As a two-year-old in 2009 he was beaten in his first two races but after winning a maiden race at his third attempt he went on to record major victories in the Railway Stakes and the Phoenix Stakes. He was beaten in three subsequent races that year and failed to recover his form in two starts as a three-year-old. After his retirement from racing he stood a breeding stallion in Ireland and Australia.