Paul & Clare Rooney

Leading owners Paul and Clare made headlines in late 2018 when, in a letter reported to the Racing Post, they informed trainers not to enter their horses at Cheltenham Racecourse for fear of injury. In 2017, the Rooneys owned Willoughby Court, winner of the Neptune Investment Management Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival, but subsequently lost two horses, Starchitect and Melrose Boy, who were both put down after sustaining injuries in races at the Gloucestershire track in December, 2017, and March, 2018, respectively. The couple reversed its decision in February, 2019 but, even so, still had no runners at the Cheltenham Festival in 2019.

 

Nevertheless, since they made their racecourse debut in January, 2012, the Rooneys’ blue and yellow racing colours have become a familiar sight, under both codes, on racecourses the length and breadth of Britain. Despite removing horses from Scottish trainer James Ewart in 2014, and their entire string, over 60 horses, from Cheshire trainer Donald McCain the following year, the couple still owns hundreds of horses in training with dozens of trainers, including Kim Bailey, Gordon Elliott, Harry Fry, Philip Hobbs, Ben Pauling and David Pipe. In 2016, they became seriously involved in Flat racing and recorded their first Group One winner, My Dream Boat, in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot.

 

Paul Rooney prefers National Hunt racing, while his wife Clare, despite a background in eventing, prefers Flat racing. However, with a fortune estimated at £100 million – a substantial proportion of which has been invested in horse racing, under both codes, in recent seasons – the Rooneys seem certain to remain prominent owners in the discipline(s) on which they choose to concentrate for years to come. In National Hunt racing alone, in just over seven years’ involvement, the Rooneys have increased their total earnings from a respectable £13,000 in 2011/12, to over £600,000 in 2015/16, 2016/17, 2017/2018 and 2018/19. Indeed, their most recent Grade One winner in that sphere was If The Cap Fits, trained by Harry Fry, in the Liverpool Hurdle at Aintree om April 6, 2019.

JP McManus

Limerick-born John Patrick McManus, almost invariably known in horse racing circles as ‘J.P.’, bought Cill Dara, the first horse to carry his distinctive colours of emerald green and gold hoops, with a white kit, in 1976. Indeed, those colours, which have become so familiar throughout the world National Hunt racing, on both sides of the Irish Sea, in the last four decades or so, replicate the playing kit of South Liberties, seven-time winners of the Limerick Senior Hurling Championships.

 

Nowadays, McManus, 68, has a net worth of €2.1 billion and owns, quite literally, hundreds of horses in training in Britain and Ireland. Notorious as a feared, but fearless, gambler and christened the ‘Sundance Kid’ by one British journalist in his heyday, McManus registered his first victory at the Cheltenham Festival with Mister Donovan, trained by Edward O’Grady, in the Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle in 1982, reportedly collecting £250,000 in a single bet. He also reportedly relieved the late Freddy ‘Fearless’ Williams of £600,000 when Reveillez won the Jewson Novices’ Chase – now the JLT Novices’ Chase – in 2006. In recent years, McManus has curtailed his betting activity and, by his own admission, no longer feels the compulsion to ‘to have a bet on every race’, as was once the case. Now you can enjoy betting on horses online from your home on the 1xbet website

 

However, that hasn’t stopped him racking up a total of 58 winners at the Cheltenham Festival, making him the most successful owner in the history of the March showpiece meeting by the proverbial ‘country mile’. McManus has won the Champion Hurdle eight times, with Istabraq three times, in 1998, 1999 and 2000, Binocular in 2010, Jezki in 2014 and Buveur D’Air twice, in 2017 and 2018, and Espoir d’Allen in 2019, making him the most successful owner in the history of the race. He has also won the Stayers’ Hurdle three times, with Baracouda twice, in 2002 and 2003 and More Of That in 2014, and the Cheltenham Gold Cup with Synchronised in 2012. Away from Prestbury Park, McManus has also won the Grand National, with Don’t Push It in 2010 and, all told, has over a hundred Grade One victories to his name.

 

Godolphin

Founded in 1992 by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, now Ruler of Dubai, Godolphin is the largest thoroughbred horse racing and bloodstock operation in the world. The enterprise is named in honour of the Godolphin Arabian, one of the three foundation sires that were the progenitors of the Thoroughbred breed who, in turn, was named after his most famous owner, Francis, Second Earl of Godolphin.

Godolphin has its headquarters in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, but is a truly global operation with stables and breeding establishments in Britain, Ireland, France, the United States, Japan and Australia. In Britain, Godolphin operates two training yards, Moulton Paddocks and Godolphin Stables, formerly Stanley House Stables, both of which are in Newmarket.

 

Between 2010 and 2013, Moulton Paddocks was run by Mahmood Al Zarooni, who was ‘warned off’ for eight years by the British Horseracing Authority after admitting administering anabolic steroids to a total of 15 horses in his care, effectively ending his career in racing. Al Zarooni was subsequently replaced by Charlie Appleby, who had previously worked for Sheikh Mohammed for 15 years, including as assistant trainer to Al Zarooni.

 

Appleby splits his year between Moulton Paddocks, in the summer, and Marmoom Stables, situated in the desert to the south of the City of Dubai, in the winter. From his winter base, Appleby principally prepares his string for the most valuable race meeting in the world, the Dubai World Cup Carnival, which is staged annually between January and March at nearby Meydan Racecourse. Godolphin Stables, on the other hand, is the summer base of the longest-standing Godolphin trainer, Saeed bin Suroor. He, too, splits his year between Newmarket and Dubai, spending the winter months in Al Quoz Stables in the heart of the City of Dubai.

 

Over the years, Godolphin has employed several high-profile jockeys, including Lanfranco ‘Frankie’ Dettori, Silvestre de Sousa and Mickaël Barzalona, who remains the principal Godolphin rider in France. In Britain, the iconic royal blue silks are most often worn by retained jockeys William Buick and James Doyle. All told, Godolphin has produced over 5,000 winners worldwide, including 300 at Group One, or Grade One, level. Landmark victories include the first ever Classic winner for Godolphin, Balanchine, ridden by Frankie Dettori, in the Oaks in 1994 and, more recently, the first ever Derby winner, Masar, ridden by William Buick in 2018.

Davy Russell

In recent seasons, David Niall ‘Davy’ Russell has become a household name on both sides of the Irish Sea, thanks, in large part, to his association with Tiger Roll, who won the Grand National in both 2018 and 2019. However, Russell, who turns 40 in 2019, was hardly an oversight sensation. He first won the National at his fourteenth attempt but, by that stage, he had already won the Irish jump jockeys’ championship twice, in 2011/12 and 2012/13 – and would win it again in 2017/18, two weeks after his National triumph – and ridden 22 winners at the Cheltenham Festival, including Lord Windermere in the Cheltenham Gold Cup in 2014.

 

A native of Co. Cork in southwest Ireland, Russell was recruited, from the amateur ranks, to join Wexford-born trainer Ferdy Murphy, based in West Witton, North Yorkshire in 2002. He rode his first winner as a professional on Inn Antique, trained by Murphy, at Sedgefield in November that year. However, despite no little success in Britain, including winning the Peter Marsh Chase at Haydock Park and finishing second to Best Mate in the Cheltenham Gold Cup on Truckers Tavern, Russell returned to Ireland just over a year later.

 

Russell subsequently rode for Co. Tipperary trainer Edward O’Grady and as a freelance jockey, during which time he rode his first Cheltenham Festival winner, Native Jack, in the Glenfarclas Country Chase in 2006. In September, 2007, Russell became stable jockey to Gigginstown House Stud and, although that position lasted only until December, 2013, rode at least one winner at the Cheltenham Festival – including Tiger Roll, having just his third start, in the Triumph Hurdle in 2014 – up to, and including, 2018. Indeed, in 2018, Russell rode four winners at the Cheltenham Festival, including a 377/1 treble on the penultimate day, to edge out compatriot Jack Hughes and win the Holland Leading Jockey Award for the first time.

Richard Johnson

On the penultimate day of the 2018/19 National Hunt season, Richard Johnson rode Load Up Time, trained by Gordon Elliot, to victory at Perth to reach two hundred winners in a season for just the second time in his career. Nevertheless, his seasonal total was more than enough to win the Stobart Jump Jockeys’ Championship for the fourth consecutive year.

 

After starting his riding career in the point-to-point field, under the guidance of the late David ‘Duke’ Nicholson – who would provide his first Cheltenham Festival winner, Anzum, in the Stayers’ Hurdle in 1999 – Johnson became Champion Conditional Jockey in 1995/96. Thereafter, every season for the next two decades he set off in determined, but ultimately fruitless, pursuit of Sir Anthony McCoy in his quest for his first jockeys’ title. Indeed, Johnson was runner-up in the jockeys’ championship sixteen times, before finally emerging from the shadow of his arch rival – who retired at the end of the 2014/15 season – to win become Champion Jockey in 2015/16, with a career-best total of 235 winners.

 

In 2016/17 and 2017/18, fell just short of a double century of winners, with a seasonal tally of 176 and 189 winners, respectively. Nevertheless, he enjoyed notable victories in the Hennessy Gold Cup, Welsh National and Cheltenham Gold Cup with Native River, trained by Colin Tizzard, and the Triumph Hurdle with Defi Du Seul, trained by Nicky Henderson. Indeed, at the Cheltenham Festival, Johnson is the fourth most successful jockey of all time and, following the retirement of Ruby Walsh, is one of just two jockeys still riding to have won the Cheltenham Gold Cup, Champion Hurdle, Queen Mother Champion Chase and Stayers’ Hurdle. In 2018/19, he rode over a hundred winners for the twenty-third season in a row.

 

For all his success, Johnson has a less-than-enviable record in the Grand National. Having missed the world famous steeplechase in 2017 and 2018 – in anticipation of a horse with a ‘good chance’ – he took his record twenty-first ride on Rock The Kasbah, trained by Philip Hobbs, in the 2019 renewal. Sadly, Rock The Kasbah was always behind and fell at the first open ditch on the second circuit, leaving Johnson with a record of two second places – on What’s Up Boys in 2002 and Balthazar King in 2014 – and 15 non-completions from 21 rides.

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