John Magnier

Born: Feb. 10, 1948, Fermoy, County Cork, Ireland
Residence: Coolmore Stud, Fethard, County Tipperary, Ireland, with other homes in Barbados, Spain and Switzerland
Family: wife, Susan, daughter of legendary trainer Vincent O’Brien; and five children, father-in-law of trainer David Wachman
Professional Background: In the 2009 Sunday Times Rich List, he was rated the seventh richest man in Ireland with an estimated fortune of $800 million ... He is reputed to make more money on the stock market than he does through his bloodstock interests ... For instance, in conjunction with another powerful racehorse owner, J.P. McManus, Magnier spent over £100 million in acquiring a major shareholding in Manchester United Football Club. In May 2005, some five years later, the pair sold their stake at an estimated £80 million profit when Malcolm Glazer, of Tampa Bay Buccaneers fame, bought the club ... Magnier’s business interests are incredibly varied, including a six per cent stake in the sports television channel, Setanta, and a chain of nursing homes in the United Kingdom ... The Sunday Times estimates his Coolmore racing empire to be worth $200 million
Web site: www.coolmore.com
Racing Background: The Magnier family was well known in the south of Ireland for standing high-quality jumping stallions long before John was born. Operating since the 1850s, the Magnier name has been associated with a whole sequence of top-class steeplechasing stallions, including Deep Run, who was champion jumping sire for the 14th successive year in 1993 ... When Magnier’s father, Tom, died suddenly in 1966, Magnier was withdrawn from school at the age of 16 and plunged into management of the family’s Grange Stud, County Cork ... Never afraid to take a risk, especially in the early days, he pulled off his first big coup in October 1971, buying Green God from David Robinson just two days before he won the Vernons Sprint Cup. Vincent O’Brien spotted Magnier’s talent and installed him as manager when he bought Coolmore Stud in partnership with Robert Sangster in 1975 ... The partnership grouped a great trainer with a big capital investor and a breeding expert. They bought American blood, causing a big splash at the Keeneland sales, and dominated the European classics ... Initially, Coolmore was forced to sell its American-bred yearling purchases that went on to achieve great things on the racecourse, such as The Minstrel and Alleged, to finance further acquisitions. But in 1982, Be My Guest gave Coolmore its first sires’ championship and he has been followed by Caerleon, Danehill, and most importantly of all, the 14-time champion Sadler’s Wells. An era came to an end in May 2008 when Sadler's Wells retired from stallion duties at the ripe old age of 28
Racing Career: Through the 2009 Breeders' Cup, Magnier has raced numerous horses, all in the name of his wife, Susan; many of those starters have been in various partnerships. The partnership of Mrs. Magnier and Michael Tabor has yielded 28 starters with three winners: Johannesburg (2001 Juvenile) and High Chaparral (2002 and 2003 Turf) and earnings of $4,949,920, ranking the partnership fifth of all owners with Breeders' Cup earnings ... Their horses are bred under different entities under the Coolmore umbrella
Breeding/Racing Operation: Magnier has built Coolmore up to the extent that he is now managing partner of the Coolmore Castle Hyde and Associated Stud Farms Company, which is the world’s largest stud operation ... According to one independent authority, it now accounts for over 43 percent of the British and Irish stud market ... Irish Component: The Irish section of the company includes six other studs apart from Coolmore itself. Magnier’s brother, David, is manager of the original family property, Grange Stud. Coolmore Ireland stands 22 flat stallions (including Danehill Dancer, Galileo, Montjeu and Rock of Gibraltar) and 12 jumps stallions ... American Component: Its American arm is based at Ashford Stud in Versailles, Ky., where a further 12 stallions stand, including Fusaichi Pegasus, Tale of the Cat, Thunder Gulch and Giant’s Causeway ... Australian Component: During the Southern Hemisphere covering season Coolmore Australia, which is in New South Wales, is home to Danehill Dancer, Dylan Thomas, Rock of Gibraltar and nine other top-class “shuttle” sires (the concept of “shuttling” sires for use in both Northern and Southern Hemisphere covering seasons was pioneered by Coolmore) not to mention five stallions who reside in Australia all year around including Encosta de Lago ... Coolmore also has sires in Japan, New Zealand, Chile and Argentina ... Sangster, who died in 2004, had long before dropped out of his business partnership with Magnier and in the mid-1990s Michael Tabor became his replacement. By this time, O’Brien had retired. In his place, Magnier has a number of good judges helping pick out horses at the sales, headed by Demi O’Byrne, Paul Shanahan and Tim Hyde ... Magnier served in the Irish Senate for a period in the late 1980s and has been a member of both the Irish racing industry’s two governing bodies, the Irish Horseracing Authority (IHA) and the Turf Club. He was nominated to the IHA in 1994 by order of the Minister for Agriculture having previously served for many years on its predecessor, the Racing Board (also by Government appointment) ... Racing Operation: Most of his horses run in the colors of his wife or those of Tabor or Derrick Smith. In Ireland, they are mainly trained by Aidan O’Brien (no relation) and Magnier’s son-in-law, David Wachman; in England, they are mainly with John Gosden, Jeremy Noseda and Sir Michael Stoute; in France they are mainly with Andre Fabre; and in America they are primarily with Todd Pletcher ... In recent years he and/or his wife have owned or co-owned countless top-class performers, including Dylan Thomas, Yeats, and Oratorio ... Magnier's racing operation suffered a serious blow in July 2006 when his retained jockey, Kieren Fallon, was charged by the prosecution service in England with "conspiracy to defraud" by agreeing to ride horses not on their merits. The trial last over two months before Fallon was aquitted, but days after its conclusion, the French racing authorities announced that Fallon had failed a drugs test for cocaine on the day he rode Myboycharlie to victory in the G1 Prix Morny and, since it was his second offence, Fallon was hit with an 18-month worldwide ban from riding. He was soon replaced by Johnny Murtagh as Magnier's retained jockey.