Where does their wealth come from? Obviously massive wealth just in their farm properties and stallion rosters but never afraid to drop many million on a single horse at a sale. They are also known to drop many million on fine art. Never knew the entire story behind them and how they came to be.
He also used to own part of Manchester United.
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Someone told me once that they were part of the Irish Mob. Not sure how valid that statement is but It’s hard to fathom the amount of money in their bankroll.
you sure those farms aren’t leveraged to the hilt?
@Palm Beach I know nothing about the Magnier family or their financial statuses, hence the post. While I am sure some of their Investments may be “leveraged to the hilt”; given the success of their stud farms, the lucrative stud deals they have put forth, the spending at sales, etc; I am highly doubtful that the majority of their estates are “leveraged to the hilt”. American Pharoah’s first year at stud likely brought in around 20-30 million dollars. That means their initial offer on the horse was substantial.
People do not go drop many millions on horses at a single sale with imaginary, loaned finances. If he did, he must have quite the debt to the bank racked up after his years upon years of doing this.
The only thing that I could find was that he has “extensive business interests outside of racing”… but it still remains a mystery. What does the Magnier family do to amass such a fortune to be able to outbid anyone on any horse.
there is some history on him and the family that can be found online but the secrets behind their wealth are still… a secret
At the age of 16, Magnier took over Grange Stud when his father died; it was a stud farm and agricultural farm based in Cork. He married Vincent O’Briens daughter, Sue. Coolmore was founded between Magnier, O’Brien and Robert Sangster.
Sue Magnier, Michael Tabor, and Derrick Smith are now the ownership surrounding most of the Coolmore string. Coolmore’s wealth was later helped by a clause in the Finance Act which stated any stud fee earned was exempt from taxes in Ireland.
In print, his business aspects are mysterious. He moves between the high class TB world, art world, and big business finance world. Close associates are said to be JP McManus, the Limerick gambler, and Dermot Desmond, the Dublin financier.
He has many addresses under his name: his stud farms in Ireland, KY, and Australia, Villas in Spain, resorts in Barbados, but his official address is Gneva, Switzerland. His name is very sparsely found on company documents.
their net worth is around 910 Million euro which is over 1 billion US dollars but this is thought to be a very conservative number considering Coolmore is worth an estimated 4 billion euro in equine and real estate holdings.
I guess his wealth and the sources of it will remain a mystery ??
A small Excerpt on the source of his businesses:
This includes buying and selling government and corporate bonds and currency trading (Magnier is widely believed to have made a killing when the Mexican peso devalued in 1994). Magnier and McManus recently sold an office and retail building on the exclusive Place Vendome in Paris, beside the Ritz Hotel, for 1bn, with a reported profit of 350m on the deal
He is understood to have been one of the beneficiaries of the 1.1bn sale of London City Airport in 2006. He owns 20pc of UK nursing home group Barchester, which in October reported it had shareholder funds of 130m by the end of 2015. Magnier also co-owns with McManus a 23pc stake in 1.2bn-valued Mitchells & Butlers (M&B), Britain’s biggest pub group.Earlier this year, the bloodstock billionaire and his family acquired the Sutton Scotney Estate in Hampshire, which includes 24 homes and more than 4,000 acres of land, for an estimated 52m
I cant even imagine…
I’ll touch on this a bit because I have known John Magnier for going on 40 years. He was a good friend of my father’s. Magnier’s family has a very long history in National Hunt (steeplechase here). He married the legendary trainer’ the “master” of Ballydolye the racing branch of Coolmore, Vincent O’Brien’s sister. Coolmore was originally the family farm of Wing Commander Vigors (decorated Battle of Britain fighter pilot who started the Irish Bloodstock Agency in the early 50s, now known as BBA Ireland). Vigors was a good friend of O’Brien. In the early/mid 70s they partnered with the very wealthy Robert Sangster who basicly bank rolled everything in those days. Vigors sold his interest in Coolmore to the “gang” at some point in the 70s.
Without a doubt O’Brien is to be totally credited with the success of Northern Dancer as a stallion. He trained Nijinsky,winner of the 1970 English Triple Crown, English Horse of the Year. A foal from ND second crop when he stood in Canada. Nijinsky went to stud in KY and soon became a major international stallion. That got the ball rolling for sons of ND. But O’Brien and the “boys” did not have a major stake in him. Which is where the REAL money is.
In 1974 two colts were born by ND, The Minstrel and Be My Guest. The Minstrel was bought by one of my mentors, the late great bloodstock agent Tom Cooper (BBA Ireland) on behalf of “The boys” Mr Sangster being being the largest share holder. Be My Guest was bred by Swiss businessman Walter Haefner (Moyglare Stud in Ireland), Be My Guest is an American bred. Sold at the newly reformed Goff for a record European price to American racing family Guest/Phipps and also bought by Mr. Cooper. Both horses were major stakes horses. But the Minstrel was by far the best and most attractive to the American breeding market. The “boys” sold the Minstrel for major money to EP Taylor (Winfields Md where his daddy stood by then). I assume to raise capital to expand and buy Be My Guest. I guess they couldn’t afford both at the time? I am sure they later regretted selling him.
Be My Guest went on to be the foundation sire of Coolmore, put them on the map. And the newly reformed Goffs, there is (used to be, haven’t been back in a while) a beautiful bronze statue of him in Goff’s sales grounds.
From then on the Coolmore machine got it’s legs. Investing heavily in sons of ND and building, expanding Coolmore Stud. Having the deep pockets of Sangster in the early days made it possible. Not to mention having the brilliant trainer O’Brien as a partner. Magnier surrounded himself with a great dedicated team. Some of the sharpest tacks in the box. But make no mistake John Magnier is a brilliant businessman himself. Self made. He had to drop out of school as a teenager to help keep his family’s farm afloat.
Be My Guest was syndicated along with some other early stallion acquisitions. But that meant sharing profits and syndicate agreements limited, complicated how the stallions could be managed. Pretty sure that “model” changed when they bought Ashford in the early 80s. Wouldn’t be surprised if he took a page from JT Lundy’s play book when Alydar went to stud. He wasn’t syndicated. The first major racehorse in a long time that that wasn’t. Lundy (Calumet) sold breeding rights as he wanted to.Could breed as many mares as he wanted to without being restricted by syndicated members, rules and regs. Basically “print money”. (Breeding rights are not the same of Shares, the legal description is Fractional Interest. A share holder “owns” a piece of the horse and has voting rights. Breeding right has no ownership or say in the horse’s management).
Coolmore has not had to buy many stallions over they years. The owned, bred or bought and raced the majority. Sadler’s Wells opened the bank.And Galileo has been filling the vault ever since along with others. Coolmore America, Ashford caters to the American market by and large. The “boys” mainly race in Europe. So, as is well publicized they buy stallion prospects for the American market outright. The racing owners may or may not retain a piece of the horse. But make no mistake they have no say in how the horse is managed when they take ownership.
Not sure how/why Sangster “drifted” away. By design or by his wishes only a fly on the wall of the Coolmore board room would know for sure. But I am sure there is no storage of people with deep pockets that would love to be part of the “team”. Obviously Tabor became a major partner. Has been for a long time. But I would bet there are a number of “silent” partners.
Coolmore owns a LOT of quality mares. The number of which would be a closely held secret. They do not breed under the Coolmore name. They breed under LOTS of different entries. Some of which are known by those of us in the “know”. Most of which I bet only a handful of people know. For obvious business reasons.
John Magnier (aka The Boss) is a brilliant businessman. He wrote the book of how to make major money in the modern horse business. And have a lot of fun while doing it. But he is a businessman and the fortunes he as made in the business of horses has allowed him to expand into other more traditional businesses. In recent years he has taken a step back from the public day to day horse operation and has passed the torch on to his sons.
I do not know him well but call him a friend. He is approachable and an unassuming guy. VERY loyal to his team and friends. When I had a bit of business go “sideways” I was doing with one of their partners and Coolmore had a small interest in. I talked to him about it. “Let there be no mistake. There will never be any misunderstandings (BS) between my “family” and the Ensors” he said to me. He got it straightened out.
When past employees, friends that had gotten on in years and down on their luck. Magnier stepped up and took care of them. Very privately and NO fan-fair.
I admire this man more than anyone else I have met in the horse business. Tom Cooper (BBA Ireland) also. Esp state side. I have met and or done a bit of business with just about all most people have heard of and or read about.
My BIGGEST mistake in my career in the business was not going to John when Ashford was opened and begged for a job, lol. My second mistake was not taking a position with the BBA Ireland. Have had LOTs of others since. But they pale in comparison, lol.
Most of the above “facts” are from memory feel free to do some “fact checking”.
This is a picture of my father and me being given a personal tour of Coolmore’s newly completed facilities in the early 80s. Wish Magnier had been in it. I think he took the picture. [ATTACH=JSON]{“data-align”:“none”,“data-size”:“full”,“data-attachmentid”:10187840}[/ATTACH]
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LOL, “the Irish Mob” is a jocular name the “boys” were given a long time ago. Apropos given their power and influence. Also once you became a member of the “family” you would be looked after. Something unheard of on the American side of the horse business where it is always, “what have you done for me lately”.
But you don’t ever want to get sideways with “the boys”. Otherwise, “you’ll never work in this town again”, lol
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I was actually told that on the premises of Ashford Stud LOL. Kind of hilarious isn’t it?
wow, what a bunch of history. I guess I could also kick myself for never begging for a job at Ashford :). I guess I could still go there and beg ;). Their employees always seemed well cared for so I didn’t doubt that for a moment. I have had several previous owned J Magnier, Tabor, Smith horses pass through my barn as sport horse prospects. All came to me well cared for and sound, testaments to their earlier years in the big name barns that J Magnier filled with his horses
Magnier is living the dream of all of us . I guess I will continue to stand by and watch in absolute awe and maybe pray that someday I could be employed on their staff
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I wasn’t going to even read this thread, but I’m glad I did. As always, Gumtree, thank you for the education and for your perspective.
Thank you gumtree! Such a cool story, and I love hearing the history of how they started and with which horses - very neat.
I have one single broodmare currently (my first one!) and she’s 148 days in foal to a Coolmore stallion, so I read with interest. They were very professional to deal with in booking and breeding (a maiden mare, in foal on one cover). I’m hoping we produce a star for ourselves, and to add to the Coolmore legacy!
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