Horse racing isn’t known as the ‘sport of kings’ for nothing – it’s an activity that many wealthy people are involved with and it’s earned its fair share of big names over the years, from competing/training to watching and betting (check out Timeform offers). These are some of the most notable figures in the world of horse racing.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum
Ruler of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum is one of the best-known billionaires in the world, but he is also one of the most prominent names in the world of thoroughbred breeding and horse racing. He’s better known as simply Sheikh Mohammed within racing circles and is one of the top spenders in the industry.
He owns numerous stables around the Middle East, United States and Europe, as well as owning four horses which have previously won the Epsom Derby – High Rise, Shaamit, New Approach and Lammtarra.
Alain and Gerard Wertheimer
Co-owners of the fashion house, Chanel, brothers Alain and Gerard Wertheimer are third generation horse owners and accomplished breeders. They have their own thoroughbred business, named Wertheimer et Frere, which translates to Wertheimer and Brother, which has produced several winning horses such as Goldikova who is the only horse to have ever won three Breeders’ Cup Mile races.
Mary Alice Dorrance Malone
One of the Campbell Soup fortune heiresses, Mary Alice Dorrance Malone has spent the last three decades running the Iron Spring Farm in Pennsylvania. She has imported stallions from all over Europe, including the Netherlands, Poland and Germany, in order to breed them and it’s a skill that has paid her back well. Her horse Judgement is the most successful American-bred jumper in history and has earned over $1.5 million in prize money over the course of its career.
Racing is a family hobby though, as Malone’s cousin Charlotte Colket Weber is also the owner of a stud farm – Live Oak in Florida. Weber is also an heiress to the Campbell Soup fortune, and has had a number of successful horses, including Miesque’s Approval which won the Breeders’ Cup Mile in 2006. Two of her top horses, Solar Splendor and Sultry Song, also won races on the same day in 1992 at Belmont Park.
Gerald Harvey
Gerald Harvey is an Australian retail magnate who owns Magic Millions, a thoroughbred auction house situated on the Gold Coast. He also personally owns over 1,000 horses at the Vinery, Baramul and Broombee stud farms in new South Wales. Following on from buying out his business partners to take sole ownership of Magic Millions, he has also purchased two stables in New Zealand in a bid to break into the throughbred business there too.
Kirsten Rausing
An heiress to the $14 billion Tetra Laval packaging business, Kirsten Rausing is a Swedish billionaire and owner of the Lanwades Stud in Newmarket, UK. She’s bred and raised winners from over 795 races since 1999 and continues to manage the stallion stud herself and is an active member of the horse racing industry.
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