THE big hitters will be out to play at the Cheltenham Festival next week.
For those with the dosh, it’s a time to show their money has been well spent on the biggest stage of all. So who could be smiling at the end of the four-day bonanza?
JP McManus has won every race worth winning at the Cheltenham Festival
JP MCMANUS – £2bn
McManus, a gambler and businessman, has loads of bullets to fire at the big races.
Chantry House is his big Gold Cup hope, Champ has a massive chance in the Stayers’ Hurdle and Epatante will be looking to upset Honeysuckle in the Champion Hurdle.
He also forked out £570,000 for Jonbon, a brother to the brilliant Douvan, who will run in the Supreme. He’s had 50 winners at the Festival down the years and won’t be shy of laying down some big bets.
A former Manchester United shareholder, McManus is one of Ireland’s leading thoroughbred stud owners.
Worth around £2bn, McManus famously challenged a fellow business mogul to a game of Backgammon and won £15.2m in 2012.
He also owns the renowned Jackdaws Castle facility in the Cotswolds, where trainer Jonjo O’Neill works from.
THE QUEEN – £350m
Her Maj is unlikely to have any runners in her own silks but Pied Piper, a horse she sold for £225,000, is well-fancied for the Triumph Hurdle.
Incredibly, the Queen has been a racehorse owner since 1952 – a year before her coronation – after inheriting the breeding and racing stock of her late father King George VI.
And even more amazing is that she’s overseen almost 2,000 winners during that time.
Her horses have won all the British classic races multiple times, except the Derby.
MICHAEL O’LEARY – £800m
The Ryanair boss has taken the Festival by storm in recent years and will have another ace team lined up for glory next week.
Fan favourite and Festival legend Tiger Roll could bow out in style in the Cross Country Chase. He’s already won FIVE times at Cheltenham and is set to retire after his outing next week.
Conflated could run in either the Gold Cup or the Ryanair, and he’ll have his supporters in either race.
The likes of Don Cossack, Apple’s Jade and War Of Attrition have put O’Leary’s Gigginstown Stud colours into the big time.
Thousands of punters will be using his airline to fly from Ireland to Prestbury Park next week.
O’Leary (right) with Tiger Roll and trainer Gordon Elliott
RICH RICCI – £100m
For a guy worth £100million, you couldn’t pick a better name.
A former Barclays banker, the 57-year-old’s bright pink and green silks have been seen on some of the most famous horses in recent Festival history.
Annie Power, Douvan, Faugheen, Vautour and Benie Des Dieux have all been roared home by many a punter.
This year, Chacun Pour Soi, Vauban, Gaelic Warrior, Sharjah and Royale Pagaille all have big shouts in the likes of the Champion Chase and Gold Cup.
TONY BLOOM – £1.2bn
Nicknamed ‘The Lizard’, the Brighton owner made his fortune through punting and working in the City. He then packed in the day job to win big on the poker table.
His horses carry the blue and white of his beloved Seagulls, and Penhill landed him one of his biggest successes when he won the Stayers’ Hurdle back in 2018 for Willie Mullins.
Bloom has help take his hometown club to the Premier League
These days star Energumene is his headline act. He’ll take on the mighty Shishkin in the Champion Chase after he was narrowly touched off in the race of the season at Ascot.
He reportedly placed £500,000 on him to win that day.
