How appropriate that the landmark was reached at Cheltenham and, even if it was not at the famous Festival that Chantry House provided winner number 4000 for JP McManus, it was still in one of the course’s most stellar prizes.
McManus – and stories about his exploits in the winners’ enclosure and betting ring – have become part of Cheltenham’s DNA over the decades since Mister Donovan provided an initial Festival success in what is now the Ballymore Novices' Hurdle in 1982.
In fact, headlines were being made well before what was described as the “badly needed” victory by Mister Donovan as attempted gambles on ‘bankers’ in the green and gold silks – copied from his much-loved Southern Liberties Gaelic football club in his home city of Limerick – notably Jack Of Trumps and Deep Gale, went astray as the horses crashed to the Cotswold turf.
Since then, a record nine Champion Hurdles, three with the incomparable Istabraq, have followed plus a Cheltenham Gold Cup though it has been some of the most heavily supported undercard winners – Danny Connors in the 29-runner Coral Golden Hurdle of 1991 always sticks in my mind – that have ensured the 70-year-old’s place as a jump racing folk hero.
At Aintree there have been two of the highest profile Grand National victories of the modern era, with Don’t Push It, AP McCoy’s first after many near-misses in 2010, and Minella Times ridden by Rachael Blackmore, the first female rider to be successful in 2021.
But over the years they have come big and small – and keep on coming – to the extent that numbers of horses in training are counted in hundreds, and trainers and jockeys being supported in many dozens.
It being late January – though mild enough to be spring – McManus himself was not here at Cheltenham to witness Chantry House’s hard-fought success (having not jumped especially fluently or taken command until late on); instead he preferred the guaranteed heat of Barbados, but was well-represented, by son John and former champion jockey AP McCoy who partnered so many of the 4000.
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McCoy said: “He’s stood the test of time amazingly – to have had winners over however many decades it is for any owner is amazing, quite something, and I don’t think that many owners will manage it.
“His passion is unmatched and he’ll know all about the numbers; I’d say that he has been counting down to this for a while. He watches the racing every day and he definitely misses nothing.
“First and foremost he loves the horses and I often say that his biggest problem is that he wants them all home.
“Racing is very lucky to have him – he’s got horses everywhere with all kinds of trainers all over the place: he just loves it, specially a fast one."
Once a bulldozer driver for the family’s plant hire company in County Limerick, McManus was himself a bookmaker, starting out on the greyhound circuit, before earning the nickname of ‘The Sundance Kid’ as scourge of betting rings across Britain and Ireland when taking aim at them.
These days, with extensive business interests globally, he has built one of the world’s great fortunes, at one point owning with fellow Irish racing tycoon John Magnier a major chunk of Manchester United at about the time they fell out with manager Sir Alex Ferguson over the ownership of the brilliant colt Rock Of Gibraltar.
The wealth is accompanied with many of the obvious trappings – homes in Europe and Barbados, golf with celebrities etc. – though there is also much charitable work particularly in Limerick and nationwide in Ireland.
But important as all that unquestionably is, life mostly centres around horse racing and particularly around Cheltenham. Barbados most certainly will not be base come the Festival in March.
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