London Clubs

Colin Cameron - Spring/Summer 2007 - 01/08/2007

FERGIE AND THE SPORT OF KINGS - AWAY FROM OLD TRAFFORD, SIR ALEX HAS ANOTHER PASSION..........

Sir Alex Ferguson's involvement in horseracing, leading up winners at Royal Ascot, Newmarket and Longchamp, many of them also backed with bookmakers, has yielded significant dividends. What has been a lifelong passion since his days as a Clydesdale apprentice fitter has survived - even thrived, thereafter - the very public fall out he had over ownership of the champion racehorse, Rock of Gibraltar, in 2003.

Today, Ferguson owns horses both outright and in partnership stabled - including the offspring of Rock of Gibraltar now at stud - in Newmarket and Britain's other training centres. In addition, he is involved with Highclere Racing, a bespoke syndicate operation which allows investors to pool stakes of between £13,750 and £24,500 to buy potential racing champions which, on retirement, are sold and proceeds divided up among the original speculators. Ferguson's current Highclere portfolio includes Distinction, a veteran globetrotter who has raced both in Europe and Australia in training with fellow Knight, Sir Michael Stoute, and remains on course for the Ascot Gold Cup this June.

Yet for all the pleasure Ferguson takes from owning horses, as with football, he is quick to give credit to those behind the scenes. "In racing they talk about the owners but they are not the meat and drink of it," he told me. "We are lucky to own the horses but there are people up at four or five in the morning who look after them. They ride out three lots on the gallops and then feed them in the afternoon before checking them again at night."

Having made do with following racing from afar while concentrating on football matters in Glasgow, Aberdeen and finally Manchester, Ferguson ultimately invested directly in the sport after a trip to the Cheltenham Gold Cup in 1997. That year, he plunged into bloodstock offered at the autumn's international horse sales of Kentucky, Deauville, Newmarket and Ireland. The result was Queensland Star (the name of a ship his father, Alex senior, helped build on the Clyde) and its stablemate Candleriggs (a district in Glasgow), the first two flat racehorses to carry Sir Alex Ferguson's newly-registered, red and white - what else? - silks. Following in their hoofprints was the steeplechaser, Yankie Lord, owned in partnership and at one time a Grand National fancy.

Today, he is fraternal with the sport's leading names as well as those with their fingers on what is really occurring on the gallops at Newmarket, such as Jimmy Scott, a mainstay of Champion Trainer, Stoute. Scott's wife died tragically last year from cancer. Ferguson salutes the fortitude and dignity with which he endured the loss. "There are some really strong characters and communities in racing," he stresses.

As for betting on other sports, beware having a wager with Ferguson over a frame of snooker. His best break is publicly accepted as 62. "It's actually 72," he confesses. Want to try your luck?

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