The most successful horse racing owners of all time

Horse racing is a staple of sporting cultures all around the world. It has been held at a regulated level for centuries in the transatlantic nations of the United States and the United Kingdom, and during that time it has even spread to Asia, Australia, and beyond.

Major horse racing events are now held all over the planet, and they typically carry huge financial rewards to the frontrunners, due to the large amount of people that are invested in the sport.

Horse racing owners lay the foundations for success

There are of course casual fans who attend events, huge companies who contribute to sponsorship revenue, and most vitally the horse owners at the top of the tree. 

The owners are the main investors in horse racing that make any level of success possible. They provide funding for training and high-level breeding of their horses. 

These people are of course an extremely exclusive group, as a certain level of inherited wealth is typically required to invest aggressively into horse racing.

However, there are ways in which average fans can get directly involved with the sport. Fans can obtain shares in racehorses, which means anyone can effectively be an owner of a horse, by purchasing a small stake.

The sport is certainly accessible to most backgrounds in its modern format, albeit any success is likely to come on a smaller scale than that of the legendary owners who have influenced horse racing in the past. 

With wealthy racehorse owners providing the route to any level of success in the sport, who are the most successful horse racing businessmen of all time? Those who have recorded the most victories and highest prize-related revenues as a result. 

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum

Sheikh Mohamed bin Rashid al Maktoum is comfortably the most successful owner in history. With over 5000 race wins all over the world to his name.  

He founded Godolphin in 1992 which is a thoroughbred racing stable that has produced some of the most iconic racing names ever since. Their greatest year came in 2015 when the stable recorded 650 wins on the track.

Most recently, in 2023, the company racked up more than $4 million in prize money during the flat racing season. Maktoum has undoubtedly led the greatest horse racing stable of all time over the last few decades, and their success is showing no signs of slowing down. 

J.P. McManus

John Patrick McManus is another significant name in horse racing ownership, whose investment can be traced well back into the 20th century. 

He first purchased racehorses in the 1980s and his first winner came at Cheltenham in 1982 – named Mister Donovan. He has amassed more than 4,000 victories from the horses he has owned in more than 40 years since. 

McManus has gone on to own winners at Cheltenham on more than 50 occasions, although most significantly he has had winners emerge at the Grand National at Aintree – including the legendary Minella Times – which is a feat very few owners have managed.  

The Irishman is not only one of the sport’s most successful businessmen by race wins, but his horses also won some of the biggest events on the entire globe. 

Beyond Maktoum and McManus, there have certainly been other legendary owners who have backed immensely successful horses. However, nobody else has the longevity in the sport that this duo can boast.

A lifetime of dedication to horse racing and huge financial backing would be required for anyone to challenge their legacies in the future.