J.P. McManus
J.P. McManus, or John Patrick McManus to give him his full name, is one of the richest people in Ireland, with an estimated net worth of over €2 billion. He is also the predominant owner in National Hunt racing and, at the time of writing, leads the 2024/25 Jump Owners Championship with 43 winners from 203 runners, at a strike rate of 21%, and nearly £634,000 in prize money.
McManus is also, by the proverbial country mile, the most successful owner in the history of the Cheltenham Festival. By his own admission, McManus was drawn into horse racing by gambling and his success in the betting ring led him to be dubbed ‘The Sundance Kid’ by Scottish sports journalist Hugh McIlvanney. His first Cheltenham Festival winner, Mister Donovan, trained by Edward O’Grady, in the Baring Bingham Novices’ Hurdle, came back in 1982, but his distinctive green and gold colours have since been carried to victory at the March showpiece on another 77 occasions.
Indeed, McManus is the most successful owner in the history of the Champion Hurdle, with
nine winners, including Istabraq (1998, 1999 and 2000) and Buveur D’Air (2017 and 2018). In 2017, Buveur D’Air and My Tent Or Yours completed a one-two for McManus in the two-mile hurdling championship, thereby making him the first owner in the history of the Cheltenham Festival to reach the landmark of 50 winners.
Of the other feature races, the Queen Mother Champion Chase remains a notable omission from his CV, but McManus has won the Stayers’ Hurdle three times, with Baracouda (2002 and 2003) and More Of That (2014) and the Cheltenham Gold Cup once, with Synchronised (2012). Nevertheless, with a band of exciting, young steeplechasers at his disposal, including Fact To File, Inothewayurthinkin and Corbetts Cross, to name but three, further Festival successes are surely just a matter of time.