Coolmore's John Magnier was the recipient of the 2022 Peter O'Sullevan Award and was celebrated at the 25th edition of the Peter O'Sullevan Annual Award Lunch in London on Thursday. The 74-year-old received his award from JP McManus at Coolmore, as he was not present at the lunch.
“I don't deserve it, but I'm happy to get it,” Magnier told ITV Racing anchor Ed Chamberlin in an interview, which was played during the ceremony. “I'm blown away by it, really.”
Magnier spoke in favour of racing's various factions coming together to work for the good of the whole sport.
“Our people running the sport really have to make some tough decisions–and when they make tough decisions, the rest of us are going to have to row in behind them. There are too many sectional interests pulling in different directions.”
Internationally renowned for his bloodstock acumen, the owner-breeder also reminisced about various bloodstock adventures, from Camelot (GB)'s Triple Crown bid with a near-miss in the G1 St Leger, to losing out to Juddmonte on the colt that would subsequently become the undefeated, wunderkind Frankel (GB) (Galileo {Ire}).
“That was tough to take, all right,” said Magnier of the Doncaster reverse, adding of the Triple Crown, “It's something we would love to do one day. We won't give up.
“Frankel was a foal share with Juddmonte. Every second year we got the first pick. That year Juddmonte had the first pick and they picked Frankel. That was another one that got away.”
Added Magnier, whose Vincent O'Brien-trained Robert Sangster-owned El Gran Senor lost the G1 Derby in 1984 to Secreto, who was trained by the latter's son David, “He [El Gran Senor] was sold for $80 million if he had won the Derby. That's racing. In actual fact, I had a bet on Secreto, and Ladbrokes shut my account after. Mike Dillon gave me the cheque and I still have it framed in my office. We were able to buy a drink that night, anyway.”
Besides affirming Coolmore's ambition to secure the Triple Crown, Magnier emphasised the organisation's continued commitment to the Blue Riband. Coolmore and its affiliates have won nine Derbys since 2001, eight under the watchful eye of Ballydoyle's resident trainer Aidan O'Brien.
“A horse has to have everything to win at Epsom,” he said. “He has to have speed. He has to have stamina. He has to have soundness. He has to have courage. He has to go through the razzamatazz of the day. It's the complete test of the horse.
“There's an interesting story [on hiring Aidan]. He came here to the office, and I was going to have a chat with him to see if we could work something out. He said to me he had been here before. I said to him, 'What were you doing here before?' He said he had tried to get a job here and had met Christy Grassick. I asked him what happened, and he said he hadn't given him the job. I said, 'Clever of him. Christy could have lost his job!'”
He added of Vincent O'Brien, who preceded O'Brien at Rosegreen, “He understood all aspects of the business. He understood the American bloodlines, he understood the finance and he understood if you didn't have the owner, you weren't going to get the horse. He was a man apart, really. You couldn't help but learn from him. He was a genius.
Magnier also paid tribute to his late mother, Evie Stockwell, The Queen, as well as legendary jockey Lester Piggott, who all died this year.
“She loved the horses and spent two or three hours reading the Racing Post,” reflected Magnier on his mother, who enjoyed Breeders' Cup success as an owner-breeder with Hit It A Bomb (War Front). “It was a big part of her life.
“She [The Queen] was such a positive for racing. It will be very tough to manage without her.”
Of Piggott, Magnier said, “You could hear the crack of Lester's whip. He would probably get jailed today if he did that, but he was an artist at work. He had an aura about him. If he came into a room, you kind of knew he was there. He would come to Ballydoyle, especially in the spring, have a few glasses of champagne and smoke a cigar. He was very interesting.”
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