Although horse racing attracts people from all walks of life, it has long been referred to as a sport for the upper/high class of society and a sport for kings.
Horse racing is big business, and many of the people who own horses that have race at the world’s most iconic racecourses are extremely wealthy.
Let’s dive straight in to reveal the names and estimated net worths of some of the world’s wealthiest racehorse owners.
Who are the world’s richest racehorse owners?
There are many rich racehorse owners, but instead of listing them all, here is a list containing 10 of the wealthiest. They include the following, starting with the Wertheimer brothers:
- Name: Gerard Wertheimer. Estimated net worth: £24.7 billion
- Name: Alain Wertheimer. Estimated net worth: £24.7 billion
- Name: Sultan bin Khalifa Al Nahyan. Estimated net worth: £12.9 billion
- Name: Kirsten Rowsing. Estimated net worth: £10.2 billion
- Name: Mohammed Bin Rashad Al Maktoum. Estimated net worth: £10.1 billion
- Name: John Malone. Estimated net worth: £5.4 billion
- Name: Anthony Oppenheimer. Estimated net worth: £3.6 billion
- Name: Aiywatt Srivaddhanprabha. Estimated net worth: £2.6 billion
- Name: Bradley Wayne Hughes. Estimated net worth: £2.2 billion
- Name: Susan Magnier. Estimated net worth: £2.2 billion
Racehorse owners often invest in horses because of the huge amount of money they can potentially earn in prize money. Some of these owners have several horses racing today at the most famous racecourses on the planet.
Are there any wealthy owners with horses that race at Cheltenham?
Yes. Several wealthy owners have horses that are expected to run at the 2024 Cheltenham Festival. For example, Rich Ricci has a net worth estimated to be around £120 million.
Joe Donnelly’s net worth is just over £163 million. Tony Bloom and Michael O’Leary’s net worths are reported to be around £1.7 billion, and John P McManus is believed to have a net worth of just over £2 billion.
When is the 2024 Cheltenham Gold Cup, and which horse is the favourite?
The Cheltenham Gold Cup race in England will be the highlight of the 2024 Cheltenham Festival, which is scheduled to run from Tuesday, 12 March until Friday, 15. It’s one of over 20 races that you can bet on today, and the odds-on favourite to win is last year’s winner, Galopin Des Champs.
If you were to place a wager right now at trusted iGaming sites like the official Unibet online bookmaker, you would be looking at odds of around 5/6 (fractional odds). In the decimal odds format, 5/6 means 1.83; in American/moneyline odds, 5/6 is the same as saying -120.
These odds mean that the implied probability rate (IPR) of winning the 2024 Cheltenham Gold Cup is 54.50%. Let’s quickly compare these odds with some of the other favourites:
- Second odds-on favourite horse: Fastorslow. Fractional odds: 5/1. Decimal odds: 6.00. American/moneyline odds: IPR: 16.70%
- Third odds-on favourite horse: L’Homme Presse. Fractional odds: 8/1. Decimal odds: 9.00. American/moneyline odds: IPR: 11.10%
- Fourth odds-on favourite horse: Shishkin. Fractional odds: 9/1. Decimal odds: 10.00. American/moneyline odds: IPR: 10.00%
Final note
The important thing to remember is that these odds are subject to fluctuate between now and the start of the event. The other thing to remember is that although Galopin Des Champs is the favourite to win, any of the 20+ runners on the day can win.
Take Aurora’s Encore, for example, at the Grand National in England in 2013. Before the race started, this horse was priced at 66/1 (67.00) with only a 1.50% IPR. It defied the odds and won the race, just like Mon Mone did in 2009 at the same event.
Mon Mone was priced at a cool 100/1 (101.00) and only had a 1.00% chance of winning, but it also defied the odds and pleased the crowds.
