State’s winning wager

OF ALL the investments made in the name of the state during the boom, the 2002 purchase of a controlling stake in a five-year-old stallion, Invincible Spirit, was perhaps the most spectacular.

Its value sky-rocketed to a reported €43.5 million – up from approximately €1m eight years ago. It has generated millions for the Irish National Stud (INS) annually.

In 2007, American investors tried to wrest the horse from its Kildare home through a hostile takeover yielding a cash injection from Dubai’s ruler that secured his future.