Colm Greaves: Here’s hoping Regan and Magnier will uncock their pistols for the weekend

BIG WEEKEND: John Magnier, right, with Aidan O’Brien after Benvenuto Cellini’s Irish Derby triumph. Magnier has an ownership interest in 15 of 17 races at the Irish Champions Festival this weekend. Picture: Healy Racing

In the days when the Cold War between America and the USSR was at its iciest an adage was formed to describe the idiocy of nuclear powers pointing thousands of warheads at each other’s kith and kin: ‘It is like two powerful men, up to their necks in a barrel of petrol arguing over who has the most matches.’ 

The ice has melted a little since, but even in today’s global atmosphere of tentative harmony, powerfully rich people still find it difficult to prevent their disputes escalating to level DefCon One - a state of war readiness known as ‘the cocked pistol.’ 

Hopefully, the much-debated, and still ongoing, nuclear stand-off between John Magnier, arguably the most influential player in global bloodstock and Maurice Regan, a billionaire Listowel native forged in the white heat of the New York property market, will uncock their pistols for the next couple of days. 

Horses owned by both will run at The Curragh on Sunday, the second of two days of the Irish Champions Festival which kicks off at Leopardstown Saturday afternoon.

Regan, whose horses run under the banner of his Newtown Anner Stud Farm, originally made a dozen entries, although this had been whittled down to a sole runner by the time of the final declarations on Friday morning. 

Magnier, through Coolmore and other associated partnerships has dozens of entries, a sharp reminder that even though Regan has been travelling better in the off-track dispute, Coolmore are still by far the biggest beasts on the actual racecourse.

Now in its 13th year, the festival offers two most compelling and high-grade flat cards in the Irish racing calendar. 

There are 17 races in all, including ten pattern races, seven of those group ones. The remaining contests, mostly impenetrable handicaps, all have prize funds of one-hundred grand and upwards, bringing the total funds to play for to over five million euros, enough pocket change to interest even a billionaire.

While still lagging in popularity behind the nearest winter jumping equivalent, the DRF, attendances were up by 4% at last year’s Champion’s Festival and there is optimism within HRI that the upward momentum will be continued this weekend, despite the competing attractions of countrywide political protests and the (slightly) related Irish Open Golf in Doonbeg.

There are three group ones at Leopardstown Saturday afternoon, including the weekend highlight - the Irish Champion Stakes, which features two of the highest rated three-year-olds, Constitution River and Item. 

Both of these colts have threatened brilliance at times, Saturday should tell the full story. The main event on Sunday is the Irish St. Leger, which is likely to be another lap of honour for Scandinavia on his way to path to dominance in the stayers division over the coming years.

Like many a fine Irish feud, the row between Regan and Magnier began over a land sale, specifically 751 acres of prime farmland known as the Barne Estate on the outskirts of Clonmel in Tipperary. John Magnier has been expanding his holdings in recent years by buying farms in the county and believed he had reached ‘sale agreed’ for Barne through a cordial handshake at a price of €16m with the estate’s owners, the Thompson-Moore.

However, a later bid of €22 million by Regan was accepted subsequently by the vendors, which irritated Magnier’s sense of fair play. He litigated against the Thompson-Moore seeking the implementation of his agreement and an expensive 19-day high court hearing concluded last December. 

Mr. Justice Max Barrett found definitively against Magnier, who he curtly sent home to Tipperary with words like ‘false evidence’ and ‘lying’ ringing in his ears. 

Plus, a €6m invoice for the costs of his action.

Given the quality of their respective arguments, the outcome caused little surprise in legal circles. The fact that Magnier had risked taking his case into the open public scrutiny of the high court certainly did. 

A famously inscrutable and inaccessible individual, like The Wizard of Oz, he had allowed the thick green velvet curtain of his secluded throne room to be pulled open. It revealed that the appearance of great authority could be projected by the use of clever machinery and that sometimes powerful wizards are just as ordinary as the rest of us.

Although Maurice Regan was not a party in the case over the land transfer, plenty of collateral damage was about to head in his direction. Regan told Racing TV that he is a man who likes to ‘mind his own business’ and that he “is independent in the horse world here so I can stand up for myself and stand my ground when I don’t like what’s going on.” 

‘What was going on,’ alleges Regan in a complaint filed to HRI, is that Coolmore refused to allow his mares to be covered by their stallions and had directed the withdrawal of access to the local equine hospital and veterinary services they controlled to his palpable disadvantage. He also alleged that Joseph O’Brien, who trains several of Newtown Anner’s horses, was ‘leaned on’ to end their relationship.

Like Regan, Sir Alex Ferguson was also a ‘man who could stand up for himself’ of self-worth when he infamously sued Coolmore in the Rock of Gibraltar ownership dispute over 20 years ago. In reality, he was an ant fighting a financial elephant and his action has disrupted Manchester United’s ownership structure ever since. This time the playing pitch is economically level.

The matter has returned to the high court again. Regan’s statement of claim alleges the defendants have breached Irish and EU competition law through anti-competitive practices and abuse of a dominant position in the market. That case is ongoing, neither side looks likely to back down so the barrel remains full of petrol with matches are at the ready.

Regan has additionally called on HRI to investigate “ethical guidelines, codes of practice and disrepute provisions to restore trust and confidence in the sport.” 

He has inferred that there is a bias in loading horses into the starting stalls that favoured Coolmore’s interests, citing a 2022 study that found a significant correlation between less time spent in the stalls with a better outcome in a race. He claims that Coolmore runners tended to be loaded disproportionately late, or last, in the stalls entry process. HRI say that the claim is still under consideration.

Last month at Naas, Chantez, owned by Newton Anner, won the Tally Ho Stud 3 Ballyogan Stakes. The winning trophy was presented by the sponsor’s owner, Anne O’Callaghan who happens to be John Magnier’s sister.

But unfortunately for those who enjoy a frisson of tension served up with their horse racing, there is little chance of a similarly awkward public crossing of swords at the Champions Festival. 

Regan’s sole runner is Switching Sides, trained by Jessica Harrington and is second favourite for the Tattersalls Sales race on Sunday (2.15). It’s one of only two races from the 17 where Magnier doesn’t have an ownership interest.

Switching Sides will do well to trouble the favourite, Star of State, who would be giving him a stone in a handicap, but race conditions mean that she is receiving seven pounds Sunday. Almost inevitably, she is trained by Joseph O’Brien.