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Sir Alex Ferguson’s horses have won him £6.85m

Sir Alex Ferguson’s hobby of being a horse racing owner and breeder has been a profitable one with horses under his ownership banking £6.85m in prize money, research by Boyle Sports has revealed.

Ferguson celebrated his first winner of the Cheltenham Festival on Thursday, with Monmiral winning from odds of 20/1 in the Pertemps Network Final.

The Scotsman’s next chance of a big win at the Cheltenham Festival on Thursday will be with either Protektorat 16/1 or Hitman 25/1 in the £375,000 Ryanair Chase, with odds courtesy of Boylesports, who offer the latest Cheltenham odds.

Sir Alex’s best horse is one that he bred himself and is a recent addition to the stable. Spirit Dancer, bred by the former Manchester United manager, has bagged £1,707,530 on the track, recently winning feature races in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.

Rock Of Gibraltar won £1,269,804 on the track, including a race at Royal Ascot, and even more as a top stallion. An argument about Fergie’s stake in this horse is rumoured to have resulted in fellow owners JP McManus and John Magnier selling their Manchester United shares to the Glazer family.

Fergie’s best jumps horse was Clan Des Obeaux, who won £1,076,186 and finished fifth in the 2019 Gold Cup when 5/1 second-favourite.

Fergie is one of the sport’s top owners, most of which he shares with friends John Hales, Ged Mason and the late Paul Barber. Paul Nicholls and Dan Skelton train Sir Alex’s jumps horses, with Richard Fahey training the flat squad.

You would be £208.34 down if you put £1 on every horse that has ran for Sir Alex. By comparison, the Queen won £8.7m from racing in 1988 to 2022 and fellow manager Harry Redknapp has bagged £778,774 from horses he has been associated with.

Sir Alex made headlines when parting with €740,000 to buy Caldwell Potter from Ireland. He won’t race at the Cheltenham Festival and is aimed at winning the 2026 Gold Cup.

The 13-time Premier League winner is yet to taste victory at the Cheltenham Festival. He has five leading hopes at Cheltenham this year, who could bag him £400,000 if they all win.