'Dad changed the game in that horses became an international trading currency'

In 1971, the son of a football pools magnate met a young Irish breeder in the racecourse bar at Haydock 24 hours before the Vernons Sprint Cup. It was a chance encounter that would prove providential for both men, whose alliance would rewrite established conventions in racing.

For Robert Sangster, then 35, it was the start of an odyssey that would reposition racing from the sports pages into the business sections. Heir apparent to the Vernons pools fortune, Sangster had the money to back the vision that John Magnier had outlined to him that afternoon.

With the backing of a group of Irish breeders, the 23-year-old Magnier had just completed the purchase of Green God, a fancied Sprint Cup runner, for £160,000. He would receive a healthy premium on his purchase the following day when Green God duly won the Group 1 contest.