John Magnier: how one man changed the course of racing history

In an era of disruption we have become used to hearing about supposed visionary masters of technology who aim to transform age-old industries, but few modern maestros can claim to have upended an industry so completely as John Magnier, whose seminal position in the history of racing and breeding is summed up concisely by the Irish racing historian Guy Williams.

"Ever since The Byerley Turk survived the Battle of the Boyne in 1690, people bred horses to race," he says. "John Magnier turned that practice on its head."

Magnier, the driving force behind the Coolmore empire, was born the eldest son of Tom and Evelyn Magnier of Grange Stud near Fermoy in County Cork, in February 1948, the month before Cottage Rake, a son of Grange stallion Cottage, recorded the first of three Cheltenham Gold Cup wins for Vincent O'Brien.