Without owners putting their hard earned cash into the sport, there would be no National Hunt racing taking place, but who exactly are the big players as it stands today?
The following five sets of owners are pretty much the men and women with the funds to purchase the best jumps horses:
JP McManus
JP McManus is one of the most well-known owners in horse racing, with his green and gold hoops ever present on Irish and British racecourses for many a long year.
In his early days he acted as an on-course bookie at his local greyhound track before moving into ownership and the horse racing betting fraternity, and in 1982 he purchased Martinstown Stud in County Limerick.
Over several decades he has become National Hunt racing's largest owner, with currently well over one hundred horses in training.
Robcour
The man behind Robcour Racing in Ireland is Brian Acheson, who is also the CEO and part-owner of one of Ireland's biggest engineering companies.
Robcour has had extraordinary successes in recent seasons and have quickly established themselves as one of jump racing's powerhouses, regularly achieving 30+ winners across Britain and Ireland.
Carrying the distinctive pink, black and white silks of his owners, Bob Olinger was the horse that really put the Robcour operation on the map with his Festival successes, and they look sure to have more high profile winners going forward.
Rich Ricci
Rich Ricci is one of the biggest characters in National Hunt horse racing and his famous pink silks have adorned many a star racehorse.
The American owner has a great working relationship with trainer Willie Mullins, but he also has a splattering of runners with other trainers too.
As of the start of 2025, Ricci has an estimated net worth of over £100 million and the sport is lucky to have him involved with such passion for his horses.
It is well documented that at the 2016 Cheltenham Festival, Ricci won a massive £400,000 from his Cheltenham betting after Douvan, Annie Power and Vroum Vroum Mag all won.
Michael O’Leary
Not so many years ago Michael O'Leary announced he was scaling back his racing interests in a five-year-exit timetable.
Despite selling a few of his horses on from his Gigginstown House Stud operation, the Ryanair boss is still very much around and is still an owner with great clout.
O'Leary is synonymous with ruthless decision-making, but it appears he’s had a change of heart on the horse racing front and is probably secretly in love with the game again.
An RTÉ Sport poll in 2020, put the following five horses as the best O’Leary and Gigginstown have ever owned:
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Tiger Roll
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Rule The World
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War Of Attrition
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Don Cossack
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Apple’s Jade
Simon Munir & Isaac Souede
Leading owners Simon Munir and Isaac Souede announced they were dispersing their breeding stock at Arqana in December 2019, but they still remain heavily involved in jumps horses ownership in the UK, Ireland and France.
In fact, in May 2024 Bryony Frost joined Munir and Isaac Souede’s growing jumps racing operation, primarily as their retained jockey in France.
After the retirement of Daryl Jacob in late 2024, JJ Slevin has stepped into the Double Green breach and they continue to enjoy top class winners together.
*Credit for the photos in this article belongs to Adobe*
