Qatar Racing Ltd & Sangster Family
/Robert Sangster, who died in April 2004, at the age of 67, literally transformed Thoroughbred racing. His impact continues today through his son, Adam, the owner of 900-acre Swettenham Stud in Victoria, Australia. Sangster was the British Flat Champion Owner five times, and his horses won 27 European Classics and more than 100 Group 1 stakes. Sangster, the son of Vernons Pools founder Vernon Sangster, was born in Liverpool. After attending Repton School, he served in the Cheshire Regiment and won a brigade heavyweight-boxing championship in Berlin. Then he joined the family business, becoming managing director and chairman. Aware of the plans to create the National Lottery, he sold the business to Ladbrokes for a reported 90 million pounds. His first horse, Chalk Stream, won two stakes. In October 1971, Sangster was introduced to John Magnier, an Irish stud farmer. Joining legendary trainer Vincent O’Brien, they formed a team that became known as “The brethern.” In the early 1970s, Sangster and Magnier began shuttling stallions between the northern and southern hemispheres. Sangster sold his interest in Coolmore in 1993 while retaining breeding rights to a number of stallions, including Saddler’s Wells and Danehill. Sangster was married and divorced three times and had five sons and a daughter. Racing correspondent Julian Wilson said of Sangster: “His pleasures were boxing, champagne, golf, racing and beautiful women, in no particular order, and often more than one at the same time.”
