Sir Alex Ferguson pockets extraordinary amount after successive race wins at Cheltenham Festival
Sir Alex Ferguson has pocketed an extraordinary amount after two of his horses won at the Cheltenham Festival.
Since retiring as United manager in 2013, Ferguson has become a common sight at major racing events.
And the National Hunt diary dates do not get much bigger than Cheltenham, where Ferguson has a complement of six horses running for glory this weekend.
It’s already looking to be a fruitful festival for the United legend. On Thursday alone, the former Old Trafford boss had four of his entries in action.
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His first success of the day came when Paul Nicholls-trained Monmiral - an unfancied 25-1 chance - won the Pertemps Network Final by a length and a quarter.
Ferguson is the co-owner of the horse, alongside Ged Mason and John and Lisa Hales, and was spotted celebrating wildly after the race win. Check out the video below.
According to talkSPORT, Ferguson bagged himself £50,000 for winning the Pertemps Network Final.
Speaking about Monmiral's win, jockey Harry Cobden said: “I can’t believe this horse has won. He was a 25-1 chance but I thought he should be 125-1.”
“That was fantastic,” said Ferguson. “What a jockey. Deary me, he was brilliant. It’s my first winner here.
“John is the master. He chooses the horses and we back him all the way.
“It’s been a while, 20 years of waiting to have another Festival winner and there is no better day than to have it with these two gentlemen.”
Things got even better for Ferguson later in the afternoon when Protektorat won the Ryanair Chase to make it two wins out of two for United legend.
According to Sporting Life, there is prize money of more than £218,000 for the winner of the race.
Ferguson was asked on ITV Racing if those victories gave him the same buzz as winning the Champions League with United.
“Now, that’s different,” he said, before adding: “Yes.”
And it could get even better for Ferguson, with another of his horses - Il Ridoto - riding in the TrustATrader Plate at 4.10pm.
Topics: Horse Racing, Sir Alex Ferguson, Manchester United
Chris Byfield