Grand National horse owners with ‘colossal’ wealth return to jumps racing

A MULTI-MILLIONAIRE married couple famed for their ‘prolific’ winners have returned to jumps racing four years after dramatically quitting.

Paul and Clare Rooney finished runner-up in the 2016 Grand National and had a Cheltenham Festival win before leaving the jumps in 2020.

They focused solely on the Flat after that and enjoyed Royal Ascot success with the likes of My Dream Boat.

But now they are targeting more Cheltenham and Aintree success after moving back into the National Hunt scene.

According to the Racing Post, the Rooneys bought several horses at the sales last year who have since gone into training in Britain.

Father-and-son team Jonjo and AJ O’Neill, Fergal O’Brien and Nicky Richards are the lucky trainers who will each have two runners in their famous blue and yellow silks.

The Rooneys racing manager Jason Maguire told the Racing Post: “They purchased a couple of store horses last year and Paul and Clare are keen to support jump racing.

“They have a couple of young horses to run in bumpers and we’ll see how they get on.

“They’ve had plenty of horses in the past and good results with jumps horses before.

“Obviously, things move on, but they’re happy to have a few again and see how they go.”

The Rooneys saw The Last Samuri sent off 8-1 joint-favourite for the 2016 National at Aintree.

He ran his heart out but finished six lengths behind winner Rule The World, ridden by a then-teenage David Mullins.

The following year they had Festival success with Willoughby Court who won the Baring Bingham Hurdle at 14-1 under jockey David Bass and for trainer Ben Pauling.

While If The Cap Fits claimed the £100,000 first-place prize in the Grade 1 Aintree Stayers’ Hurdle in April 2019.

A few months earlier the couple made headlines when they pulled all their horses out of Cheltenham Festival.

Citing safety concerns, they instructed their trainers to withdraw their horses from their intended races before performing a U-turn on the decision just weeks before the action began.

Their best season was in 2016-17 when their earnings smashed the £700,000 mark.

They had a ‘colossal’ training bill but wealth to match thanks to their estate agency business, which showed a £25million profit in 2021.

The Rooneys had a load of tidy winners which saw their overall earnings for all their years in jumps reach just shy of £3.3m.

Perhaps tellingly, though, their biggest ever win financially was on the Flat with My Dream Boat’s £425,000 victory at Royal Ascot in 2016.

Racing will be buoyed by the fact the Rooneys are returning after prominent owner Chris Giles recently confirmed he was leaving the sport for the foreseeable.

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