Racing

Michelle Mone’s big Aintree Grand National hope may be prevented from running

BHA investigating status of horse Monbeg Genius after £75m of assets owned by couple are ‘frozen or restrained’

Doug Barrowman and Michelle Mone at the Cheltenham Festival. Photograph: Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images
Doug Barrowman and Michelle Mone at the Cheltenham Festival. Photograph: Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images
Greg Wood
Mon Jan 29 2024 - 18:22

One of the favourites for this year’s Aintree Grand National is at the centre of a British Horseracing Authority (BHA) investigation following the news that £75 million (€88 million) of assets owned by Michelle Mone and her husband, Doug Barrowman, have been “frozen or restrained” by a court order obtained by the crown prosecution service in Britain.

The BHA has confirmed it is aware of the press reports and is “in contact with the relevant individuals to understand what implications, if any, there are for their involvement with racing”. It is investigating whether Monbeg Genius, who would be a leading contender for Britain’s most famous steeplechase, is among the assets in question and potentially unable to run.

The chaser, who was pulled out of the Welsh Grand National at Christmas and a valuable contest earlier this month at their final 48-hour declaration stages, is trained by Jonjo O’Neill and priced at about 20-1 for the Grand National, which has a £500,000 first prize for the owner of the winning horse. The eight-year-old gelding was bought for £80,000 by Mone in November 2020, reportedly as a second wedding present for her husband.

Mone and Barrowman have since been the subject of intense media scrutiny, and more recently an investigation by the National Crime Agency, over their links to the company PPE Medpro, which was awarded contracts by the British government worth £202 million during the Covid-19 pandemic. The government has also initiated proceedings to recover £122 million, plus costs, from PPE Medpro after some of the equipment supplied fell below the required standard. The couple strongly deny any wrongdoing. Barrowman said: “Michelle and I are being hung out to dry to distract attention from government incompetence in how it handled PPE procurement at [a] time of national emergency.”

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The “freezing” order on £75 million of the Barrowmans’ assets, meanwhile, was issued in December, but its existence emerged only last week.

Monbeg Genius has been seen as a leading contender for this year’s Grand National since finishing a close third, behind Corach Rambler and Fastorslow, in a strong renewal of the Ultima Handicap Chase at Cheltenham last March. Corach Rambler went on to win the Grand National a month later, while Fastorslow has since developed into a leading contender for this season’s Cheltenham Gold Cup in March.

The gelding ran well on his seasonal debut in early December but O’Neill told the Racing Post after Monbeg Genius had been taken out of the Classic Chase at Warwick this month that the horse was “still not right”, adding: “He could still be a Grand National horse, that’s a few months away. It’s still in the back of our minds but he needs to come right first. There’s no point running if they’re not right.”

Jonjo O'Neill jnr aboard Monbeg Genius on their way to victory in the NFRC Novices' Hurdle at Chepstow in March, 2022. Photograph: Alan Crowhurst/Getty Images
Jonjo O'Neill jnr aboard Monbeg Genius on their way to victory in the NFRC Novices' Hurdle at Chepstow in March, 2022. Photograph: Alan Crowhurst/Getty Images

O’Neill suggested at Cheltenham on Saturday, however, that Monbeg Genius is “nearly there” in terms of being able to resume full training, but would need a prep run to take his chance at Aintree in April. And if the horse is indeed among the Barrowmans’ frozen assets, it is hard to see how he could be declared to run for his owners, as his valuation is undoubtedly several times greater than his £80,000 purchase price.

If Monbeg Genius is free to run in the Grand National, meanwhile, that would potentially present a fresh set of problems for Aintree and the national’s promoters, given the current high profile of his owners.

The Grand National is, by a country mile, Britain’s most famous race, and the only event that still generates widespread public engagement on an annual basis. It is, and always has been, the “people’s race”, and as a handicap, it is more accessible to “ordinary” owners than a race like the Cheltenham Gold Cup.

Only last year, the seven-strong winning syndicate that originally paid just £17,000 for Corach Rambler included a student whose interest in racing was sparked by watching on television during lockdown. The possibility of £500,000 in prize-money finding its way to a couple whose own activities during the pandemic continue to be, to say the least, rather more controversial would not have quite the same PR value for the sport.

Representatives of Michelle Mone and Doug Barrowman have yet to reply to a request for comment. — Guardian