After the recent hammering at Anfield, at least there is one Manchester United fan still dreaming of a quadruple.
Make that two fans because none other than Sir Alex Ferguson has a share in three of Ged Mason’s four Festival challengers.
Mason and Sir Alex have been long-time friends and co-owners and, of course, share a passion for the club that Ferguson led to unprecedented success over his 26 years as United manager. Salford-born Mason has an estimated fortune of just under £200million but, like Ferguson, he is in the racing game for the love and the thrill.
Asked if he likes to have a punt on his horses, Mason laughs: “It’s hard enough to pay for the hay, let alone lose money – I’ll leave that to some of my colleagues.
“I just enjoy the win, the thrill of the race and the silverware – that’s the most important thing and, of course, that the horse comes home safely.”
Mason, 59, is the boss of leading manpower services company Morson International and has had a long-held love of both United and National Hunt racing.
In an interview with the Greater Mancunians blog, he once said: “I’m a red through and through. I was weaned on watching George Best and Denis Law. How could you not be hooked on it after that?
“Football is still my first love but racing is a very close second.”
Check Mason’s social media timeline and it is a mixture of updates on the fortunes of his horses … and a celebration of Manchester United achievements, even though they have been a bit thin on the ground in recent years.
Unlike the achievements of Mason’s horses. Mason and Ferguson first made a shared investment almost 15 years ago and What A Friend gave them several high-profile triumphs.
Along with several other owners, the pair have a close association with Paul Nicholls and the 13-time champion trainer has spoken of how he has taken advice from Ferguson and shared views on how to succeed in management and sport.
And you can imagine Mason and Ferguson have done exactly the same over their long friendship.
Their devotion to racing even saw them jet over for last year’s Melbourne Cup.
After the bitter, acrimonious fallout with the John Magnier-JP McManus operation over Rock Of Gibraltar, it was as though Ferguson’s passion for the sport was reignited by his involvement in the jumping game with Mason, who is a hugely popular figure in the National Hunt world.
And Mason and Ferguson, along with their fellow owners, would be the toast of British racing if they could make inroads into the ever-growing Irish domination of the Festival.
Mason and Ferguson are among the four owners who splashed out £350,000 for Hermes Allen, but the Nicholls-trained novice was a disappointing sixth after going off a well-backed favourite for the Ballymore on Wednesday while Hitman was third in the Ryanair Chase.
But the one they would obviously love to win is the Gold Cup, the blue riband finale to the Festival in which Protektorat, trained by Dan Skelton, finished third a year ago.
Protektorat was the best-placed of the British-trained contenders in 2022 and, this year, has Galopin Des Champs to deal with. Mason said: “I’m on my prayer mat to get some rain for him – and so is Dan (Skelton), John Hales (co-owner) and Sir Alex.”
Whether or not it helps to have a footballing deity on your side remains to be seen but at least Ged and Sir Alex can still dream.
