Michael Barry Tabor (born 28 October 1941) is a British businessman, bookmaker, gambler and owner of
thoroughbred
The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed. Thoroughbreds are ...
racehorses.
Tabor regularly appears on the '' Sunday Times Rich List'' of the richest people in Britain. In 2012 his fortune was estimated to be £550 million;
two years previously the business magazine ''
Management Today
Haymarket Media Group is a privately held media company headquartered in London. It has publications in the consumer, business and customer sectors, both print and online. It operates exhibitions allied to its own publications, and previously on ...
Management Today
Haymarket Media Group is a privately held media company headquartered in London. It has publications in the consumer, business and customer sectors, both print and online. It operates exhibitions allied to its own publications, and previously on ...
'', 10 July 2008. Retrieved 13 October 2012. According to the ''Sunday Times Rich List'' in 2019 his net worth was estimated at £629 million.
Early life
Michael Tabor was brought up in Forest Gate in east London, the son of a glassmaker.Muscat, Julian "Life's a gamble" Thoroughbred Owner & Breeder, 2 July 2012. Retrieved 1 October 2012. Tabor's grandparents were Russian-Jewish immigrants, originally called Taborosky, who had moved to London from
Vilna
Vilnius ( , ; see also #Etymology and other names, other names) is the capital and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the munic ...
, Russia.Cunningham, Peter. "The Cockney horse trader",
The Observer
''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the ...
The Irish Independent
The ''Irish Independent'' is an Irish daily newspaper and online publication which is owned by Independent News & Media (INM), a subsidiary of Mediahuis.
The newspaper version often includes glossy magazines.
Traditionally a broadsheet ne ...
, 17 June 2001. Retrieved 12 October 2012. He was educated at East Ham Grammar School, leaving when he was 15 to get a job in the local
Co-op
A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-control ...
. He was nearly a hairdresser, enrolling at the Morris School of Hairdressing in Piccadilly, but instead turned to bookmaking. Tabor's father had for a time been in partnership with a bookmaker at Romford Greyhound Stadium and Tabor himself became interested in gambling in his teens, spending Monday and Friday afternoons at Hendon's
greyhound
The English Greyhound, or simply the Greyhound, is a breed of dog, a sighthound which has been bred for coursing, greyhound racing and hunting. Since the rise in large-scale adoption of retired racing Greyhounds, the breed has seen a resurgenc ...
The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...
, 26 October 2000. Retrieved 1 October 2012.
Bookmaking business
Tabor worked for commission agents and credit bookmakers before setting up in business for himself in 1968. He borrowed £30,000 from a financier to buy two bankrupt betting shops from Andrew Gordon, retaining the name Arthur Prince and expanding the business until he owned a chain of 114 shops. In 1995 he sold the business to
Coral
Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and ...
for a reported £27 million."Owner Profile: Michael Tabor" Racehorseowner.com. Retrieved 1 October 2012. "There's an old saying I like," Tabor said, "which is that good punters make good bookmakers. I have found that to be very true."
Betting
Tabor gained a reputation as a shrewd, daring and successful gambler, whose actions could dramatically affect the odds being offered on a horse.Reid, Jamie. "Tabor stakes claim to a football fortune: A former bookie wants to put £30 million into West Ham.",
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
Ladbrokes
Ladbrokes Coral is a British gambling company founded in 1886. Its product offering includes sports betting, online casino, online poker, and online bingo. The business is split into two divisions, UK and International. UK operations are c ...
in the 1980s they had to stop taking Tabor's bets.Muscat, Julian. "'To have a horse who is being mentioned in the same context as Nijinsky- it's unbelievable'", The Racing Post, 14 September 2012 Link to article on TheFreeLibrary.com. Retrieved 14 October 2012.
Horseracing
Tabor's first horse was Tornado Prince, bought for £2,850 in 1973. He bought several more, including Royal Derbi, trained, as was Tornado Prince, by Neville Callaghan in Newmarket."Owners: Michael Tabor" ,
British Horseracing Authority
The British Horseracing Authority, also known simply as the BHA, is the regulatory authority for horse racing in Great Britain.
It was formed on 31 July 2007, after the merger of the British Horseracing Board (BHB) and the Horseracing Regulato ...
. Retrieved 1 October 2012.
His great successes as an owner, however, came in association with the expert Irish horsemen connected to the
Coolmore Stud
Coolmore Stud, in Fethard, County Tipperary, Ireland, is headquarters of the world's largest breeding operation of thoroughbred racehorses. Through its racing arm, Ballydoyle, Coolmore also has raced many classic winners and champions. The operat ...
of
John Magnier
John Magnier (born 10 February 1948; also known as "The Boss") is an Irish business magnate. He is Ireland's leading thoroughbred stud owner and has extensive business interests outside the horse-breeding industry.
Magnier has also been a Sena ...
. In 1994 Tabor paid more than $400,000 for the promising two-year-old thoroughbred
Thunder Gulch
Thunder Gulch (May 23, 1992 – March 19, 2018) was a Champion American Thoroughbred racehorse best known for his wins in the Kentucky Derby and the Belmont Stakes in 1995, which earned him the title of U.S. Champion 3-Yr-Old Colt.
Background
...
American Triple Crown
In the United States, the Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing, commonly known as the Triple Crown, is a series of horse races for three-year-old Thoroughbreds, consisting of the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, and Belmont Stakes. The three r ...
when he was beaten by less than a length in the
Preakness Stakes
The Preakness Stakes is an American thoroughbred horse race held on Armed Forces Day which is also the third Saturday in May each year at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland. It is a Grade I race run over a distance of 9.5 furlongs () o ...
. Tabor had been looking for a horse to race in America having moved to Miami, Florida, and had been pointed for advice to
John Magnier
John Magnier (born 10 February 1948; also known as "The Boss") is an Irish business magnate. He is Ireland's leading thoroughbred stud owner and has extensive business interests outside the horse-breeding industry.
Magnier has also been a Sena ...
by a mutual friend, J.P. McManus. Demi O'Byrne, the bloodstock adviser to Magnier, advised Tabor on his purchase and Magnier bought half of Thunder Gulch to stand at stud at Coolmore's Kentucky annexe at Ashford.
Tabor joined the Coolmore partnership. His money allowed Magnier to become once again a major buyer in the top yearling sales, a role he had not played since the mid-1980s when he had acted in conjunction with
Robert Sangster
Robert Edmund Sangster (23 May 1936 – 7 April 2004)
and other associates. In 1995 they bought three of the top four yearlings at the Keeneland Sales and paid 600,000 guineas for the leading lot at Tattersalls' Houghton Sale. That colt,
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values t ...
, went on to win the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket."Coolmore: the growth of an empire" the-racehorse.com, 26 April 2006. Retrieved 12 October 2012.
Tabor became the owner and co-owner of an extraordinary catalogue of some of the world's best racehorses, generally owning the Coolmore horses in a three-way partnership with Magnier and his wife Sue, and with another former London bookmaker, Derrick Smith, who became involved in the mid-2000s. His Desert King won the
Irish 2,000 Guineas
The Irish 2,000 Guineas is a Group 1 flat horse race in Ireland open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies. It is run at the Curragh over a distance of 1 mile (1,609 metres), and it is ...
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values t ...
took the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket that same year to give Tabor his first victory in an
English Classic
The English Classic was a professional golf tournament which was played annually from 1979 to 1983. It was a fixture on the European Tour schedule, and hosted at The Belfry in Wishaw, Warwickshire, England.
Two of the five winners were major ch ...
Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe
The Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe is a Group 1 flat horse race in France open to thoroughbreds aged three years or older. It is run at Longchamp Racecourse in Paris, France, over a distance ...
St Leger
The St Leger Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies. It is run at Doncaster over a ...
. Tabor was also the breeder, as well as the owner, of
Giant's Causeway
The Giant's Causeway is an area of about 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, the result of an ancient volcanic fissure eruption. It is located in County Antrim on the north coast of Northern Ireland, about three miles (5 km) northeast of ...
The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...
'': "I enjoy going round looking at the horses and I like to think I've got a fair idea. But I don't know a lot really and a little knowledge is dangerous." Discussing the economics of Coolmore's extremely successful breeding operation, Tabor said: "I get enormous pleasure out of the horses but, it goes without saying, that you're trying to make stallions. You need a stallion, maybe a stallion and a half, every year."
Other business interests
In May 2014 Tabor assumed a 100% control of Victor Chandler International after Victor Chandler sold his interest in the firm.
His racing associations have also extended into other areas of business. With Magnier, Derrick Smith and J.P. McManus, Tabor is one of the co-owners of the luxury
Sandy Lane hotel
Sandy Lane is a luxury five-star beachfront resort close to Holetown and Paynes Bay on the island of Barbados. Sandy Lane was opened in 1961 by Ronald Tree, a former British politician, as a luxury hotel and golf course on what had been a sugar p ...
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
, 18 September 2011. Retrieved 1 October 2012.Foster, Mike "Rich List 2011: The financiers" Financial News, 9 May 2011. Retrieved 1 October 2012. In addition, Tabor, Magnier, McManus, and another Irish associate and Sandy Lane owner,
Dermot Desmond
Dermot Desmond (born 14 August 1950) is an Irish businessman and financier. He is estimated to be worth €2.04 billion and is ranked by the ''Sunday Independent'' as the ninth-richest person in Ireland.
Early life and education
Desmond was b ...
, collectively owned 60 per cent of the Next Generation chain of fitness clubs sold to London & Regional Properties for around £200 million in 2006. Tabor, Magnier, Smith, McManus and the currency trader Joe Lewis also own a large stake in the Mitchells & Butlers pub chain. This group of businessmen is also reported to have profited extensively from currency speculation, activity sometimes attributed to their association with Lewis.
In 2008 the company Global Radio, founded by Tabor's son, Ashley, took over GCap Media, owners of
Capital Radio
Capital London is a radio station owned and operated by the Global media company as part of its national Capital FM Network. As Capital Radio it was launched in the London area in 1973 as one of Britain's first two commercial radio stations. ...
, and Classic FM. That move was backed with £375 million from investors including Magnier, McManus, and Tabor. The deal made Global Radio the largest radio group in the United Kingdom.
Tabor's other business dealings include an investment in two London hotels and a failed attempt in 1996 to buy
West Ham United
West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...
The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...
, 31 January 1997. Retrieved 1 October 2012.
Personal life
Tabor divides his time between
Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo (; ; french: Monte-Carlo , or colloquially ''Monte-Carl'' ; lij, Munte Carlu ; ) is officially an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco, specifically the ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is ...
, and Barbados. He has been married, to Doreen, since 1975. They have a son,
Ashley Tabor Ashley is a place name derived from the Old English words '' æsc'' (“ash”) and '' lēah'' (“meadow”). It may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Ashley (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name
...