A MILLIONAIRE racehorse owner who started off earning £7.50 on the night shift in a Toyota factory has pledged to build a replica of Ascot in his 800-acre Kentucky estate.
John Stewart may have only been in horse racing for two years, but he’s made a name for himself.
He made a mighty splash in the racing world when he arrived all guns blazing at the Kentucky sales last autumn and emptied £20million out of his pockets.
He continued to spend big across the world, adding to his Resolute Racing operation, which owns the Ascot King George winner Goliath.
And if his rags-to-riches tale is anything to go by, he’s a man that knows how to get what he wants.
He started off on the factory floor at Toyota, but before long he was running the whole Toyota in Britain.
Then he moved to New York and has since made millions in private equity.
Now he’s set his sights on a Royal Ascot winner, and he’s not stopping at much until he gets one.
Last June he had three ‘also-rans’ and, apparently traumatised by the experience, has taken drastic measures to mitigate against a repeat.
These include building a replica of the straight at Royal Ascot on the 800-acre Kentucky farm he bought from Shadwell.
He told the Racing Post: “The big difference between Britain and America is that we’re not used to running on a track that’s not flat.
“Some of the horses that have been brought over for Ascot have done great until the hill so I’m building a replica of Ascot on my farm.
“That’ll be a turf gallop which will be exactly the same as the full straight stretch so we’re used to it.
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“The whole purpose is to build a training centre and it’s also got undersoil heated turf, like you get in lots of sports grounds, so we can use it all-year round. That’s how serious I am about winning those races.
“I’ve already told all of my trainers that Ascot is on the radar, it’s somewhere I want to win. Britain is definitely a place I want to compete, I’d love to win the Derby, I love those historic races.
“I’m 100 per cent going to win at Ascot though, I’ve got 53 yearlings that’ll be two-year-olds in January.”
Stewart added: “I’m good friends with the Coolmore team, I’m taking them to the Superbowl, but I want to beat them. They’ve dominated racing on three continents and it’s inspired me to build something significant as well.”
And it’s not just the UK he’s focussing on. The mighty Goliath is running in the £5.14m Japan Cup.
Except it’s not David and a slingshot he’ll be coming up against. It’s Aidan O’Brien’s Auguste Rhodin.
But Steward, undeterred by the Ballydoyle threat, said: “I’m real excited for this weekend, I think he’s going to have a dominant performance. We’ve brought him here to win the Japan Cup.”
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