Michael Tabor

 ( 1941 Births ) 

He bought several more, including Royal Derbi, trained, as was Tornado Prince, by Neville Callaghan in Newmarket. "Owners: Michael Tabor" , British Horseracing Authority. Retrieved 1 October 2012.Thomas, Peter. "The big interview: Neville Callaghan", The Racing Post, 20 November 2007. Link to the article on The Free Library. Retrieved 25 October 2012. Royal Derbi won the Irish Champion Hurdle in 1993.

In 1994 Tabor paid more than $400,000 for the promising two-year-old thoroughbred Thunder Gulch. The horse went on to win the Kentucky Derby, the Belmont Stakes and the Travers Stakes, narrowly missing the American Triple Crown when he was beaten by less than a length in the Preakness Stakes. Tabor had been looking for a horse to race in America and had been pointed for advice to John Magnier 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.

His great successes as an owner, however, came in association with the expert Irish horsemen connected to the Coolmore Stud of John Magnier. His investment 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 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. That colt, Entrepreneur, 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 later with Derrick Smith, who became involved in the mid-2000s. His Desert King won the Irish 2,000 Guineas and the Irish Derby in 1997, while Entrepreneur took the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket that same year to give Tabor his first victory in an English Classic. Montjeu won the Irish Derby and the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe in 1999, while Tabor won Epsom Derby in 2001 and 2002 with Galileo and then High Chaparral, the latter horse also winning the Irish Derby and the Breeders' Cup Turf. Tabor won the Derby again, with Pour Moi in 2011 and with Camelot in 2012, the year that horse also took the 2,000 Guineas and the Irish Derby at the Curragh, though he missed out on the English Triple Crown by finishing second in the St Leger. Tabor won the Derby again in 2024 with City of Troy. Tabor was also the breeder, as well as the owner, of Giant's Causeway, winner of numerous Group One races, and in 1995 his Hurricane Run was voted the world's top-ranked racehorse by the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities. His Derby victories made Michael Tabor one of only four men ever to have raced a winner of both the Epsom and the Kentucky Derbys; the others are Paul Mellon, John W. Galbreath and Prince Ahmed bin Salman.

Tabor made an impact in America in May 1995 when Thunder Gulch won the Kentucky Derby and with Magnier and Smith they subsequently campaigned Breeders' Cup winners Mendelssohn (2017), Highland Reel (2016), Found (2015 Turf), Hootenanny (2014 Juvenile Turf), George Vancouver (2012 Juvenile Turf), St. Nicholas Abbey (2011 Turf), Wrote (2011 Juvenile Turf) and Man of Iron (2009 Marathon), as well as such American Grade 1 winners as Adieu, Treasure Beach, Together, Turbulent Descent, Havana, Minorette and Curvy. They have also owned several other Breeders' Cup winners and Grade 1 winners in partnerships.

Tabor was the co-owner of Galileo. In June 2020, Galileo sired his 85th Group 1 winner, breaking Danehill's world record and becoming the most successful source of Group 1 winners in thoroughbred history. In addition to his Derby winners, his notable offspring include Frankel, Nathaniel, Found, Churchill and Minding.

Tabor acknowledged the superiority of his Irish associates in their judgment of horses, telling The Independent: "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."