Inside Sir Alex Ferguson’s racing circle including iconic toy creator, soap star, megabucks businessman and footie icons
SIR ALEX FERGUSON was busy celebrating at Cheltenham as he pocketed £275,000.
The legendary Manchester United boss saw Monmiral and Protektorat bring home wins on Day Three of the festival.
Ferguson was seen in a jubilant mood following the wins.
He was joined by a group of people who may be familiar faces for some.
From Premier League cult heroes and icons to a Coronation Street star and toy maker, the 82-year-old certainly had some characters around him.
But who are they and what do they do?
Alan Halsall
Alan Halsall will be a familiar face to those who watch Coronation Street.
The 41-year-old is famous for playing Tyrone Dobbs in the TV Soap opera and is a huge Man Utd fan.
He won the 2013 British Soap Awards Best Actor award and the gong for the National Television Awards for Outstanding Serial Drama Performance.
He was seen celebrating Fergie‘s win by jumping up and down at the back of the group.
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Ged Mason
Ged Mason is one of the co-owners of Ferguson’s two winning horses on Cheltenham’s Thursday races.
Born in Salford in 1964, according to the Sunday Times Rich List the businessman is worth a whopping £190million as of 2022 thanks to Morson International, Britain’s leading manpower services company.
Mason is a long-time friend of Ferguson’s and the pair were together when Spirit Dancer won half a million quid from the Bahrain International Trophy last November.
And today Mason was seen picking up everyone as he wildly celebrated the winners.
John Hales
John Hales made his name selling toys of the Teletubbies.
But these days the 84-year-old is another co-owner of Fergie‘s horses and is winning big with him on the horses.
Pictured in a tan coat at Cheltenham, he was excitable as ever as he wildly celebrated the back-to-back wins.
Ferguson credits Hales and Mason as the people who got him into horses, saying: “I got interested in the jumps with Ged and John. It 100 per cent makes it more enjoyable having a winner with friends.”
Sam Allardyce
A man that football fans will be familiar with, Sam Allardyce managed a host of top flight clubs in England and had a well-earned reputation as a boss who could steady the ship.
The 69-year-old has managed more than 1,000 games, with his longest jobs coming with Bolton, West Ham and Notts County.
Until his time with West Brom in 2021 Allardyce boasted an impressive record of never being relegated from the top flight, though he followed this up with a second relegation with Leeds last season.
Allardyce had accidentally photobombed Princess Beatrice as she posed for photos at the races today.
Bryan Robson
Man Utd’s Captain Marvel, Bryan Robson played more than 450 times for the Red Devils.
In 1981 he transferred to Old Trafford for a then-British transfer record fee of £1.5m from West Brom.
The 67-year-old won the Premier League twice with Man Utd in 1993 and 1994, while also winning the club’s Player of the Year award in 1989.
Ferguson named Robson as “easily the best captain I had”, so his inclusion in Fergie’s racing group comes as no surprise.
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