Tuesday, 30 March 2004: International owner and breeder Robert Sangster has been hospitalized in London and is reported to be battling cancer.
Sangster's Australian-based son Adam has joined his father and other family members at his bedside in London.
Sangster, 67, inherited the Vernons soccer pools fortune from his father in the 1960s and over the last 35 years has become one of the world's most successful racing figures.
Since 1967 Sangster has bred and raced more than 100 individual G1 winners, his famous blue and green silks being carried to victroy in two English Derbys, three Prix l’Arc de Triomphes, four Irish Derbys and a Melbourne Cup.
He was leading owner in the UK five times between 1977 and 1984 and his notable European horses, racing under his Swettenham Stud banner, have included Alleged, El Grand Senor, The Minstrel, Assert, Storm Bird, Golden Fleece, Detroit, Lomond, Caerleon, Rodrigo de Triano and Sadler's Wells.
Horses raced in Australia by Sangster, either as outright owner or in partnership, have included winners of the Melbourne Cup, Golden Slipper Stakes, Victoria Derby, AJC Derby, Sydney Cup, Doncaster Handicap and Newmarket Handicap.
His notable Australian winners include Beldale Ball, Marauding, Blevic, Blackfriars, Beechcraft, Magic Flute, Mapperley Heights, Special, Isca, Fine Offer, Galleon, Indian Raj, Marooned, Our Paddy Boy, Kaapstad, Pure Of Heart, Midnight Fever, Kensington Gardens, Periscope, Delightful Belle, Kiwi Slave, Eastern Classic, Larrocha, Freedom Fields, Moon Dragon Cossack Warrior, Schubert and Sportscast.
Sangster's UK racing and breeding interests are based at Manton, a 2300-acre estate he established in 1984 while his breeding interests in Australia include large shareholdings in Lindsay Park and Collingrove Studs.
He also was a founding partner with John Magnier and Vincent O'Brien in Coolmore Stud in Ireland in the 1970s and maintains large racing and breeding investments in Ireland, France, America and New Zealand.
Sangster also headed the syndicate that paid $US13.1 million in 1985 for a yearling a half brother to 1977 Triple Crown winner Seattle Slew who raced as Seattle Dancer, an amount that is still a world record.
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