The presence of JP McManus will loom large over the 2025 Cheltenham Festival. The legendary racehorse owner has 78 Cheltenham winners to his name, and you wouldn’t bet against the Irish billionaire, who turns 74 the day before the Festival, adding to that tally this week. McManus has over 60 entries, including the market leader in almost half the 28 races at the time of writing. His shortest-priced contender looks set to come in the second race of the Festival when Majborough lines up in the Arkle Novices' Chase on Tuesday. The shrewd McManus is not afraid to dig deep when he believes he has found a potential star, paying £570,000 to buy Jonbon in 2020. That investment has been repaid handsomely, and the gelding is the favourite to win the Queen Mother Champion Chase. Ahead of the Festival, here’s the lowdown on McManus’ net worth, his falling out with Sir Alex Ferguson and his other sporting loves… What is JP McManus’ net worth? McManus is one of the richest individuals in Ireland, with an estimated net worth of around £2billion. Having started out as a bookmaker in greyhound racing, he is thought to have made much of his money as a private foreign exchange trader. He has owned and invested in various sectors with business partners John Magnier and Dermot Desmond, including healthcare, the pub industry and hotel resorts. He has also invested in bookmakers Ladbrokes. Why did JP McManus fallout with Sir Alex Ferguson? It’s perhaps pushing it to claim Manchester United’s travails are down to a row over a racehorse, but it arguably played a part. Ferguson’s love of horse racing is well known, and the legendary manager’s passion for the sport has led him to own many horses over the years. However, one in particular led to an acrimonious fallout between him and a pair of United shareholders, McManus and Magnier, who first invested in the club in 2000 after getting to know Sir Alex through racing. The trio jointly owned champion thoroughbred Rock of Gibraltar. However, their relationship disintegrated amid a row over stud rights, with Ferguson even taking legal action before the matter was eventually settled out of court. At the same time, McManus and Magnier were increasing their stake in United - back when the club was the dominant force in English football - to 29%. Their influence had become so great that there were question marks over whether the dispute would lead to Sir Alex leaving the club. When did JP McManus sell his stake in Manchester United? Instead, McManus and Magnier exited, selling their stake to Malcolm Glazer in 2005. He saddled the club with huge debts, sparking mass protests from fans and even the creation of a protest club, FC United of Manchester. His sons, Joel and Avram, took over the day-to-day running of the club the following year after their father suffered a stroke. United stayed at the top of English football for a few more years, but Sir Alex’s departure in 2013 triggered a doom cycle that the club is still experiencing. The once-strained relationship between McManus and Ferguson is more cordial now. In a rare interview for the Irish Racing Yearbook in 2022, McManus insisted there was no bad blood between the pair. He said: "If I meet him at the races, we’d say hello. Life’s too short." What other sports is JP McManus involved in? McManus owns Adare Manor and its accompanying golf course, the venue for the 2027 Ryder Cup. It hosts the annual JP McManus Pro Am, which has attracted illustrious names like Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy. The Limerick native, who now resides in Switzerland, is also a big supporter of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA), recently donating €1m (around £850,000) to every GAA county board.