CRAZY HORSES

Joorabchian's drive to rock the establishment

- DAVID YATES

Wimbledon’s infamous FA Cup final upset of Liverpool in 1988 could be the blueprint for super agent Joorabchian’s mission statement to shake up racing’s established order.

Different turf. Same war. “We are competing against people that have been established for many years,” says Joorabchian.

“It’s a shame just to have two or three people always at the top. At the moment we can’t compete so, in order to compete, we have to really have a go. And so we’ve had a go!”

That’s one way of putting it. Last week, the Tattersalls auction house in Newmarket staged Book 1 of its October Yearling Sale, where only thoroughbreds with the choicest pedigrees make up the 350 lots.

Joorabchian’s Amo Racing owner ship venture signed for 17 of them at a cost of 19.575m guineas and teamed up with partners for a further eight, upping the total spend to 22.940m guineas.