Movers & sheikhs.

(From Irish Independent)

They say John Magnier likes it when people struggle to pronounce his name. Especially when they're journalists. Should it be Man-ee-er like a French infinitive, pondered the British press earlier this year when the racing tycoon hit the headlines over the sale of his stake in Manchester United. A more phonetic Mag-knee-er perhaps? Or maybe Magna as in Carta?

John Magnier - whose name sounds like none of the above (the correct version is a simple Magner as in the actor Robert Wagner) - likes it that way. The intensely private multimillionaire cringes at the idea that he has become a household name. During the last 30 years, as he doggedly built up the world's most successful horse-breeding outfit, he has become almost Garboesque when it comes to publicity. And this week, at the country's premier yearling sales at Goffs, it was quite clear that yet again he wanted to be left alone.

But amid the fast-paced hum of the auctioneers and the high-pitched whinnies of racing's future stars, everyone was talking about that row - the apparent decision by the Maktoum family to boycott offspring sired by his Coolmore stallions. True to form, the man at the centre of the snub had no desire to divulge his feelings on the matter.

"I never discuss another man's business in public," said Magnier as he eyed prospective purchases, straining for anonymity under his trademark trilby. "Never."

When that "other man", Sheikh Mohammed, the Crown Prince of Dubai, stepped into the revamped Kildare auction house on the opening day of the sales this week, Eimear Mulhearn heaved a sigh of relief. The newly-appointed chairman of Goffs and daughter of Charlie Haughey was determined to attract the Sheikh back to the sales after his absence of several years.

Since her appointment, Mulhearn has injected a gritty energy and a flash of her father's steel into the bloodstock industry. She has added a touch of luxury to the formerly dull sales house - red carpets and designer unguents in the toilets.