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The leading owner has passed away.
My condolences to his family and friends.
RIP John. You owned some fantastic horses and I still have a picture of One Man on my bedroom wall.
A great personality and a very passionate owner with consistent success over the past 30 years.
My heartfelt condolences to his family and everybody involved with him.RIP John Hales
I enjoyed seeing his excitement when his horses won, a real heart-on-sleeve character. My favourite was one of his beautiful greys, Politologue. Mum liked One Man and was so pleased when he won. Condolences to his family and friends.
Huge loss to the sport – wore his heart on his sleeve through the great highs and the devastating lows the sport can bring.
When I saw him at Windsor after Protektorat’s win I did think he didn’t look too well but to think he was at Cheltenham just last week to see Monmiral run so well in the Cleeve and now gone….
Did catch the tail end of an interview with Harry Skelton after his win on Disco Davis at Lingfield earlier and he was in tears barely being able to get the words out in recalling what a great friend he had been to his whole family down the years…including buying Christmas presents for the kids.
A true mark of the man behind the public face and all my best wishes go out to his family for their loss.
RIP
Very sad to read this, John Hales was a passionate supporter of Jumps racing, and his bold racing colours lit up many a high-class race. He had a particular fondness for greys, and that is easily understood given that he owned the likes of One Man, Neptune Collonges, Politologue and Al Ferof.
It seems fitting that the company that he founded manufactured toys and merchandise from children’s TV shows. He sounds like a man who brought much joy to the world in many different ways.
RIP John Hales
Such sad news, a lovely man who will be much missed by his family and many friends.
His enthusiasm and love for horses really showed, the racing (and showjumping) world has lost a true friend.
Heartfelt condolences to his family and friends.I still haven’t got over not betting Neptune when he won the GN , plenty warm words about him in the RP today , sadly we are seeing fewer and fewer of these gentleman owners now
Yes Neptune Collonges winning the Grand National, was a personal blow to me too, HDGL especially as I had Sunnyhillboy in that race. However it was timed to perfection and you’ve got to respect that.
It’s One Man whom I’d liked though out of his horses, tried and failed in the Gold Cup but got his glory in the 98 Champion Chase
You've got to accentuate the positive.
Eliminate the negative.
Latch on to the affirmative.
Don't mess with mister in between.RIP
Another big loss to the NH scene; how many of his horses have lit up the winter game over the last 30 years. One Man was probably his classiest horse, but he had many good ones – and showjumpers as well.
And as HDLTG as already said, his type of owner isn’t being replaced in NH……
Most new money in racing is going to the Flat, with its promise of money, breeding, and international glamour.I keep thinking back to Protektorat winning the other week, especially as we now realise why Harry wanted to win that race for him so much and he transmitted that to a horse that almost looked as if he’d sprouted wings. Mr Hales was a great supporter of our racing club; always friendly and approachable. I think he took comfort from the fact that so many people adored One Man the way that he did and shared his grief ( that never went away no matter how many other great races his horses won). As with Trevor Hemmings, you could always go up to him on the racetrack. A great loss to racing. A lovely man RIP
I remember so vividly his interview before the 2012 Grand National. How he had originally planned to retire Neptune Collonges after his Haydock run, but decided to give Aintree a go as the horse deserved to take his chance. He was in tears explaining his decision and wishing for him to come home in one piece. The scenes afterwards were so memorable. It was truly meant to be.
He told the jockey to pull the horse up if at a time he felt he wasn’t happy. Even if it meant doing so going down to post.He and Darryl brought the trophy to our racing club to show us all. It went some way to exorcising the tragedy of One Man’s demise. Unfortunately I’ve never been able to rewatch the race because of what happened to According to Pete.
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