JOHN Magnier is the latest to receive honorary life membership of the Royal Dublin Society. The honour was given to him on Thursday night by the President of the RDS Matt Dempsey at a ceremony in Ballsbridge ‘for his outstanding contribution to Irish bloodstock and horse racing and his entrepreneurial spirit’.

Norma Smurfit and pianist John O’Conor were also honoured.

The encomium read by Professor Owen Lewis described Magnier as “probably the most successful breeder and racehorse owner the world of flat racing has ever seen.” It outlined the Magnier family association with horses, dating back to the middle of the 19th century.

In the early days the focus was on National Hunt and John Magnier stood the enormously successful and influential Deep Run.

Along with his late father-in-law Vincent O’Brien, Magnier identified Northern Dancer as a potential outstanding influence and so it passed, initially through his son Sadler’s Wells and now through his grandson Galileo.

The Coolmore success story is now worldwide and extends to Kentucky, the Hunter Valley in Australia and elsewhere, while retaining a strong Irish identity.