IRISH billionaire Luke Comer is the new owner of the Magna Racino equestrian park in Ebreichsdorf, Austria. Comer, a real estate developer, purchased the 200 hectare property from the German Lürssen Gruppe.

It is not known how much Comer paid for the site or what his vision for the equestrian sports resort, founded in 2004, may be.

Monaco resident Comer (65) is one of Ireland’s richest men. Together with his brother Brian, he runs the €2 billion Comer Group, a property development company based in London. In addition to his work as a property developer, Comer breeds and trains horses, however, he had his training license suspended for three years in 2023, when a horse he trained tested positive for anabolic steroids. He lost an appeal against the suspension in June 2024.

The Magna Racino was founded in 2004 by Frank Stronach, grandfather of Canadian show jumper Nicole Walker, who invested around €75 million into the construction of the horse racing resort. The site, which includes a racetrack, stables, tournament grounds and arenas, as well as event rooms and a casino, changed hands for the first time in 2020 after Stronach’s withdrawal from Austria.

At that time, it went to Sakoyah Beteiligungsverwaltungs GmbH, a subsidiary of the Vienna-based Holster Private Foundation, which belongs to the German shipyard owner Peter Lürßen.

In the past two decades, Ebreichsdorf hosted three CDIs: one in 2000, one in 2018 and one in 2019. The venue did host a string of national shows that were well attended by Austrian and German riders based in Bavaria. In 2019, the Austrian Championships took place there.

In 2018, the venue became a candidate to host the World Equestrian Games, but dropped out of the bidding process after failing to meet the deadline.

A press conference in February is expected to clarify what will happen to the Magna Racino in the future.