Billionaire tied to minority owners of star horse Justify

If Justify wins the Belmont Stakes on Saturday to become just the 13th horse in history to claim horse racing’s Triple Crown, two of the three groups that have an ownership stake in the horse’s breeding rights will be front and center during the celebration.

WinStar Farm, one of North America’s leading thoroughbred racing and breeding operations, owns 60 percent of Justify’s breeding rights. China Horse Club owns 25 percent.

A third group, a secretive entity that holds the remaining 15 percent, will remain out of the spotlight because it vigorously avoids public attention. It is a company controlled by top employees of billionaire investor George Soros.

Soros’ connection to Justify, which was not previously reported, has garnered little notice in the sport despite the horse’s rousing victories in the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes last month because his group tries to operate almost invisibly. Several officials, who sit atop one of the biggest owners in stallion equity in the world, declined to comment about Soros’ involvement in horse racing through his fund.

Soros’ investment firm, Soros Fund Management, is behind SF Bloodstock and SF Racing Group, an international breeding and racing operation started in 2008. Executives from the investment firm oversee the breeding and horse-ownership businesses.

Soros is one of the world’s most successful investors. He might be best-known in the financial world for his bet in 1992 against the fortunes of the British pound. Soros is said to have made more than $1 billion by shorting the pound — a move that cemented his reputation as one of the shrewdest currency traders. Soros

In recent years, he has become better known for his support of philanthropic activities and in particular his financial support to liberal and progressive causes. He personally has given tens of billions of dollars to support the work of the Open Society Foundations, which he formed more than 30 years ago to support efforts to promote freedom of expression and human rights in 120 countries.

For decades, Soros was one of the more successful hedge-fund managers, investing billions of dollars for wealthy individuals and institutions. The 87-yearold has ceded more and more investment decisionmaking to the money managers he has hired to run the firm.

SF Bloodstock, which is also a part-owner of Newgate Farm in Australia, has breeding stock in the United States, Australia, England, Ireland and France. It could not be determined how much money Soros’ firm has committed to the horse-racing business.

SF Bloodstock, which according to court filings is owned by SF Agricultural Holdings, employs a forprofit model and focuses on the breeding side of the industry, buying stallions, or shares in them, and broodmares while selling yearlings at auction. In 2015, it entered into a three-year partnership with WinStar Farm and China Horse Club that allowed them to spend big while spreading risk at yearling and 2-year-old sales. That is how the group partly acquired Justify and the third-place Kentucky Derby finisher, Audible, but it quickly sold its racing rights in those horses to Head of Plains Partners and Starlight Racing.

China Horse Club is also an opaque group that has become a major global player in the sport in just five years despite a ban on wagering in mainland China. That SF is a partner with the club is somewhat surprising: Soros was an early investor in China, but he has had outspoken views about the country that have upset its political leadership.