The rise and rise of Amo Racing: how Kia Joorabchian has become a major player on the sport's big stage

A high-profile multi-million guineas outlay on three Frankel yearlings on day one of the Tattersalls Book 1 sale signalled the intent of Amo Racing to compete at the highest level, and it is not the first time the venture’s founder Kia Joorabchian has made the headlines.

Joorabchian, an Iranian-born, British-educated businessman, has been a prominent figure in football since the 2000s and played a hand in the shock deal that saw Argentinian internationals Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano move to West Ham in 2006. He is the director of global football management company Sports Invest UK.

He entered racehorse ownership – later describing the sport as “one that amazes me” – in 2003 and enjoyed a first winner as a joint-owner with the Jamie Osborne-trained Persian Rock at Windsor the following year.

The Michael Bell-trained Freebe Rocks was a dual winner for Karmaa Racing, the owner’s racing arm, in 2018, a year in which Joorabchian decided to increase his involvement in the sport through Amo Racing. After little success, he took his investment to the next level in 2021.

It has been a fairly quick rise for Amo since. Mojo Star was a Derby and St Leger runner-up in the purple silks in 2021 and the operation has been represented by 200-plus domestic runners on the Flat for the last four years. Numerically they enjoyed their best campaign in 2023 when having 58 domestic winners in the sole name of Amo Racing Limited.

Those winners included Bucanero Fuerte, who was a first Group 1 winner for Amo in the Phoenix Stakes at the Curragh last August, and King Of Steel, who has been the Amo flagbearer. He finished second in last year’s Derby, won the King Edward VII Stakes at Royal Ascot and then landed the Champion Stakes under Frankie Dettori on the rider’s final day in Britain.

King Of Steel: was a flagbearer for Amo last seasonCredit: Edward Whitaker

Joorabchian’s time in the sport has not been without drama. King Of Steel, who has not run this year due to injury, left Roger Varian in May after a setback, along with other Amo horses, while ten horses left Ralph Beckett in 2021. Beckett is back on the Amo roster now.

Raphael Freire was granted a licence in June and is based at the operation’s training centre in Lambourn, while Rossa Ryan and Kevin Stott had stints as Amo’s retained rider – a role currently filled by David Egan.

Joorabchian closed the NFT element of his metaverse project Omnihorse last year and this summer had a failed bid of £7.8m, with Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis, for Prix de Diane winner Sparkling Plenty at the Goffs London Sale. This time they meant business.

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