Owner 'Mattress Mack' offers shelter to Hurricane Harvey casualties

James 'Mattress Mack' McIngvale, who made headlines as the owner of 2015 Breeders' Cup Sprint winner Runhappy, has been using his business empire to offer shelter to those displaced by Hurricane Harvey.

McIngvale earned the nickname of Mattress Mack through his ownership of the Gallery Furniture retail chain, and he opened the door to some of his Texas stores so people affected by the torrential flooding had somewhere to stay.

The availability of the stores as shelters was circulated via a Facebook Live video to the citizens of Houston, with McIngvale even providing his own mobile number.

As of Tuesday the two stores in the city were housing 450 people each, with all receiving a warm, dry place to stay, sleep, eat and shower.

McIngvale's daughter Laura McIngvale Brown told the Blood-Horse: "A lot of people might not realise it, but we did the same thing during [hurricanes] Ike and Katrina.

"We have really big parking lots, and although those lots flood, the buildings do not. Both stores are at capacity right now, we are arranging for some showers to be taken out to our Grand Parkway location out in Richmond. That's one thing people really need; they've been wading through all of this water."