Grand National favourite could be blocked from running after owner Michelle Mone and husband have £75m assets frozen

THE favourite for the Grand National could be blocked from running – after his owner Michelle Mone had £75million of assets frozen.

Monbeg Genius is the current 14-1 co-favourite with some bookies for the Aintree blockbuster on April 13.

Getty

Mone’s Grand National co-favourite could be blocked from running after she and her husband had £75m assets frozen[/caption]

Trainer O’Neill with Monbeg Genius – the horse Mone called ‘the newest member of our family’

Victory in the world’s most famous race is worth a whopping £500,000.

But a report in the Guardian states bosses at the British Horseracing Authority are investigating whether the horse – which Mone bought as an £80,000 wedding gift for her husband Doug Barrowman – falls under the list of assets.

Monbeg Genius, an eight-year-old gelding, was due to run in the Welsh Grand National last month but was pulled out at the 48-hour declaration stage.

The horse was last seen finishing third at Newbury earlier that month and has long been tipped by experts as a potential National winner.

He also finished third in last year’s Ultima at the Cheltenham Festival – a race won by subsequent Grand National hero Corach Rambler.

Jonjo O’Neill Jr, son of Monbeg Genius’ trainer Jonjo, said earlier this month that the Grand National had been the plan since that race almost 12 months ago.

But racing chiefs could potentially block the horse from running if he is deemed one of the couple’s assets.

Such a situation arose recently in the case of John Dance, the high-profile owner at the centre of an alleged £80m fraud investigation.

Dance’s WealthTek company was shut down by the Financial Conduct Authority in April last year and they placed a £40m freezing order on his assets.

That led to him selling his share in superstar King George winner Bravemansgame.

Mone and her husband had £75m of assets frozen or restrained by court order last month.

The couple face a National Crime Agency investigation into alleged fraud, with assets seized including a six-bedroom London townhouse, Isle of Man country estate and 15 bank accounts.

The CPS applied for the order on the Tory peer and Barrowman under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

The bra tycoon has admitted that she stood to benefit by about £60m from profits on personal protective equipment sold to the Government during Covid by a firm led by him.

Assets can be held for potential confiscation in case of a conviction.

The allegations include conspiracy to defraud and bribery, which they deny.

Mone’s racing pedigree

Mone and Barrowman own one other horse, Ruler Legend, under their Barrowman Racing Limited name.

That five-year-old gelding is also trained by O’Neill, who famously saddled Don’t Push It to Grand National glory for AP McCoy in 2010, at his Jackdaws Castle base in Cheltenham.

Mone has posted several videos of Monbeg Genius on Facebook and even called him the couple’s ‘wee baby’.

The businesswoman and her husband are keen racegoers too, being pictured at Cheltenham Festival in recent years.

And it was back in 2012 that she was seen cheering on a winner next to Carol Vorderman – ironically now one of her most vocal critics.

Paul Edwards - The Sun

Mone and Vorderman once shared a big day out at Cheltenham[/caption]