{"id":4609,"date":"2009-11-23T00:04:00","date_gmt":"2009-11-23T00:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/archive.rockylhc.com\/2015\/elizapark\/?p=4609"},"modified":"2009-11-23T00:04:00","modified_gmt":"2009-11-23T00:04:00","slug":"alleged-agent-bill-mcdonald-dies-at-65","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.rockylhc.com\/2015\/elizapark\/alleged-agent-bill-mcdonald-dies-at-65\/","title":{"rendered":"ALLEGED AGENT BILL McDONALD DIES AT 65"},"content":{"rendered":"

In an industry renowned for its \u2018characters\u2019, they don\u2019t come much more colourful than Billy McDonald.
Billy passed away in Ireland last week at the age of 65, but it\u2019s highly unlikely the charismatic bloodstock agent, raconteur and friend of the stars will be forgotten in a hurry.
The following is an excerpt from his obituary in Brisnet.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Based originally in Ireland before relocating to California, Billy McDonald purchased \u2013 among others \u2013 eventual dual Prix de l\u2019Arc de Triomphe winner Alleged, as well as Fairy Bridge (Bold Reason), later the dam of Sadler\u2019s Wells.
McDonald was a close associate of Coolmore principal Robert Sangster, for whom he purchased Alleged as an unraced 2YO in training for $US120,000, and counted among his friends celebrities such as Frank Sinatra, Pierce Brosnan and Roger Moore.
McDonald, in addition to being a bloodstock agent, spent time as a Rolls Royce dealer in California, where he was a mainstay at the track and at various racing haunts.
\u201cBilly was one of the great characters of the game,\u201d trainer John Gosden recalls. \u201cHe is still in the Guinness Book of World Records for selling the most Rolls Royces in a day. He was a man who lived life to the full, and had a great eye for a horse. He was a talented pony rider in his youth, and a fast runner, both into \u2013 and out of \u2013 trouble.
\u201cHe was an immensely popular and loveable man who was totally at ease in all the great watering holes, restaurants and race courses of the world. There will never be another Billy.\u201d
McDonald, who kept a low profile after suffering the effects of a stroke roughly 12 years ago, was a close friend of movie producer David Giler, who secured him a small role in the Richard Dreyfuss horse-racing film Let It Ride<\/span>.
In addition to providing Sangster and the Coolmore connections an initial Arc victory with Alleged in 1978, McDonald would play a role in the stud\u2019s legendary stallion Sadler\u2019s Wells. According to the book Horsetrader<\/span>, by Patrick and Nick Robinson, McDonald had joined Sangster, John Magnier and trainer Vincent O\u2019Brien on a scouting mission to Claiborne Farm:
Robert and his men had gone there early to see the yearlings before they went to the sale, and McDonald had decided to short circuit the conventional way of perusing the young horses. Taking the yearling manager aside, he pressed a $100 bill into his hand and said, \u201cWhich one do YOU like best?\u201d
\u201cOh, I\u2019d go for the little Bold Reason filly every time,\u201d he replied. \u201cThey always race over to this gate from right across the far side of the paddock, and that little filly is always yards in front when they arrive. SHE is a racehorse.\u201d
Indeed, the filly, Fairy Bridge, turned out to be a fine runner, winning both starts at two before being named champion 2YO filly in Ireland, but her real value would be as a broodmare. Her second foal was Sadler\u2019s Wells, who carried Sangster\u2019s colors to victory in a trio of Group 1 races, then commenced an unrivalled career as Europe\u2019s premier sire.<\/p>\n

Following are a collection of quotes and anecdotes honoring McDonald:<\/p>\n

Elaine \u2018Legs\u2019 Lawlor, Goffs Director of Bloodstock Sales<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a restaurant in L.A. called Le Dome, where all the racing people would go to regularly back in the 80s. Billy was friends with Frank Sinatra, and one time Billy had a date at the restaurant, and he asked Frank, who was also dining there, if he wouldn\u2019t mind dropping by on his way out and say hello. You know, to impress the girl. Which Frank duly did, and when he stopped by the table, Billy said, \u2018Frank, not now, can\u2019t you see I\u2019m busy?\u2019 That story just sums Billy up.
\u201cHe could talk the talk, and there was no better salesman. He could sell ice to an Eskimo.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coolmore associate Richard Henry<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI had dinner with (actor) John Forsythe and Billy one day, and John told me that Billy knew more fellas in Hollywood than he did.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tullamaine Castle Stud\u2019s Bob Lanigan, former general manager of Coolmore<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe used to describe himself as, \u2018The Purveyor of Champions to Millionaires.\u2019 He was a wonderful man. He introduced Pierce Brosnan and myself, and bought us a mare called Salidar (Ire), who we bred a good horse called Bin Ajwaad out of.
(Bin Ajwaad stood in New Zealand for a couple of seasons and his winners included STC Gloaming S-G2 winner Go Bint).<\/span>
\u201cBilly also used to have the best letterhead: A horse gallops with his lungs, perseveres with his heart, and wins with his character (Federico Tesio).\u201d<\/p>\n

Restauranteur Eddie Kerkhofs, who owned popular L.A. hangout Le Dome.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOne of my favorite stories about Billy is when he turned 40, and he decided to give himself a party at Le Dome. He rented out the whole place. He said, \u2018I want pasta, I want caviar, I want Cristal Roederer. I\u2019m inviting 130 people.\u2019 So we made a deal. I told him that, since he was my friend, that I wasn\u2019t going to charge him full price for the Cristal, because that would be very expensive, and that I would give it to him at cost. So 130 people came, and it was a lot of noise, and this and that. All of the sudden, I get a phone call from Palm Springs. It was the Chairman of the Board, Mr. Sinatra himself. He said, \u2018Eddie, I know I was invited to Billy\u2019s 40th birthday party, but I couldn\u2019t make it. But, do me one favor: give me the cheque.\u2019 And that\u2019s what I did, and he picked up the cheque for Billy\u2019s party. Of course, I didn\u2019t tell Billy until the day after, because he would have done more damage!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In an industry renowned for its \u2018characters\u2019, they don\u2019t come much more colourful than Billy McDonald.Billy passed away in Ireland last week at the age of 65, but it\u2019s highly …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.rockylhc.com\/2015\/elizapark\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4609","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.rockylhc.com\/2015\/elizapark\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.rockylhc.com\/2015\/elizapark\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.rockylhc.com\/2015\/elizapark\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.rockylhc.com\/2015\/elizapark\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4609"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/archive.rockylhc.com\/2015\/elizapark\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4609\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.rockylhc.com\/2015\/elizapark\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.rockylhc.com\/2015\/elizapark\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.rockylhc.com\/2015\/elizapark\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}