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| Aintree News 6th - 8th April 2006 |
Simon Cowell, Philip Green and Stuart Rose aim to raise a million
for the NSPCC
04/04/06
If
Le Duc or Le Roi Miguel wins this Saturday’s John Smith’s
Grand National at Aintree, it will trigger a million-pound pay day for
the National Society for the Prevention
of Cruelty to Children after
an audacious wager by the owners ‘for a day’, Pop Idol originator
Simon Cowell, BHS (British Home Stores) owner Philip Green and Marks
and Spencers chief executive Stuart Rose.
Cowell, Green and Rose have already made a handsome contribution to the children’s charity, having bid for the ownership of Le Duc at a lavish party in St Petersburg, Russia last November, hosted by clothing millionaire Richard Caring.
Their bid for the horse, of £400,000, was so generous that the owner of Le Duc, Andy Stewart, threw in his second horse in the Grand National as well. Le Roi Miguel will, like Le Duc, race in the colours of Cowell, Green and Rose.
The stakes were raised even higher when bookmaker Fred Done accepted the offer from the temporary owners for a £65,000 wager which would guarantee £1 million should either of the two horses win the John Smith’s Grand National, with £250,000 for a second place, £100,000 for a third place and £50,000 for a fourth place - all winnings going to the NSPCC.
The best possible result for the charity is that the two Paul Nicholls trained horses finish first and second, in which case the NSPCC would gain £1.25 million to the £400,000 already raised.
"Nobody can lose as far as this is concerned," said Stewart, who has also helped to raise a substantial amount for a second kids’ charity, Save The Children Fund.
