Sir Alex Ferguson reveals eye-watering price he paid for two racehorses that would have made late wife Cathy MAD

Sir Alex Ferguson admitted his late wife Cathy would have “gone mad” if she knew he had splashed out £650,000 on two new racehorses.

The Manchester Untied and Aberdeen managerial legend has a huge passion for The Sport of Kings and enjoyed his finest moment last week when his horse Spirit Dancer won the £500,000 Bahrain International Trophy. Ex-Scotland boss Ferguson, 81, who now owns 32 horses including one called Hampden Park, opened up on his love of horse racing after adding to his stable - but said his new purchases wouldn’t have gone down well with his wife, who passed away last month.

He said: “Last week we bought two horses, one from Ireland - a pointer - and one from France. John Hales is the man who has all the contacts. We depend on John and we’ve bought some very good horses on his recommendation.

“They don’t come cheap now. We paid £450,000 for the French horse and £200,000 for the Irish horse. That’s £650,000 and I had to write quite a large cheque. One of my sons said, ‘What are you doing?’ My late wife would have gone mad at me if she was alive if she knew the amount of money involved!! I must say at the time when I started it was a big release for me.

“I never give instructions to trainers or jockeys. I never interfere with a trainer. I would never let anybody interfere when I was a manager so why should I interfere with people who know better in racing.”

Ferguson told how his interest in horseracing stretches right back to his early days managing in Scotland. In an interview with gamblingzone.com he said: “It all began when I was a child and my father loved the horses. That’s the root of it. He would study Timeform and place his bets.

“I backed a few horses when I was younger and went to the races at