Billy McDonald, a bloodstock agent whose clients included prominent owner Robert Sangster, died Nov. 19 at his home in Belfast, Northern Ireland, according to the Racing Post. He was 65.
McDonald purchased at auction subsequent English and French champion Alleged, plus the filly Fairy Bridge, who went on to become an Irish champion and the dam of major Irish sire Sadler’s Wells.
Racing for Sangster and partners, Alleged won the 1977-78 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (Fr-I) and developed into a prominent sire at John T.L. Jones’ Walmac International near Lexington.
Fairy Bridge, who raced for Sangster, was Ireland’s champion 2-year-old filly. Sadler’s Wells, a group I winner, developed into Ireland’s greatest stallion while standing at John Magnier and partners’ Coolmore Stud in Ireland. Pensioned in the spring of 2008, Sadler’s Wells has sired 310 stakes winners.
In addition to being a bloodstock agent, McDonald was a Rolls-Royce dealer in California.