Sangster's Barbados home put on market at $37m

The Barbados home of the late racehorse owner Robert Sangster has been put on the market at $37 million.

Jane's Harbour, a sprawling beach-front villa, adjoins the Sandy Lane Hotel which is owned by a group of Irish investors, including Mr Dermot Desmond, Mr John Magnier and Mr J. P. McManus.

The lavish nine-bedroom villa is being sold by the trustees of Mr Sangster, who died last year.

There is a strong possibility that the villa will be bought by the Irish consortium which acquired the entire Sandy Lane resort in 1998 for £38 million, and spent an estimated $400 million refurbishing it.

Jane's Harbour shares an entrance with the $1,000-a-night hotel, and occupies a prime slice of Sandy Lane seafront where, it is rumoured, there are 18 billionaires owning property within a six-mile radius.

Mr Charles Weston-Baker, of the international selling agents F.P.D. Savills, expects plenty of bids from the Irish.

"The villa will be marketed in Asia and in the Middle East, but the Irish have done so well out there we won't be surprised if they buy."

The five-star hotel is a magnet for the super wealthy, who don't mind spending $90 on a continental breakfast.

Regular guests include golfer Tiger Woods, who had his wedding party there last October, the singer Rod Stewart and film-maker Michael Winner. Ireland's top business people have also developed a taste for the Caribbean resort, which has a $25 million golf course for the exclusive use of guests.

Jane's Harbour is an elegant colonial-style villa that comes with a butler, cook, maids and gardeners.

Features include a huge open terrace facing the sea which acts as an outdoor living-room, with an antique-filled drawing room next to it for more serious soirees.

There's a formal dining-room as well as a beach terrace dining-room and bar complete with jukebox.

"There are really only a few resorts where the seriously wealthy want to be," according to Mr Weston-Baker. "The French Riviera, Majorca, the Hamptons, Palm Beach in Florida and Barbados are the top resorts. There are some villas on the Costa del Sol of this quality, but very few."

A multi-millionaire who inherited Vernon's soccer pools from his father and sold it for £90 million in 1988, Mr Sangster had homes all over the world.

He began owning racehorses in the 1960s, but it was his association with legendary Irish trainer Vincent O'Brien that propelled him into the limelight.

In the early 1970s he joined forces with Mr O'Brien and Mr Magnier to establish Coolmore Stud. From 1975 to 1980, the trio spent millions of dollars on yearlings and led a shift in the balance of power in world racing and breeding towards Ireland.