Bob Ingham

Robert Walter Ingham AO (born 10 June 1931 in Casula, New South Wales) is a leading Australian businessman in the poultry industry and was co-founder of the largest thoroughbred horse racing and breeding operation in Australia. He is a noted philanthropist and has funded the creation of the Ingham Institute. In 2007 Australia Post honoured Ingham with a postage stamp.

Born in Casula, the son of farmer Walter Ingham, he was known as "Bob" from an early age. On his father's death in 1953, Bob Ingham and his older brother, Jack, took over Ingham Enterprises Pty Limited, a small family-run poultry breeding business founded in 1918. The brothers built the company into the largest producer of chickens and turkeys in Australia. Now headquartered in the Sydney suburb of Casula, the operation was sold in 2014 for A$880 million. In June 2014, the Business Review Weekly assessed Ingham's net worth at A$1,021 million. In November 2016 Inghams Group was listed on the ASX at A$3.15 per share representing a 12 times FY2017 Price-to-Earnings multiple.

Thoroughbred horse racing

Ingham's father had had an interest in breeding horses and, in addition to the poultry business, the brothers also inherited a broodmare named Valiant Rose. The mare was a descendant of the great British racehorse Bend Or, an Epsom Derby winner and Champion broodmare sire. The Ingham brothers used Valiant Rose to begin building what became an A$250 million breeding and racing operation, the largest in Australia. Their equine empire included Woodlands Stud at Denman in the Hunter Valley, Crown Lodge racing stables at Warwick Farm Racecourse, Sydney and Carbine Lodge racing stables at Flemington Racecourse, Melbourne, plus racing stables in Adelaide and Brisbane. The most famous of the Inghams' successful horses was Octagonal, the 1996 Australian Horse of the Year and a winner of multiple Group One races including the Cox Plate and the Australian Derby. Ingham sold the Woodland Stud operation to Dubai's ruler, Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, for $500 million in 2008.

Ingham's daughter Debbie Kepitis is one of the owners of 2015/6 Horse of the Year Winx. His other children, Lyn, Robby and John, also race horses under the Ingham Racing syndicate.

• In January 2001, he was awarded the Centenary Medal "for service to the Liverpool community".
• In January 2003, he was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia "for service to the poultry industry as a pioneer in research and development and establishment of world best practice standards, and to the community through support for a broad range of charitable organisations and health care facilities".
• In 2004 he was inducted into the Australian Racing Hall of Fame.