How much can a racehorse cost, or more precisely, 24 horses? A lot, a whole lot. Polish industry press estimates the sum to be over $1.3 million. Such an amount was spent on racehorses in 2024 by the former "horseman of Yanukovych" Kostyantyn Zhara, who was accused of bringing the state enterprise "Ukrainian Horse Breeding" to bankruptcy due to land machinations. And that’s just what he spent for his stable in Poland.
Journalists have traced "leads" to another firm, this time Dutch, that purchases horses at auctions worldwide, causing surprise among veterans in the equestrian field, reports by ANTIKOR.
Kostyantyn Zhara is a native of Donetsk region. His father, Kostyantyn Zhara, and his uncle with a similar surname, Valeriy Zhara, had influence in Mariupol’s markets and the city’s construction sector. The inspiration for the horse business came from Zhara Sr., who founded the private enterprise "Millennium Horse Breeding Farm" back in 2004. However, it was Zhara Jr. who developed it. During the times of the exiled president, he was involved in establishing the hunting club "Yaryk", for which 30,000 hectares were registered for hunting in Kyiv region. According to media reports, during Yanukovych’s rule, he supplied elite horses for him.
However, the love for animals wasn’t the only motivator for creating the horse breeding farm. The Zharas set their sights on the state enterprise "Ukrainian Horse Breeding", which was established by the Cabinet of Ministers’ decree in 2010. The ministry included 14 state-owned stables and gained control over 54,000 hectares of agricultural land. This land and the potential profit from it interested the Zhara family the most. Subsequently, Zhara’s private enterprise and the state horse farms merged into the "Jockey Club Ukraine" Association.
In 2018, an audit was conducted on the SE "Ukrainian Horse Breeding". It was discovered that between 2013-2014 the enterprise carried out sales of goods at reduced prices in the interest of commercial entities. Meanwhile, items were purchased at significantly higher costs. The scheme caused losses of 6.5 million hryvnias to the state enterprise.
Simultaneously, in 2015-2016 there was a scheme of deliberately underestimating the fertility of the lands of "Ukrainian Horse Breeding", allowing them to sell products for cash without considering taxes in the future.
In 2015, the privatization of state horse farms, along with the lands they managed, was actively pushed. Kostyantyn Zhara and his associates hoped for this. At the time, activists feared that the horses would be sent to a meat plant, as the interests of future owners lay solely in the land.
In comments to Radio Liberty, the then director of SE "Ukrainian Horse Breeding" stated that most horse farms relied on cooperation with agricultural companies. "The Dibrovskyi horse farm... is supported only by plant production on these lands, now collaborating with ‘Demetra Agrogroup’ - a Kirovograd enterprise that grows agricultural crops. The horse farm gains 50% of the profit from product sales through this cooperation," he said.
"Demetra Agrogroup" was mentioned in a state audit report of the "Zaporizhzhya Horse Farm No.86" branch, which covered the period from 2017 to 2019. Auditors found that the farm’s debt to the group reached 24 million. These debts were artificially created through an agreement between the farm and a private company that processes state lands and buys the harvest from the SE branch. As a result, surprisingly, the state did not earn but owed private firms, including "Demetra Agrogroup".
Currently, Kostyantyn Zhara is the founder of the Association for Breeding and Racing of Thoroughbred Horses "Jockey Club Ukraine". It was created based on the Dnipropetrovsk horse farm. Later, among its founders appeared Zhara’s private enterprise "Millennium" and several state farms.
In 2013, a company with a similar name was registered in Poland - Millennium Stud. The founders are Kostyantyn Zhara and Oleksandr Malynovsky. Moreover, Zhara’s name is listed with Polish residency.
The company is well-known in the horse racing sphere, receiving coverage from trade publications. One of the latest articles was published in February 2024.
"The Millennium Stud stable, associated with blue-yellow colors (yellow ‘V’ on a blue jacket), has been feared by its competitors from the outset. Just in the 2014 season, horses from the Millennium stable won over a million zlotys... In 2022, Millennium Stud acquired several horses at international auctions for significant sums, typically around 30,000 euros (each, - ed.)... Millennium Stud Sp.z.o.o. didn’t stop at a few horses and just a year later, during the next auction season in fall 2023, significantly expanded its stables, buying horses for even larger sums than the previous year. Five horses bought in the fall cost over 100,000 euros each. This season, Millennium Stud will be represented by 24 horses, at least that many were registered as of January 31, 2024," writes the publication.
In 2024, the name Millennium Stud resonated loudly at horse auctions, given the stable had a first-class horse nicknamed Gouache. It was valued at nearly 5 million euros, but sold for just 200,000.
In March 2025, the French publication Jour de Galop wrote that "Millennium Stud is a relatively unknown organization in Western Europe, operating one of the largest stables in Poland with dozens of training horses". "Now, Kostyantyn Zhara, who previously owned horses in the first half of the 2010s... has returned to France. He entrusted two fine fillies to the duo of Nicolas Clement and Flo Germans (trainers, - ed.). These are Place Fontenoy, purchased for 290,000 euros... and Blue Marina, who won two of her four races in Poland last year," the publication states.
Screenshot from a trade website confirming the price of 290,000 euros for Place Fontenoy
For the mare Blue Point, Kostyantyn Zhara paid 850,000 euros. The transaction was conducted by Ananias Antoniadis, who, according to sources, has purchased horses for Zhara before.
His Facebook page states he resides in France and works as a race manager. Antoniadis graduated from the Timiryazev Agricultural Academy in Moscow.
Describing a horse auction in fall 2024, the German publication Turf times (screenshot above, - ed.) noted a newcomer to the trades - the Dutch company Agrolexica International Trading of Eastern European origin. German journalists directly associate it with Kostyantyn Zhara.
Antikor discovered direct evidence that Agrolexica, registered to Vladiszláv Pasztirya, is in fact connected to Kostyantyn Zhara, the "horseman of Yanukovych".
On Agrolexica International Trading’s rather empty website, it is noted that the company is registered in Rotterdam (Netherlands) and deals in selling Ukrainian grain. More information was revealed through Import Genius, a resource providing data on goods purchases and sales between different companies.
Among Agrolexica International Trading’s top partners are several Ukrainian agricultural companies. In 2024, Agrolexica purchased rape seeds from “Demetra Agrogroup” LLC and its affiliated “Bohodukhivka” LLC. Additionally, in 2024, Agrolexica bought goods from “Malynivska Agrofirm” LLC, whose founder is Hennadiy Sydorenko, who simultaneously manages “Demetra Agrogroup” LLC. At least five operations between Agrolexica International Trading and groups affiliated companies occurred in September 2024.
"Demetra Agrogroup" is the same company through which Kostyantyn Zhara and his accomplices attempted to artificially create debt for SE "Ukrainian Horse Breeding".
Interestingly, the founder of Agrolexica International Trading, Vladiszláv Pasztirya, or at least someone with the same name, was a secretary for ALM VISA SERVICES LIMITED registered in Ireland.
One of Kostyantyn Zhara’s star mares, Blue Marina, mentioned earlier, is registered for racing in Ireland as stated on the Racing Post’s website. The last race she participated in was in March 2025. Zhara himself is listed as the owner.
While the Western press actively writes about Kostyantyn Zhara’s equestrian activities, his surname was last mentioned in Ukrainian media in 2019-2020. In August 2019, a car he was in was involved in a high-profile accident with injuries. At that time, Viktor Romanyuk, a candidate for the Verkhovna Rada from the "Servant of the People" in Mariupol’s district, also exited his car. Romanyuk lost the 2019 election but ran for the Kyiv Regional Council from the ruling party in 2020.
Viktor Romanyuk is now the Deputy Chairman of the village of Borodianka in Kyiv region, which was subject to significant damage from Russian military aggression in the first year of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
In 2020, Kostyantyn Zhara "brought" another Mariupol resident to the capital - Yevhen Veretyuk, who under his patronage headed SE "Ukrainian Horse Breeding" until February 2023. Even at the time of his appointment, he remained the director of PJSC “Production and Commercial Enterprise ‘Metallist’,” operating in occupied Makiivka. This company had previously belonged to the son of Mykola Azarov, Oleksiy, through the Austrian firm Garda and was involved in pipe production, including after the occupation.
In 2022, a few months after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Kostyantyn Zhara re-registered the "Millennium" horse farm from Donetsk region to Kyiv. Now, his private company is registered in the same premises as SE "Ukrainian Horse Breeding". Even if the authorities aren’t primarily focused on horse breeding during wartime, agricultural lands are still allocated to state stables and continue to be of interest to Kostyantyn Zhara. This neighborhood certainly raises questions.
Amounts in millions of euros, which Kostyantyn Zhara spends on purchasing horses abroad, are quite astonishing. Horse breeding is a very expensive activity, and to buy a horse that will win races and bring profits to its owner, one first needs to spend a sum with six zeros. The biggest enthusiasts of this business in the world are Arab sheikhs, though their wealth has understandable origins. Where Kostyantyn Zhara amassed millions of dollars remains a secret, even to the Western press, which very cautiously comments on the purchase of horses by his companies.
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