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Prince Khalid Abdullah

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    Posted: 09 Jun 2013 at 3:52am
Khalid Abdullah set to sell parts of bloodstock empire


Khalid Abdullah (left) with Henry Cecil, Tom Queally and Frankel

  PICTURE: Getty Images  
 By Peter Scargill 2:24PM 8 JUN 2013 

THE landscape of worldwide racing could be about to undergo a seismic shift with reports suggesting Khalid Abdullah, who bred and raced Frankel and now stands him as a stallion, is preparing to offload parts of his bloodstock empire.

However, Abdullah is not expected to turn his back on horseracing should some of his Juddmonte Farms empire be sold.

Douglas Erskine-Crum, chief executive for Juddmonte, told the Daily Mail: 'His Highness has decided to make some disposals but what they are and what the plan is has yet to be decided."

The prize jewel in the Juddmonte crown is Frankel. Unbeaten in 14 starts and ranked the best horse ever at this year's World Thoroughbred Rankings, Frankel was valued at £100 million when retiring to stud at the end of last year and stands for £125,000 for each nomination.

Asked if Frankel could be sold, Erskine Crum said: "It involves everything. We're looking at a plan. At the moment nobody here has mentioned Frankel."

Along with Frankel, Juddmonte's stable of horses includes the likes of prominent stallions Oasis Dream and Dansili plus broodmares such as Frankel's dam Kind.

Juddmonte has studs in Britain, Ireland and the USA with horses in training in all three countries along with France - a bloodstock empire encompassing some 900 horses.

Since becoming involved in racing in the late 1970s, Abdullah, a Saudi prince, has owned a vast number of high-quality runners including Warning, Known Fact, Zafonic, Dancing Brave, Rainbow Quest, Workforce, Empire Maker and Midday.

Having turned to breeding early in his time as an owner, Abdullah has numerous awards including four Eclipse Awards for Outstanding Breeder.

Edited by Browndog - 09 Jun 2013 at 9:20pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote kavg Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 Jun 2013 at 4:30pm
Maybe Tinkler will buy Juddmonte and move over thereWink
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99Musical Horizon (USA) B.M. by Distant View (USA) x Musicanti (USA)HF G 88
Consignor: Juddmonte Farms 
100Tricked (GB) B.M. by Beat Hollow (GB) x Double Crossed (GB)HF G 89
Consignor: Juddmonte Farms 
465Fair Share (GB) B.C. by Rail Link (GB) x Quota (GB)HF I 108
Consignor: Juddmonte Farms 
591Dorset Cream (GB) B.F. by Dansili (GB) x Blend (GB)HF H 127
Consignor: Juddmonte Farms 
466So Beloved (GB) B.G. by Dansili (GB) x Valencia (GB)HF I 109
Consignor: Juddmonte Farms 
467Hooded (USA) B.C. by Empire Maker (USA) x Yashmak (USA)HF I 110
Consignor: Juddmonte Farms 
468Ski Blast (GB) Ch.G. by Three Valleys (USA) x Chasing Stars (GB)HF I 111
Consignor: Juddmonte Farms 
469Hanseatic (GB) B.H. by Galileo (IRE) x Insinuate (USA)HF I 112
Consignor: Juddmonte Farms
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470Off The Cuff (GB) B.C. by Zamindar (USA) x Comment (GB)HF I 113
Consignor: Juddmonte Farms 
592Abatis (USA) B/Br.F. by Aptitude (USA) x Rouwaki (USA)HF H 128
Consignor: Juddmonte Farms 
593Interject (USA) B/Br.F. by Empire Maker (USA) x Introducing (USA)HF H 129
Consignor: Juddmonte Farms 
471Field Force (GB) B.C. by Champs Elysees (GB) x Fairy Steps (GB)HF I 114
Consignor: Juddmonte Farms 
594Kalifi (USA) B/Br.F. by First Defence (USA) x Out of Reach (GB)HF H 130
Consignor: Juddmonte Farms 
472Vital Evidence (USA) B.G. by Empire Maker (USA) x Promising Lead (GB)HF I 115
Consignor: Juddmonte Farms 
473Good Value (GB) Ch.G. by Champs Elysees (GB) x Change Course (GB)HF I 116
Consignor: Juddmonte Farms 
474Rocket Ship (GB) B.G. by Sinndar (IRE) x Bimini (GB)HF I 117
Consignor: Juddmonte Farms 
595Time Signal (GB) B.F. by Champs Elysees (GB) x Sandglass (GB)HF G 131
Consignor: Juddmonte Farms 
596Backdrop (USA) B.F. by First Defence (USA) x Hasardeuse (USA)HF G 132
Consignor: Juddmonte Farms
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597Comtesse (GB) Ch.F. by Champs Elysees (GB) x Shamana (USA)HF G 133
Consignor: Juddmonte Farms 
598Lanyard (USA) Gr.F. by Mizzen Mast (USA) x Geographic (USA)HF G 134
Consignor: Juddmonte Farms 
475Cagoule (GB) B.G. by Oasis Dream (GB) x Pretty Face (GB)HF I 118
Consignor: Juddmonte Farms 
476Equivalent (GB) B.C. by Dansili (GB) x Proportional (GB)HF I 119
Consignor: Juddmonte Farms 
599Look Over (GB) B.F. by Nayef (USA) x Half Glance (GB)HF G 135
Consignor: Juddmonte Farms 
600Wire (USA) B.F. by Rock Hard Ten (USA) x Tsar's Pride (GB)HF G 136
Consignor: Juddmonte Farms 
478Tournament (GB) B.C. by Oasis Dream (GB) x Concentric (GB)HF I 121
Consignor: Juddmonte Farms 
601Brisk (GB) Ch.F. by Nayef (USA) x Dance Dress (USA)HF G 137
Consignor: Juddmonte Farms 
602Fly Past (GB) Ch.F. by Zamindar (USA) x Daring Miss (GB)HF G 138
Consignor: Juddmonte Farms 
603Fairwater (USA) B.F. by Empire Maker (USA) x Jazz Drummer (USA)HF G 139
Consignor: Juddmonte Farms 
479Telex (USA) Gr/Ro.C. by Empire Maker (USA) x Kinetic Force (USA)HF H 122
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604Tea Blossom (GB) B.F. by Rail Link (GB) x Snow Blossom (GB)HF G 140
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605Tsardom (USA) B.F. by Empire Maker (USA) x Shoogle (USA)HF G 141
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611Fright (GB) B.F. by Oasis Dream (GB) x Strike Lightly (GB)HF F 147
Consignor: Juddmonte Farms 
607Blue Caves (GB) B.F. by Dansili (GB) x Zante (GB)HF G 143
Consignor: Juddmonte Farms 
609Clutter (GB) B.F. by Three Valleys (USA) x Zaghruta (USA)HF F 145
Consignor: Juddmonte Farms 
619Alpine (GB) B.F. by Rail Link (GB) x Snow Blossom (GB)HF D 155
Consignor: Juddmonte Farms 
621Chateau Dauphin (USA) B.F. by First Defence (USA) x Louis d'Or (USA)HF D 157
Consignor: Juddmonte Farms 
610Fairy Pools (GB) Ch.F. by Halling (USA) x Maritima (GB)HF F 146
Consignor: Juddmonte Farms 
617Speak Up (GB) B.F. by Champs Elysees (GB) x Revealing (GB)HF F 153
Consignor: Juddmonte Farms 
482Pencil Box (GB) Ch.C. by Three Valleys (USA) x Penchee (GB)HF H 125
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480Crockett (GB) B.C. by Rail Link (GB) x Tarocchi (USA)HF H 123
Consignor: Juddmonte Farms 
481Flame Hawk (USA) B.C. by First Defence (USA) x Wandesta (GB)HF H 124
Consignor: Juddmonte Farms 
606Ampersand (GB) B.F. by Rail Link (GB) x Well Warned (GB)HF G 142
Consignor: Juddmonte Farms 
608Clarify (GB) B.F. by Zamindar (USA) x Bright And Clear (GB)HF G 144
Consignor: Juddmonte Farms 
612Lore (GB) B.F. by Beat Hollow (GB) x Erudite (GB)HF F 148
Consignor: Juddmonte Farms 
613Nezzim (USA) Br.F. by Mizzen Mast (USA) x Reflections (GB)HF F 149
Consignor: Juddmonte Farms 
614Outwit (GB) B.F. by Zamindar (USA) x Tricked (GB)HF F 150
Consignor: Juddmonte Farms 
615Pomme (GB) B.F. by Observatory (USA) x Mirthful (USA)HF F 151
Consignor: Juddmonte Farms 
616Space Capsule (GB) Ch.F. by Selkirk (USA) x Spacecraft (USA)HF F 152
Consignor: Juddmonte Farms 
618Underneath (GB) B.F. by Champs Elysees (GB) x Neath (GB)HF D 154
Consignor: Juddmonte Farms 
483Recommendation (GB) B.C. by Dansili (GB) x Fully Invested (USA)HF H 126
Consignor: Juddmonte Farms 
620Arrival Time (GB) B.F. by Rail Link (GB) x Widescreen (USA)HF D 156
Consignor: Juddmonte Farms 
622Gameday (GB) B.F. by Zamindar (USA) x Trellis Bay (GB)HF D 158
Consignor: Juddmonte Farms 
623Quiet Carriage (GB) B.F. by Rail Link (GB) x Quiet (GB)HF D 31
Consignor: Juddmonte Farms 
624Tabla (GB) B.F. by Rail Link (GB) x Questa Nova (GB)HF D 32
Consignor: Juddmonte Farms 
477Last Train (GB) B.H. by Rail Link (GB) x Rainbow Lake (GB)HF I 120
Consignor: Juddmonte Farms
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote acacia alba Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18 Jun 2014 at 12:33am
Djebel ?  Is he selling all those horses and if so, where ?  What sale ?
animals before people.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote djebel Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18 Jun 2014 at 12:35am
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote acacia alba Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18 Jun 2014 at 12:42am
thank you.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote djebel Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 23 Jun 2014 at 6:00pm
Old interview - 



June 3, 2011 5:20 pm

Breeding: it’s all about the pedigree

By David Owen

Even before it became clear that Queen Elizabeth had her best chance in decades of winning today’s Derby at Epsom, 2011 was shaping up to be a landmark year for UK flat racing.

This was chiefly because of a breathtaking display by Frankel, a powerful bay colt with four white socks, in the first Classic of the season, the 2,000 Guineas, contested over Newmarket’s Rowley Mile.


Running in the pink, white and green colours of Prince Khalid Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, who won the 2010 Derby with Workforce, Frankel led from start to finish to win imperiously by six lengths.
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The prince, whose main non-racing company, Mawarid Holding, operates in fields such as financial services, media and distribution, describes the performance as “one of my most exhilarating moments in racing”.

“Frankel is the best for many generations,” says Lord Teddy Grimthorpe, Prince Khalid’s racing manager, speaking from the UK base of Juddmonte Farms, the prince’s breeding operation that is tucked away along leafy lanes outside Newmarket in Suffolk. “He still has more to prove … but his performance in the 2,000 Guineas, however you look at it, was very, very rare.”

Frankel, a son of 2001 Derby-winner Galileo whose next racecourse appearance is likely to be at Royal Ascot later this month, is typical of Juddmonte – like Workforce, the female side of his pedigree is dominated by the operation’s own horses. In Frankel’s case, his dam, grand-dam and great-grand-dam are all Juddmonte brood mares.

Prince Khalid began assembling this brood-mare collection in the early 1980s at about the time Juddmonte itself was established.

A quarter of a century later, and Lord Grimthorpe maintains the prince has built “one of the greatest ­brood-mare bands in the history of breeding”.

“It’s youth development,” he says. “Now Prince Khalid is racing fourth- or fifth-generation Juddmonte-breds, sometimes on both sides of the pedigree ... The development of brood-mare families has been an absolute trademark of his.”

A considerable spin-off benefit of this approach is that, these days, Judd­monte is able to sell substantially more bloodstock than it buys. According to Lord Grimthorpe, last year the operation – which now extends to 700-800 animals across 10 farms in the US, the UK and Ireland – bought just two yearlings while selling more than 100 horses.

Despite all this, Lord Grimthorpe says Juddmonte is “not run as a commercial operation”.

While it could make a consistent profit “if you sold stock more aggressively, more quickly at various stages of its life”, he acknowledges that, in most years, the prince ends up putting money into the business rather than taking it out. He describes the scale of the operation as “the equivalent of a medium-sized company”, with about 250 employees worldwide.

A considerable chunk of Juddmonte’s income is derived from the efforts of the operation’s 10 stallions, particularly Oasis Dream, whose nomination fee is £85,000 ($140,000) per mare in foal, and Dansili (£65,000).

With these star performers capable of covering 120-130 mares a year, their annual earning potential runs into millions, although Lord Grimthorpe cautions that not many stallions can generate more than £5m a year.

He estimates the range of covering fees for “young, unproven stallions” at between £5,000 and £25,000, while acknowledging that “if you get it right at the top end, it is a good ­business”.

The racing manager describes bloodstock as “the futures market of futures markets”, on the basis that at least five years is needed before a stallion’s first crop of three-year-olds has performed on the racecourse, enabling a judgment to be made on whether that stallion has the right stuff.

“You can look at statistics all you want, but only 3 per cent of stallions are absolutely top dollar,” he says, adding that the same rule of thumb applies to racehorses.

Just as Prince Khalid’s horses are scattered around 10 separate farms, so his racing stock of about 250 is divided among 13 trainers.

“I think it gives tremendous diversification to the operation,” Lord Grimthorpe says. “If you have all your eggs in one basket, then if one trainer is having a bad year, your whole operation has a bad year. That has huge implications for your breeding stock.

“Prince Khalid’s whole operation lives or dies on how his racing stock does, because in most cases he will own the stallion and the mare.”

This umbilical link between breeding and racing means that a big race win is likely to benefit an organisation as vertically integrated as Juddmonte at a number of different levels. Not only is there the prize money to take into account, but the quality of the performance should also quickly be reflected in the value of the racehorse itself, as well as the stallions and mares in its pedigree.

This may help explain why a horse such as Workforce, which last year became only the sixth in history to win both the Derby and the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, has been kept in training. “He has the pedigree to suggest he would be better as a four-year-old,” Lord Grimthorpe says. If he is, ­European race-goers have further treats in store.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote Brudder_A Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21 Jan 2020 at 10:47am
Empire Maker bred and raced by Prince Khalid Abdullah’s Juddmonte Farms and trained by the late Bobby Frankel,  tragically died Jan. 18 from damage caused by a rare disease that compromised his immune system, was sired by champion Unbridled, out of grade 1-winning El Gran Senor mare Toussaud. The classic winner was the only 3-year-old colt of his generation to win three grade 1 races: the Belmont Stakes, Florida Derby, and the Wood Memorial.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote djebel Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03 May 2020 at 11:24pm

Guineas Weekend Marks Juddmonte Milestone

 at 9:58 am | Back to: Shared News Europe, Top News Europe

Updated: May 2, 2020 at 7:40 am

Known Fact (rail) crosses the wire second in the 1980 2000 Guineas, but is promoted to first with the disqualification of Nureyev | Getty

By 

In Part I of a two-part series on the 40th anniversary weekend of Known Fact’s 2000 Guineas win, John Berry takes us through the first decade of Prince Khalid Abdullah’s racing and breeding dynasty.

Under normal circumstances, the European Classic year would be springing into life this weekend with Newmarket staging the G1 2000 Guineas and G1 1000 Guineas. Forty years ago the Guineas meeting looked a particularly special one, the main trials having set the stage perfectly. Subsequent Irish Derby hero Tyrnavos (GB) (Blakeney {GB}) had beaten Chesham S. winner Star Way (GB) (Star Appeal {Ire}) in the G3 Craven S. at Newmarket. Final Straw (Ire) (Habitat) had led home the Dewhurst winner Monteverdi (Lyphard) in the G3 Greenham S. at Newbury with Posse (Forli {Arg}) third and the Middle Park winner Known Fact (In Reality) fourth. In France, the unbeaten (and unextended) blue-blood Nureyev (Northern Dancer) had strolled home in the G3 Prix Djebel at Maisons-Laffitte. The scene was set for a vintage 2000 Guineas.

The 1980 2000 Guineas did indeed go down in the history books as a special one, primarily for featuring a rare case of a Classic winner being disqualified. Britain’s interference rules were far less permissive in 1980 than they are now, and Nureyev’s disqualification was a formality after he nearly brought Posse down approaching the Bushes when his jockey Phillipe Paquet decided unnecessarily to barge his way out of a pocket. (This manoeuvre, incidentally, cannot be seen on the BBC film of the race as the camera angle changed at the crucial moment, but it was all too clear in the evidence provided by the stewards’ patrol-camera footage). With Nureyev disqualified and placed last, Known Fact became a fortunate winner after passing the post in second place. Posse, winner later in the season of the G2 St. James’s Palace S. and the G1 Sussex S., was promoted to second and the Vincent O’Brien-trained Night Alert (Nijinsky) moved up to third. The latter had beaten Posse in the Houghton S. at Newmarket the previous autumn, with subsequent G1 Oaks heroine Bireme (GB) (Grundy {GB}) third.

Known Fact may have been a fortunate Classic winner, but he went on to confirm himself a top-class 3-year-old with victories later in the season in the G2 Waterford Crystal Mile at Goodwood, the G3 Park S. at Doncaster and, memorably, the G2 Queen Elizabeth II S. at Ascot, in which he became one of only two horses to lower the colours of the mighty Kris (GB) (Sharpen Up).

In the subsequent 40 years, however, that 2000 Guineas has become ever more notable for another reason: we now know it as the start of Juddmonte’s story of Classic success.

Known Fact represented a trainer/jockey combination made up of two seasoned Classic stars. His trainer Jeremy Tree had saddled Only For Life (GB) (Chanteur {Fr}) to win the 2000 Guineas 17 years previously, while Willie Carson had ridden High Top (GB) (Derring-Do {GB}) to victory in the race in 1972 before becoming a regular Classic winner following his appointment as stable jockey to Major Dick Hern in 1977. Known Fact’s owner, though, was a much less familiar figure: ‘Mr. K. Abdullah’ had owned his first winner less than 12 months previously. This race, though, threw him into the spotlight when he became the first Arab owner to win a British Classic. Forty years on, we now recognise him as one of the most successful and most respected owner/breeders the sport has ever seen.

Prince Khalid Abdullah had enjoyed the thrill of his first winner only the previous May when Charming Native (Princely Native) won a maiden race at Windsor. Not that we knew him as Prince Khalid Abdullah at the time. The innate diffidence and characteristic modesty of the Saudi prince had first come to light the previous year when he had sent horses to Jeremy Tree’s Beckhampton stable in Wiltshire and applied to register as an owner. Eschewing the option of a justifiably grander title, he had indicated on the registration form that ‘Mr. K. Abdullah’ was the name under which he would like his horses to run.

When Prince Khalid Abdullah had decided to race horses, he had asked the former Newmarket trainer Humphrey Cottrill, who had retired a few years previously, to act as his advisor. Cottrill was already in his 70s by this time and James Delahooke was recruited to help select the horses and subsequently to oversee the operation. These proved to have been inspired appointments: the acorns which Cottrill and Delahooke planted on the Prince’s behalf immediately began to grow into the forest of mighty oaks which Juddmonte has become.

The Prince started 1979 with his string in Tree’s stable including a bunch of 2-year-olds which Cottrill and Delahooke had bought on his behalf the previous autumn, plus the unraced 3-year-old filly Alia (Ire) (Sun Prince {Ire}). The emphasis on quality which has become the Juddmonte hallmark was evident from the start. The team included the two most expensive yearlings from the previous autumn’s Tattersalls’ Houghton Sale in Newmarket: Sand Hawk (GB) (Grundy {GB}), who had set a new record price at 264,000gns, and Enchantment (GB) (Habitat), who had cost 186,000gns. Neither turned out to be particular stars (although they both won as 3-year-olds) but the yearlings recruited from America more than made up for that.

Charming Native was a smart colt, even if bred to be even smarter: a $43,000 purchase, he was a half-brother to My Charmer (Poker), who had already bred 1977 U.S. Triple Crown hero Seattle Slew (Bold Reasoning) and would subsequently breed 1983 2000 Guineas winner Lomond (Northern Dancer). Known Fact was more expensive, but proved a real bargain at $225,000. He too was well bred. His dam Tamerett (Tim Tam) was a half-sister to Sharpen Up’s sire Atan and was already the producer of two high-class colts by In Reality’s sire Intentionally: 1970 Tremont S. winner Tamtent and Tentam, a Grade I winner who had broken the world record for nine furlongs on turf when winning the Bernard Baruch H. at Saratoga in 1973. Known Fact outran even that lineage with his top-class form at both two and three. He then became his owner’s foundation stallion, firstly for Juddmonte’s British operation at Juddmonte Farm near Wargrave-upon-Thames in Berkshire and then, in 1987, for its American division in Kentucky, where the Prince had bought Belair Farm (now Juddmonte Farm) just south of Lexington in 1982.

Known Fact was not the sole star of that squad of juveniles in 1979. Abeer (Dewan), a $50,000 yearling, won a maiden race at Salisbury, the G3 Queen Mary S. at Royal Ascot and the G2 Flying Childers S. (which had been a Group 1 race up until that year) at Doncaster. With arguably the best sprinting 2-year-old colt and the best sprinting 2-year-old filly carrying his silks, it was a sensational season for the rookie owner. Furthermore, Alia won five races, starting with a maiden race at Windsor and ending with the G3 Princess Royal S. at Ascot. She had the makings of a lovely foundation mare for her owner’s stud and Abeer (who became an excellent matron, breeding 10 winners) would follow her to the paddocks at Wargrave a year later.

It is noticeable that many of the best horses which Prince Khalid Abdullah is breeding and racing nowadays descend from the initial batches of fillies and mares which he bought in those early years. Last year’s G1 St Leger hero Logician (GB) (Frankel {GB}) is a classic example: he is the sixth generation of his family in Juddmonte ownership, his fifth dam Monroe (a regally-bred filly by Sir Ivor out of Best In Show) having been bought from Robert Sangster to be one of the operation’s foundation mares. She had been a very smart filly when trained by Vincent O’Brien, winning the G3 Ballyogan S. over five furlongs at Leopardstown as a 3-year-old in 1980. Monroe now ranks as ancestress of numerous Juddmonte stars including Xaar (GB) (Zafonic), Bated Breath (Ire) (Dansili {GB}), Cityscape (GB) (Selkirk}) and Close Hatches (First Defence).

Another young mare whom Juddmonte bought at the time from Robert Sangster was Sookera (Sir Ivor), who had won the G1 Cheveley Park S. in 1977 when trained by Dermot Weld. She too has repaid her purchase price many times over thanks to the achievements of numerous descendants including the remarkable Hasili (Ire) (Kahyasi {Ire}), dam not only of five individual homebred Group/Grade I winners but also, equally remarkably, of three stallions, the Danehill full-brothers Dansili (GB), Cacique (Ire) and Champs Elysees (GB), who at one time all stood on the Juddmonte roster at Banstead Manor simultaneously.

Both of Juddmonte’s most recent superstars also trace back to this period. The Jeremy Tree-trained Rockfest (Stage Door Johnny), runner-up in the Lingfield Oaks Trial in 1982, was bought from Tree’s longstanding American patron ‘Jock’ Whitney. For the Prince, she bred the Henry Cecil-trained 1993 G3 Lancashire Oaks victrix Rainbow Lake (Rainbow Quest) who is now best known as the grand-dam of Frankel (GB) (Galileo {Ire}). A handful of mares were included in the deal when the Prince bought Belair Farm. One of them was Fleet Girl (Ire) (Habitat) who was returned to Europe where she bred 1987 Oaks place-getter Bourbon Girl (GB) (Ile De Bourbon) who now ranks as third dam of Enable (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}).

While the seeds of Juddmonte’s breeding operation were sown very early on, the Prince was obviously still relying on yearling purchases through the first half of the ’80s. His advisors continued to do him proud, unearthing a string of high-class horses. The batch of yearlings bought in 1979 included Bel Bolide (Bold Bidder), a $310,000 yearling who, trained by Jeremy Tree, won the Gimcrack S. at York as a 2-year-old in 1980 as well as being placed in the G3 Coventry S. at Royal Ascot, the G3 Richmond S. at Glorious Goodwood and the G1 Middle Park S. at Newmarket. The following year he finished third to To-Agori-Mou (Ire) (Tudor Music {GB}) in the G1 2000 Guineas.

As Prince Khalid Abdullah’s string grew, he naturally began to send a few horses to other trainers. The veteran Classic-winning Yorkshire-based Bill Elsey received some, as did Ron Smyth in Epsom and the multiple Classic-winning jockey Frankie Durr, who had recently retired from the saddle to start training in Fitzroy House in Newmarket. Another to join the roster was Barry Hills, who came on board in 1982. Early in the spring, Hills saddled Slightly Dangerous (Roberto) to win the G3 Fred Darling S. at Newbury for her breeder Alan Clore, who subsequently accepted an offer from the Prince for the filly, who was being set for the 1000 Guineas and the Oaks. Slightly Dangerous naturally remained under Hills’s care and went on to finish fifth at Newmarket and runner-up at Epsom. At the end of the year she joined the Juddmonte broodmare band, visiting the 1975 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner Star Appeal (Ire) in her first season. She subsequently became one of the best broodmares the Prince has ever owned.

The Prince’s association with Barry Hills was further cemented shortly afterwards. Hills had trained Mofida (GB) (Right Tack {GB}), a terrific sprinter (whom he had bought for 4,000gns as a yearling) who was sold to his great friend Robert Sangster at the end of her racing career in 1978. Three years later, the Prince bought Mofida from Sangster, in foal to Sangster’s 1977 Derby winner The Minstrel. Naturally, he asked Hills to train the resultant foal, named Zaizafon, when she was ready to go into training in the autumn of 1983. Like Slightly Dangerous, Zaizafon did very well on the racecourse and then even better at stud, most obviously by producing the top-class Gone West full-brothers Zafonic and Zamindar.

The most notable appointment to the roster of trainers, though, was Sussex-based Guy Harwood, who at the time was enjoying a phenomenal run of success, largely with yearlings bought (often very inexpensively) on the advice of James Delahooke, including Ela-Mana-Mou (GB) (Pitcairn {GB}) and To-Agori-Mou. Those two horses, both originally raced by London-based restauranteurs Max and Andry Muinos, were champions, but before long Harwood would enjoy even more plentiful top-level success thanks to the Prince’s patronage.

Delahooke’s raid on the American yearling sales in 1982 was particularly fruitful, yielding three Group 1 winners for the Prince. Alphabatim (Verbatim) turned out to have been extremely well bought for the $23,000 which he cost at Keeneland’s secondary yearling sale in September. Trained by Guy Harwood, he won the G1 William Hill Futurity in England as a 2-year-old before heading to California where, trained by John Gosden, he won the G1 Hollywood Turf Cup in both 1984 and ’86. Rousillon (Riverman) cost $100,000 at Fasig-Tipton before, also trained by Harwood, showing high-class form at three and developing into a champion at four, when he won the G2 Queen Anne S. at Royal Ascot, the G1 Sussex S. at Glorious Goodwood and the G1 Prix du Moulin at Longchamp. And then there was the mighty Rainbow Quest (Blushing Groom {Fr}).

Rainbow Quest was an obvious target for James Delahooke when he showed up at the Fasig-Tipton July Yearling Sale in 1982. Not only was his dam a half-sister to the Prince’s Oaks place-getter Slightly Dangerous, but he was also a beautiful individual. Inevitably he was high on plenty of others’ lists too. Delahooke had to go to $950,000 to secure him, the second highest price in the sale. It didn’t take long for him to prove himself a bargain.

Rainbow Quest joined Jeremy Tree’s string at Beckhampton and was a high-class 2-year-old in 1983 who improved to be a Classic-placed Group 2 winner in 1984 before progressing further still in 1985. As a 4-year-old that year he was majestic. He won the G1 Coronation Cup with his head in his chest before being placed in vintage editions of the G1 Eclipse S. and the G1 King George VI And Queen Elizabeth II Diamond S. Finally he ended his career in a blaze of glory at Longchamp, promoted to first place in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe on the demotion of Sagace (Luthier {Fr}).  Timeform gave him a mighty accolade when he became the first horse since Mill Reef and Brigadier Gerard (GB) in the early ’70s to have been awarded a rating of at least 130 at ages two, three and four.

Just as Known Fact had been the foundation stallion at Wargrave, so Rainbow Quest (having retired to Wargrave in 1986) was given the honour of starting the Juddmonte roster at Banstead Manor, near Newmarket, which the Prince bought in 1987. Right from the start he proved himself an outstanding stallion. His first book of mares in 1986 included the 1980 G1 Poule d’Essai des Pouliches heroine Aryenne (Green Dancer) whom the Prince had bought at the end of her Classic campaign so that she could visit Known Fact in his first season. That mating failed to yield a superstar but her first visit to Rainbow Quest hit the jackpot because the resultant colt Quest For Fame (GB) carried the Prince’s colours to victory in the Derby in 1990.

Quest For Fame was merely one of three first-crop 3-year-old Group 1 winners for Rainbow Quest, who was also represented that year by G1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe hero Saumerez (GB) and G1 Irish Oaks victrix Knight’s Baroness (GB), the latter bred and raced by the Prince’s relative Prince Fahd Salman. Rainbow Quest ended the season in fifth place in the General Sires’ Table for Great Britain and Ireland, a magnificent achievement for a stallion with only two crops running for him. Thereafter, Rainbow Quest remained one of the most successful stallions in Europe, regularly featuring in the upper strata of the general sires’ table and being champion broodmare sire of Great Britain and Ireland in both 2003 and ’04, in both years starring as the maternal grandsire of the Derby winner.

Rainbow Quest provided Prince Khalid Abdullah with some terrific thrills, but even greater glory lay just around the corner. James Delahooke had bought Dancing Brave (Lyphard) for $200,000 at the Keeneland July Sale in 1984, the stocky colt’s parrot mouth seemingly having deterred many potential bidders. As Dancing Brave was a late foal (born in the second week of May) Guy Harwood gave him a deliberately easy campaign as a juvenile in 1985, merely running him in minor conditions races at Sandown and Newmarket, both of which he won easily. Harwood trained a Group 1 juvenile winner for Prince Khalid Abdullah year with Bakharoff (The Minstrel) taking the G1 William Hill Futurity at Doncaster and, although Bakharoff (whom Delahooke had bought for $450,000 as a yearling) topped the Free Handicap, those close to the stable made no secret of the fact that they regarded Dancing Brave as superior.

This opinion was fully justified in 1986 when the seed burst into flower. Dancing Brave was imperious in winning six races including the 2000 Guineas, Eclipse S., King George VI And Queen Elizabeth S. and Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. A controversial and seemingly luckless defeat in the Derby disrupted his winning sequence, but neither that defeat nor his lacklustre performance in the GI Breeders’ Cup Turf at Santa Anita on his swansong could prevent him from being hailed as an all-time great. His European curtain call at Longchamp was particularly majestic when, facing one of the strongest fields ever assembled for an Arc, he sprinted past the leaders in the final furlong like a racing car overtaking tractors. Needless to say, he was unanimously voted Horse of the Year.

For anyone other than Prince Khalid Abdullah, Dancing Brave would have been not only Horse of the Year but also Horse of a Lifetime. The Prince had only been owning horses for less than a decade but already had raced a horse who, surely, would be the best he would ever have. No higher praise can be given to the eminence which Juddmonte has now reached than the fact that we can now look back on Dancing Brave’s annus mirabilis in 1986 and say that it was only the beginning.

See tomorrow’s TDN Europe for Part II of this series.

https://www.thoroughbreddailynews.com/guineas-weekend-marks-juddmonte-milestone/



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Juddmonte’s Enduring Transatlantic Legacy

 at 10:38 am | Back to: Shared News Europe, Top News Europe

Updated: May 2, 2020 at 10:42 am

Dancing Brave winning the 1986 Coral-Eclipse | Racing Post

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   In Part II of a two-part series, John Berry looks at Juddmonte’s lasting influences from the late 80s through to the present on the 40th anniversary weekend of Prince Khalid Abdullah’s first Classic win with Known Fact in the 2000 Guineas. Click here for Part I.

When the mighty Dancing Brave (Lyphard) retired to stud, his brilliant 1986 G1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe triumph shining like a beacon in the collective consciousness, it was generally felt that Prince Khalid Abdullah had probably reached the pinnacle of his ownership career. After all, no owner in living memory had ever raced a horse as special as Dancing Brave and then subsequently had another one as good. We now know, of course, that the Prince would eventually race one even better; and that he would do so as owner/breeder, rather than merely as owner, because, of course, he bred Frankel (GB) (Galileo {Ire}).

However, the improbable nearly happened much more immediately than that because, as Dancing Brave departed, a horse of similar calibre arrived in Guy Harwood’s Pulborough stable.

The Prince’s first three champions (Known Fact, Rainbow Quest and Dancing Brave) had all been terrific horses, but Warning (GB) (Known Fact) must have been particularly special for Juddmonte because he was the first top-class horse whom the Prince had bred. Moreover, he was a son of Known Fact, the Prince’s first Classic winner and his foundation stallion. His dam Slightly Dangerous (Roberto) was also close to the Prince’s heart, having carried his colours into second place in the Oaks in 1982.

A muscular, powerful colt, Warning was Europe’s best 2-year-old of 1987, which was a strange season in the sense that the best 2-year-old race (the G1 Dewhurst S.) was not run, courtesy of a hurricane having hit south-eastern England the previous night, causing extensive damage to Newmarket racecourse as well as making the town inaccessible because of fallen trees. Warning had a strong favourite’s chance for the Dewhurst on form, having already won four from four including the G3 Richmond S. at Glorious Goodwood and the G2 Laurent Perrier Champagne S. at Doncaster. As it happened, he would not have run in the Dewhurst anyway, having been taken out of the race at the final declaration stage because of the expected soft ground.

Ultimately, Warning narrowly failed to match Dancing Brave’s brilliance and, in retrospect, is rarely given the credit he deserves, mainly because he showed his best form so infrequently, only revealing his true quality on a sound surface. However, on genuine fast ground he was in a class of his own, as he showed with brilliant victories in the G1 Sussex S. at Glorious Goodwood and the G2 Queen Elizabeth II S. at Ascot as a 3-year-old and, most spectacularly, in the G2 Queen Anne S. at Royal Ascot at four.

A curiosity of the early days of the Juddmonte operation (in retrospect, anyway, even if it did not appear untoward at the time, when owner/breeders traditionally concentrated much more on their broodmare bands than their stallion rosters) is that accumulating sires was not a priority. Looking back, it is hard to credit that Dancing Brave did not join Rainbow Quest at Banstead Manor, instead taking up residence under Sheikh Mohammed’s wing at Dalham Hall Stud. Warning, though, did retire to Banstead Manor. He proved a very good sire, responsible for five Group 1 winners including, for Juddmonte, the 1993 G1 Cheveley Park S. victrix Prophecy (Ire).

The decision not to retain Dancing Brave for stud duties (even though Juddmonte did still send him some very good mares, breeding several high-class horses including 1993 G1 Derby winner Commander In Chief {GB} and the same year’s G1 Irish Oaks winner Wemyss Bight {GB}) makes it easier to understand why another very good colt from that period was also moved on.

A Stallion Dynasty

A Juddmonte home-bred, Danehill (Danzig) was one of the best 3-year-olds in Europe in 1989 when, trained by Jeremy Tree, he was placed in the G1 2000 Guineas before winning the G3 Cork And Orrery (now G1 Diamond Jubilee) S. at Royal Ascot and the G1 Haydock Park Sprint Cup. Being a son of a world-class Northern Dancer stallion and coming from the immediate family of Northern Dancer, he had obvious stallion appeal, but ended up spending his game changingly good stud career under the auspices of Coolmore. Just as with Dancing Brave, though, Juddmonte patronised him extensively, breeding plenty of good horses including, crucially, Frankel’s listed-winning dam Kind (Ire).

Curiously, one should add that with Dancing Brave and Danehill having gone elsewhere, Generous (Ire) (Caerleon), brilliant winner in 1991 of the Derby, G1 Irish Derby and G1 King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Diamond S., became the third stallion on the roster at Banstead Manor in 1992. The oddity of this was that the Prince had not raced him: he was owned by his relative Prince Fahd Salman.

Warning was the first of four top-class horses whom Juddmonte bred from Rainbow Quest’s Oaks-placed relative Slightly Dangerous. The second of this quartet was 1990 Irish Derby runner-up Deploy (GB) (Shirley Heights {GB}). Next came Commander In Chief, who in 1993 followed in the footsteps of 1990 Derby hero Quest For Fame (GB) (Rainbow Quest) by becoming another homebred Derby winner for the Prince from a stallion whom he himself had raced. Finally came the 1996 Derby runner-up Dushyantor (Sadler’s Wells).

Quest For Fame and Deploy were two thirds of a trio of colts at Beckhampton who between them almost pulled off an unprecedented treble in the early summer of 1990. Jeremy Tree had been the Prince’s first trainer and the pair became life-long friends. With regular intakes of the Prince’s prime prospects each year to augment their friendship, Tree must have been tempted never to retire. However, he was due to turn 65 in 1990 so he clearly felt that the time was right to hand the reins at Beckhampton over to his loyal lieutenant Roger Charlton. Danehill had moved on, but the spring of 1990 still arrived with plenty for the first-season trainer to look forward to, particularly as three of the Prince’s homebred 3-year-old colts were showing Classic potential.

Changing of the Guards

Tree’s retirement, incidentally, was not the only major change of personnel in the upper reaches of the Juddmonte team during this period. James Delahooke, who had done a magnificent job in overseeing the operation and unearthing high-class racehorses and broodmares for the Prince since his recruitment by Humphrey Cottrill very early in the Juddmonte story, moved on, to be replaced as racing manager by Grant Pritchard-Gordon. Other key personnel to contribute to the Juddmonte success story during this period included bloodstock agent George Blackwell, while Philip Mitchell took the helm at Banstead Manor, in the role which is now filled by Simon Mockridge.

Arguably the greatest contribution made by George Blackwell was the purchase as a yearling in 1986 for 310,000gns later named Bahamian (Ire) (Mill Reef) who, trained by Jeremy Tree, was a filly smart enough to win the Lingfield Oaks Trial in 1988 before becoming one of Juddmonte’s best broodmares. Her first foal was the Andre Fabre-trained 1993 Irish Oaks winner Wemyss Bight and she now ranks as ancestress of numerous Group 1 winners including two of Juddmonte’s best stallions, Oasis Dream (GB) (Green Desert) and Kingman (GB) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}), as well as Wemyss Bight’s admirable son Beat Hollow (GB) (Sadler’s Wells) and Kingman’s Classic-winning dam Zenda (GB) (Zamindar).

The dream with which Roger Charlton may have started his training career in 1990 very nearly became the greatest of realities when the trio of promising Juddmonte colts almost completed an unprecedented Derby treble. On the first Sunday in June, Sanglamore, a son of Sharpen Up from the Prince’s Tree-trained 1984 G2 Ribblesdale S. victrix Ballinderry (GB) (Irish River {Fr}), won the G1 Prix du Jockey Club at Chantilly. Three days later Quest For Fame won the Derby at Epsom. Pat Eddery, who had accepted a retainer as the Prince’s jockey following his ‘Arc’ triumphs on Rainbow Quest and Dancing Brave, was in the saddle for both victories. Quest For Fame started favourite to augment his Derby victory in the Irish Derby at The Curragh at the end of the month but could only finish fifth behind Sheikh Hamdan al Maktoum’s filly Salsabil (Ire) (Sadler’s Wells), leaving second spot to be filled by the Juddmonte/Beckhampton second string Deploy.

Typically, the Prince kept both Quest For Fame and Sanglamore in training as 4-year-olds in 1991. (Deploy, who was still lightly raced, unfortunately suffered an injury and never raced again after his excellent effort in the Irish Derby, retiring to Eagle Lane Farm, a property near Newmarket where, in the days when numbers were very limited on the Banstead Manor roster, Juddmonte would stand its second-tier stallions). Sanglamore returned to Chantilly 52 weeks after his Prix du Jockey Club triumph to land the G1 Prix d’Ispahan but Quest For Fame failed to win as a 4-year-old. However, the Prince’s focus on racing his horses as crystal-clear as ever, he followed what was already a tried and tested route for Juddmonte stock by crossing the Atlantic to be trained in the U.S. Under the care of Bobby Frankel, Quest For Fame won the G1 Hollywood Turf Handicap in California as a 5-year-old in 1992.

Sensational Zafonic

Despite the quality of these horses, it’s easy enough to nominate Juddmonte’s Horse of the Decade for the ’90s. The superb homebred Zafonic (Gone West), winner of four Group 1 races, put in one of the best displays of galloping ever seen up the Rowley Mile when breaking the track record with an imperious victory under Pat Eddery in the 2000 Guineas in 1993. The powerful dark brown colt had been a superb 2-year-old, taking three Group 1 races (the Prix Morny, Prix de la Salamandre and Dewhurst S.) during an unbeaten campaign the previous season. His 2,000 Guineas triumph proved to be his final victory, but by that time he had already done more than enough to earn his place on the roster at Banstead Manor. He made an excellent start to his stud career when his first crop included another ultra-impressive Juddmonte homebred Dewhurst winner, Xaar (GB). If anything, Xaar won the Dewhurst even more easily than his father had done, scoring by seven lengths (Zafonic had ‘only’ won by four). Sadly, Zafonic was not able fully to build on this excellent start, in part because he died aged only 12 (while on shuttle duties in Australia).

A Friend Indeed

Having first tasted British Classic success when Known Fact won the 2000 Guineas in 1980, Prince Khalid Abdullah was so well established by the time that the ’90s came along that he won all five of them at least once during that decade. All of these special horses were homebreds. Andre Fabre was a key part of the team by this stage, responsible for 1991 G1 St Leger hero Toulon (Top Ville {Ire}) as well as for Zafonic. Henry Cecil, though, was Juddmonte’s most frequent provider of Classic success during this period. The mild-mannered and softly-spoken Cecil was a perfect trainer for the Prince, their mutual affection and respect tying in perfectly with the patient perfectionism of their shared approach to developing the career of a racehorse. As well as the 1993 Derby victory of Commander In Chief, Cecil also won the Oaks in 1997 with Reams Of Verse (Nureyev) and the 1000 Guineas in 1999 with Wince (GB) (Selkirk) for his patron and friend.

Cecil’s fortunes took a turn for the worse during the early years of the 20th century. One couldn’t have predicted it in advance, bearing in mind that the multiple champion trainer saddled the winners of three of the five Classics in 1999 and the runner-up in the other two, but during the years that followed Warren Place suffered a sharp decline in both numbers and success. As his fair-weather friends deserted him, Cecil discovered the truth of the old maxim that a friend in need is a friend indeed. Predictably, Prince Khalid Abdullah (like the Niarchos family) proved to be a friend indeed, loyally continuing to send a batch of quality yearlings to Warren Place every autumn. This long-standing partnership reached its zenith between August 2010 and October 2012 during the career of the peerless Frankel (GB) (Galileo {Ire}). Even before that champion had come along, though, they had already shared top-level 21st century success with Passage Of Time (GB) (Dansili {GB}), the marvellous Midday (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}) and the tough-as-teak Twice Over (GB) (Observatory).

Juddmonte’s first champion of the 21st century, however, was trained by John Gosden. Oasis Dream (GB) (Green Desert) proved himself one of the sprinting greats during both the autumn of 2002 (when he broke Newmarket’s six-furlong juvenile track record when taking the G1 Middle Park S.) and the summer of 2003, when he was a brilliant winner of the G1 July Cup and the G1 Nunthorpe S. Oasis Dream has, of course, subsequently become one of the lynchpins of the Juddmonte roster at Banstead Manor.

Oasis Dream’s run of success came not long after Gosden had provided the Prince with another famous victory. At Ascot in September 2000, Observatory (Distant View) had become the horse finally to bring to an end the mesmerizing sequence of Group 1 victories of the Aidan O’Brien-trained ‘Iron Horse’ Giant’s Causeway (Storm Cat), lowering the champion’s colours in an epic renewal of the G1 Queen Elizabeth S.

Gosden has, of course, subsequently trained other great horses for the Prince including the champions Kingman (GB) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) and Enable (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}) as well as last year’s St Leger winner Logician (GB) (Frankel {GB}). This means that a decades-old association continues to thrive, Gosden now having trained for Juddmonte for nearly 40 years, having first received horses from the Prince in the early ’80s in California. When the Tree-trained 1980 G2 Gimcrack S. winner Bel Bolide (Bold Bidder) was dispatched to continue his career in the U.S., Gosden was chosen to train him. He prepared him to win several graded stakes during 1983 and ’84 and then in 1985 he saddled the Prince’s first U.S. Grade I winner when the former Beckhampton inmate Hatim (Exclusive Native) took the San Antonio H. at Santa Anita.

After Gosden had returned to the UK in 1988, Bobby Frankel became the Prince’s trainer of choice in the U.S., sending out stakes winners by the score for Juddmonte until his death in 2009. Some, such as 2003 GI Belmont S. hero Empire Maker (Unbridled) and the seven-time Grade I heroine Sightseek (Distant View), were with Frankel from the start; others, from 1991 GI Hollywood Turf H. hero Exbourne (Explodent) and 1991 Hollywood Gold Cup hero Marquetry (Conquistador Cielo) to 2009 GI Santa Monica H. and GI Woodbine Mile heroine Ventura (Chester House), 2009 GI Charlie Whittingham Memorial H. winner Midships (Mizzen Mast) and 2009 GI Canadian International S. winner Champs Elysees (GB) (Danehill), started out in Europe before being transferred westwards.

Another equine luminary to start in Europe before moving to Bobby Frankel was Toussaud (El Gran Senor). She was trained by Gosden to win the G3 Criterion S. at Newmarket in 1992 before being transferred to California, where she landed the GI Gamely H. at Hollywood Park. She then became one of Juddmonte’s greatest broodmares, producing four Grade I winners including the high-class Juddmonte stallions Empire Maker (Unbridled) and Chester House (Mr Propector) as well as Honest Lady (Seattle Slew), herself dam of the GI Forego S. winner and successful Juddmonte sire First Defence (Unbridled’s Song).

A New American Frontier

Since Bobby Frankel’s death Bill Mott, Chad Brown and Bob Baffert have been Juddmonte’s principal American trainers. Bobby Frankel’s tradition of top-level success both with horses who started out in the U.S. and with horses imported from Europe has been maintained. The former category has included the magnificent Arrogate (Unbridled’s Song), a rare example of a notable Juddmonte horse in the 21st century who was bought as a yearling rather than bred in-house, as well as the superb fillies Emollient (Empire Maker) and Close Hatches (First Defence). The imports have included the admirable Flintshire (Dansili), a dual Group 1 winner and dual Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe runner-up when trained by Andre Fabre and a triple Grade I winner for Brown.

Forty years on from Known Fact’s ground-breaking Classic triumph, Juddmonte’s roll of top-level success continues to expand. In 2019, five individual Juddmonte-breds scored at Group 1 level, taking seven Group 1 races between them. Four of these were racing for the Prince, the other being Harlem (GB) (Champs Elysees {GB}) who, having won a listed race in France in the Prince’s colours when trained by Andre Fabre, was sold to race in Australia, where he won the G1 Australian Cup at Flemington in both 2018 and ’19. Of the four who won Group 1s in the Juddmonte livery in 2019, the mighty mare Enable (GB) Nathaniel ({Ire}) and St Leger hero Logician (GB) (Frankel {GB}) are trained by John Gosden; the Cartier Award-winning 2-year-old filly Quadrilateral (GB) (Frankel {GB}) is maintaining the long-standing link with Beckhampton, where she is trained by Roger Charlton; and G1 Phoenix S. winner Siskin (First Defence) is in Ireland with Ger Lyons.

Arc Ascension

If Enable could win her third Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe this year, she would provide the Prince with his seventh victory in the great race, following the triumphs of Rainbow Quest in 1985, Dancing Brave in 1986, Rail Link (GB) (Dansili {GB}) in 2006, Workforce (GB) (King’s Best) in 2010, and Enable herself in both 2017 and ’18. While Rainbow Quest, Dancing Brave and Enable obviously take extremely high order in the Juddmonte pantheon, the achievement of Workforce is sometimes overlooked. The powerful bay horse not only gave the Prince his fourth Arc victory; he also provided him with his third Derby triumph. The annus mirabilis which Workforce enjoyed in 2010, in which he became one of a current total of only six 3-year-olds to complete the Derby/Arc double, ranks as one of the many highlights of the now-longstanding partnership of Prince Khalid Abdullah and Sir Michael Stoute. This pairing most recently hit the jackpot in 2018 when the GI Breeders’ Cup Mile victory of Expert Eye (GB) (Acclamation {GB}) took Juddmonte’s tally of Breeders’ Cup triumphs to five. Of these, the Prince was owner/breeder for all bar the win of Arrogate in the GI Breeders’ Cup Classic in 2016.

With a total so far of 204 Group/Grade I wins as owner/breeder on top of 28 Group/Grade I victories with horses whom he did not breed (along with a further 20 top-level triumphs as breeder but not owner) Prince Khalid Abdullah has enjoyed a dream ride through the racing world ever since Known Fact followed up his Middle Park win by taking the 1980 2000 Guineas. That success was the first of, to date, 27 British/Irish/French Classic victories for him as owner, with all bar the wins of Known Fact and Dancing Brave being as owner/breeder. Across the Atlantic, Juddmonte’s success is best summed up by its 16 Eclipse Awards, including five as Leading Breeder and four as Leading Owner.

With Lord Grimthorpe’s reassuringly steady hand on the tiller, Juddmonte remains the very model of an owner/breeder operation. Its proprietor is still officially registered (at his own request) as ‘Mr. K. Abdullah’, but to rest of the racing world he is identifiable by an even more succinct phrase: he is, quite simply, the Prince.

https://www.thoroughbreddailynews.com/juddmontes-enduring-transatlantic-legacy/



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Continuity is what was stressed by Juddmonte’s chief executive Douglas Erskine Crum when he announced early in 2021 that the recently deceased Khalid Abdullah’s breeding and racing institution would remain intact.

Two years on he has been true to his word. There has already been a symbolic success in the 2,000 Guineas for Chaldean, who was the first winner in that particular Classic in the instantly recognisable pink, green and white silks since the staggering performance of his father Frankel in 2011. 

Juddmonte also has a Frankel-sired Derby contender in Arrest, who moved into the top three in the Epsom market after coasting around Chester, and in the last few days alone the US export Whitebeam looked destined for the top of the turf division at Pimlico and Haskoy perhaps earned herself a crack at the Gold Cup by winning at Newbury. 

For more than 40 years, it had been Abdullah’s passion and ambition that produced an almost never-ending list of exceptional racehorses. In that sense, nothing has changed. 

"The basis to all our work is continuity," says Erskine Crum, reaching for the same description as he outlines the present era. "If there’s one word about Juddmonte’s strategy, it’s that."

Perhaps the only thing that feels unusual about Chaldean and Arrest is that they were bought from the sales, both as foals at the end of 2020, given that most of the recent luminaries, such as Frankel and Enable, came from carefully developed families from the home farms. Erskine Crum explains that was just another part of specific directives.

"When Prince Khalid set up the operation in the early 80s he bought a very select band of broodmares, so in many ways you’ve got to buy to start," he says.

"Through the years obviously it has become increasingly homebred, but there has been a change over the last ten years as part of a long-term strategy to provide that continuity.

"We’ve been consistent in America, which is a third of Juddmonte's operation, and our general manager there, Garrett O’Rourke, was asked by the Prince specifically to buy dirt colts.

"The result was [2016 world champion] Arrogate, who Garrett chose, and now we have Elite Power, again chosen by Garrett. We also focused on Garrett purchasing suitable broodmares for Arrogate, who of course sadly died, and now for Mandaloun and Elite Power when he hopefully becomes another stallion for Juddmonte USA."

He adds: "In the UK it’s been slightly different but, again, it’s been consistent. We’ve bought potential broodmares to get new blood into the band, including some really successful ones. We’re trying to get new blood every year, but of course you can’t tell the success of those broodmares for many years.

"Secondly, we’ve looked to support Frankel and Kingman, to support our breeders, and that’s why we bought Chaldean, Arrest and others. Thirdly, on the very odd occasion, we’ve bought something that’s just really nice."

Affection for Chaldean growing

Barry Mahon, who has stepped into the European racing manager position vacated by Teddy Grimthorpe in 2021, was heading Juddmonte’s Irish stud operation when Chaldean arrived.

"I first saw him down in the Highflyer in Newmarket," he says.

"He came out of the stable and did a very unusual thing for a late May foal – he put his head down and walked along like an old professional. That has probably set the tone for the rest of his life really. 

"He came straight back here from the foal sale and spent a summer out at grass, never had a scratch, a cold, a temperature or anything, and through the breaking process he was ridden by a girl here called Gabby and was just a very simple, genuine horse.

"A lot of the good ones have tended to be like that. They’re there, there’s never a problem and they just put their head down and get on with their work."

The only possible issue Mahon remembers is that Chaldean was on the small side, on account of his age, but he was precocious enough to have appeared in June and run four times before lifting the Dewhurst, equally the first occasion Juddmonte had won the two-year-old decider since Frankel.

"You’d always be nervous when they’re born on that date that when they get to May, June, July they can start to grow and get a little weak on you, but certainly during the winter and early spring before he went to Andrew Balding, he looked like he’d be a nice two-year-old, very strong and compact," he says.

"We couldn’t factor in whether he'd get a growth spurt, but luckily he has just continued to thrive on racing and, while he’s grown, he’s stayed very strong throughout the process."

Mahon saw Chaldean in the early spring and reckoned he had grown again by the time of the Guineas. Wet weather, rather than the mishap in unseating Frankie Dettori in the Greenham Stakes, had been his biggest concern, but he had immediate reassurance from the stable.

"To be honest I’m always a touch pessimistic, never confident, but in fairness to Andrew and the rest of his team, they were very confident," he says. "Even on the morning of the race, when the rain was coming, he wasn’t worried, I was."

A family affair

Erskine Crum must oversee an estate which encompasses eight main farm premises across Ireland, Britain and the US, adding and subtracting with the guidance of the various managers as part of the final equation.

Juddmonte is now chaired by Abdullah’s three sons, Prince Fahad, Prince Ahmad and Prince Saud. Their father espoused a policy of running his hobby as a business and Erskine Crum maintains that a decision to acquire a colt such as Chaldean, who cost 550,000gns from Whitsbury Manor, comes with parameters.

"From Juddmonte’s point of view, we always look long term, therefore it’s great to win the 2,000 Guineas and what it shows is that our recent buying policy has been very successful, but with all the other winners we’ve had over the years the real strength of Juddmonte is the broodmare band," he says.

"I would stress that we have a budget, we’re very disciplined and will not bid above the amount we value the horse at."

There are clearly huge costs associated with the studs and north of 200 horses in training at any one time around the world. Then again, both Frankel and Kingman contribute by covering large books at six-figure fees, supported further by Bated Breath, Expert Eye, Oasis Dream and Mandaloun.

An example of the financial rigour can be seen publicly by Juddmonte’s activity last year at Tattersalls and Goffs, spending a little over £5 million on a few foals and yearlings, including Chaldean’s Kingman half-sister for 1,000,000gns. This was more than balanced by receipts from sales of horses in training and mares deemed surplus to the broodmare band but coveted by other breeders.

"Because we do have a defined budget, it puts even more pressure on those who are giving recommendations for sales," says Erskine Crum.

"Garrett has been general manager in the US for over 30 years, it’s he who has chosen all these horses and we haven’t bought many. Here in Europe, it’s now Simon Mockridge and Barry Mahon, but also due credit to Teddy Grimthorpe and Rory Mahon, who were both involved in the earlier days and until fairly recently. 

"We have such a strong team of horsemen and that’s something I must emphasise, as well as the strength of the broodmare band itself."

There are high hopes for the latest racing crops in the US, with Erskine Crum identifying the three-year-old fillies to be a particularly nice bunch. Some will eventually replenish those in a system which is constantly scrutinised.

"About ten years ago Prince Khalid decided to reduce the size of the broodmare band to focus even more on quality," he says. "We went from about 200 broodmares in the UK to 130, and from 100 in America to now about 70, so in total we’ve gone from about 300 to 200. 

"To many people that's a large broodmare band but, in comparison to some, it’s actually quite small! One of the comments I get repeatedly is about the extraordinary way in which the broodmare band isn't huge but continues to produce stallions, top racehorses and lovely mares coming back to the band."

Abdullah, until his final years, was a frequent sight on European racecourses in the spring and summer months. It had seemed both poignant and encouraging that Prince Saud made an appearance on the Rowley Mile to see Chaldean win, later speaking briefly to ITV, where he maintained that the family’s commitment to racing, and particularly in Britain, was "unwavering".

The same brother was seen at Newbury welcoming in Haskoy, and Erskine Crum confirms that all of them take a very close interest.

"The fact is they are, all three, extremely busy businessmen and chairmen of important companies based in Riyadh," he says. "With Covid and all sorts of other issues, they’ve not been to Europe as much as they would have liked, and as much as they might have done in the past.

"They are kept informed on a very regular basis, they’re involved with every purchase, every sale, every top runner, they’re choosing the races. Okay, it’s done on the telephone or by email because they’re based in Riyadh, but they're very involved and and make all the major decisions – it works extremely well."

Mahon felt the significance of the occasion at Newmarket, too.

"It meant a huge amount," he says. "As a group we suffered a big loss with the passing of Prince Khalid. There was a lot of uncertainty; a lot of people are employed by Juddmonte – staff, families, everything. 

"The fact that in the last two years we’ve had two Classic winners, Westover in the Irish Derby and Chaldean this year, just reinforces that Juddmonte is quality, competing at the highest level.

"To have Prince Saud there on the day and for him to reiterate to the racing public that Juddmonte is here to continue to carry on the legacy of their father, that's marvellous."

Working life was never going to be exactly the same without Juddmonte’s founder and its most integral member but, as Erskine Crum explains: "We always look to what he would have done, and we follow his principles."

The Frankel factor

Abdullah himself was characterised as an intensely private man, so much so that his first racing adviser Humphrey Cottrill once recalled: "He was always perfectly charming but, even after some time in his company, I knew absolutely nothing about him as a person."

Everyone will have a favourite Abdullah horse from their era, from Arrogate or Banks Hill to Xaar or Zafonic, and the 117 homebred Group 1 winners will swell with many more.

Recurring families, so often kept with the same trainer, are what have made his colours such a fixture, but he seemed to have gained particular affection and respect from the racing community for his behaviour towards the cherished Sir Henry Cecil, never deserting him during those seasons in the doldrums.

The reward was Frankel, their masterpiece and a phenomenon who should supply many more reasons for the family to visit. Champion sire of Britain once already, he currently has only a slim lead in the early exchanges of this season but has put down a number of significant markers aside from Chaldean.

Arrest is joined by Lingfield Trial winner Military Order in the Betfred Derby shake-up, while Soul Sister made a compelling charge for the Oaks by landing the Musidora. Jannah Rose looked sensational in the Prix Saint-Alary, while Military Order’s brother Adayar, Hurricane Lane, Nashwa, Mostahdaf, Inspiral and others will all take high rank in Group 1s again.

Then in Juddmonte silks there is still Westover, who can hardly be knocked for finishing second to the world’s best horse, Equinox, in Dubai. It was also a typically generous touch to send the final foal of Frankel’s dam, Kind, a two-year-old Kingman colt named Kikkuli, to Roger Charlton’s stable as Beckhampton was where the mare had earned her right to join the breeding operation in the first place.

Erskine Crum, who began in his role when Frankel retired to Banstead Manor a decade ago, recognises that the 15-year-old is an endless source of fascination.

"It’s interesting with Frankel," he says. "It’s a very overused word but he is unique. Name another horse which has been the greatest racehorse that has ever lived and now looks as if he’s going to be one of the greatest sires that’s ever lived. 

"He's the most extraordinary horse. We’re very fortunate to have him."

Mahon’s family has been as involved in Juddmonte as any other constituent part. His father, Rory, has served at Ferrans Stud in County Meath, where the yearlings are based, for just about its entirety and they shared a few jokes about Frankel along the way, too.

"I actually happened to see him as a foal at Coolmore, I was working down around there at the time and the mare was over being covered," Barry Mahon recalls. "He was a pretty outstanding foal. He was probably two months old at that stage; he looked like a six-month-old foal.

"I saw him somewhere along the line as a yearling, but every few months I’d say to my father, 'How’s that Kind horse doing?' He’d always say, 'Don’t you be worrying about him.' He was always a remarkable prospect and a standout, I believe.

"He’s been a remarkable horse in everything he’s put his hand to in his life, and long may it continue."

Mahon feels he could probably come up with 100 more words to describe the various jigsaw pieces which slot together for the full picture as to why Juddmonte has been so successful but emphasises, as Erskine Crum does, that Abdullah’s vision, determination and loyalty has been in turn repaid by those in his employ.

Ultimately, the unassuming founder always seemed to prefer the spotlight to be on the horses themselves, and his bequest to world racing is colossal.

"Apart from all his great racehorses, the Prince had four horses that I think people would say were completely out of the ordinary," says Erskine Crum. "Dancing Brave, Arrogate, Frankel and Enable. I think we’ve been blessed that three have been in the last 15 years."

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