Ahmed Zayat

Ahmed Zayat (Ahmed El-Zayat) (; ) (born August 31, 1962) is an Egyptian-American businessman and owner of Thoroughbred race horses. He is the CEO of Zayat Stables, LLC, a Thoroughbred horse racing business which bred and owns the 2015 Triple Crown winner American Pharoah. Joe Drape of The New York Times described Zayat as "controversial" and "one of the most successful and flamboyant owners in thoroughbred racing."

Zayat was born in Cairo, Egypt to a wealthy family, and grew up in an ethnically diverse (majority Jewish) neighborhood where he learned to ride horses. At age 18, he moved to the United States where he attended college and ultimately obtained a master's degree in business and public health from Boston University. After a brief career in commercial real estate in New York City, he returned to Egypt, and for about a decade ran the Al-Ahram Beverages Company, which he owned as part of an investment group. After the company was purchased by Heineken in 2002, Zayat stayed on a few more years but also began investing in racehorses and established Zayat Stables in 2005. Upon returning to the United States for good in 2007, he made his racing stables his full-time occupation, working with his son, Justin, to build the business.

While generally successful with his race horses, Zayat's goal of winning the Kentucky Derby eluded him several times, including three second-place finishes, until his win with American Pharoah. He also filed bankruptcy proceedings in 2010 when a bank called a note due and tried to foreclose on his horses. Zayat Stables successfully completed its Chapter 11 reorganization, but Zayat was next plagued by legal issues related to his penchant for betting large sums of money on horse racing. Nonetheless, Zayat generated considerable positive publicity on social media for his efforts to save his racehorse Paynter from life-threatening health problems, a successful struggle that earned the colt the 2012 NTRA Moment of the Year Award and Secretariat Vox Populi Award.

The Zayat family lives in Teaneck, New Jersey with his wife, Joanne. They have four children: Ashley, Justin, Benjamin, and Emma. Their eldest son, Justin, helps run the Zayat Stables operation, and their youngest, Emma, inspired the name of Littleprincessemma, the dam of American Pharoah.

Early career and personal life

Ahmed Zayat was born in Egypt in 1962 to an affluent family and grew up in an ethnically diverse neighborhood in the Cairo suburb of Maadi. His grandfather, Ahmed Hasan al-Zayyat, was a leading intellectual who established the Egyptian literary magazine al-Risala, described as "the most important intellectual weekly in 1930s Egypt and the Arab world." Born into what was then a peasant family, the earlier al-Zayyat studied at Al-Azhar University before taking up legal studies in Cairo and Paris; he taught Arabic literature at American University in Cairo, and for three years in Baghdad, before founding al-Risala in 1933.

As a young man, Ahmed Zayat learned to ride horses at the local country club. He obtained a master's degree in public health administration from Boston University. Though the Zayat Stables, LLC website once stated that Zayat attended Harvard University, he did not.

Zayat returned to Egypt in 1995 and formed an investment group, Al-Ahram had been owned by the Egyptian government and Zayat had helped find American investors to take over government-owned businesses that had been nationalized by Gamal Abdel Nasser back in the 1950s. Zayat donates to schools and charities, including those that help special-needs children. Zayat Stables owns approximately 200 horses at any one time. In addition, Zayat paid $1.6 million for the highest-priced horse at the 2006 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga select yearling sale, a filly by Empire Maker named Mushka, whom he resold in 2008 for $2.4 million. But, in the first of Zayat's many racing disappointments, the colt's promising racing career was cut short by injury after two races.

The horses of Zayat Stables began to earn race purses in 2006. Zayat Stables ranked second in the nation for earnings in 2007, third in 2009, fourth in 2010 and fifth nationally in 2011. Between 2006 and 2014, Zayat Stables ranked in the top ten leading owners by purse money won in six of those years and always in the top 20. Zayat Stables keeps about 30 broodmares and their foals in Kentucky along with roughly 20 yearlings. Zayat typically retains a 25% interest in the stallions he sends to stud, though in the case of Pioneerof the Nile, he kept a 75% interest.

, Zayat's horses include American Pharoah and 13 other Grade I winners. These include: 2013 Breeders' Cup runner and 2012 Haskell Invitational winner Paynter; 2013 Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap winner Justin Phillip; 2012 Arkansas Derby winner Bodemeister; Pioneerof the Nile who won the 2008 CashCall Futurity and 2009 Santa Anita Derby; three-time Grade I winner Zensational. He has entered horses in the Breeders' Cup races 16 times, with his best result a fourth-place finish in 2007.

Zayat has experienced significant highs and lows in his quest for Triple Crown classic wins. Three times Zayat's horses placed second in the Kentucky Derby. In 2011, Zayat entered Nehro, who finished second to Animal Kingdom. Switching horses in the 2012 Belmont Stakes, Zayat's colt Paynter also finished second. Paynter went on to win the Grade I Haskell Invitational but shortly thereafter developed near-fatal complications from colitis and laminitis. Zayat authorized the highest quality of care for the horse, and following abdominal surgery and several months of rehabilitation, Paynter successfully returned to racing in 2013. After Zayat and his son Justin began making regular social media updates on Twitter with the hashtag #PowerUpPaynter, the horse developed a significant fan base, and received hundreds of get well cards, many from children. For his struggle to return to health, Paynter won NTRA Moment of the Year Award and Secretariat Vox Populi Award.

Zayat's Triple Crown race losing-streak was finally broken by American Pharoah, who won the 2015 Kentucky Derby, the 2015 Preakness Stakes, and the 2015 Belmont Stakes, becoming the first horse to win the Triple Crown since 1978.

Litigation and related disputes Zayat has been described as "controversial," The bank alleged that Zayat had lost $52 million between 2006 and 2008, that he had not reported a previous Chapter 7 personal bankruptcy he had filed under the name Ephraim David Zayat, He stated that the problem was that the Lexington branch of the bank worked with the Thoroughbred industry and was willing to restructure his loans, while the bank's corporate headquarters in Cincinnati wanted to get out of the equine lending business altogether. Stating that Fifth Third was "reneging on its promises," Zayat filed a countersuit in April 2010, alleging the bank engaged in deceptive and predatory lending practices. explaining that had he known the bank would not extend his loans, he would have sold enough horses to make his payments. As part of his reorganization plan, he was to sell a number of horses, including 100% of his Grade I-winning horse Eskendereya. Ultimately, consistent with Zayat's tendency to retain a financial interest in his stallions, he sold an undisclosed share in the stallion to Jess Jackson and retained some breeding rights. While the selling percentage and price were confidential, Zayat Stables' reported income to the bankruptcy court for the month the deal closed was $7.5 million. Zayat stated, "While Chapter 11 was a necessary step to take ... I look forward to carrying out our reorganization plan, and continuing to develop some of the best horses in the country." Zayat Stables successfully completed the bankruptcy reorganization plan, Two members of that family, Michael and Jeffrey Jelinsky, had pleaded guilty in 2009 to illegal bookmaking. As a result, the racing commissions in California and Kentucky opened investigations on Zayat; Further, he said he loaned them money because he knew their father and that the money they owed him was unrelated to gambling; he stated that some of the money he loaned was to assist one of the brothers with a divorce. He was cleared in both states. Although New York also stated that they were investigating, there were no news reports of any adverse action. Zayat stated that he had been visited by federal agents who played tapes where the Jelinsky brothers discussed how they had cheated Zayat out of money by giving him bad betting advice. Zayat had been betting $200,000 a week through New Jersey's online betting system, and the agency allowed him to "float" $286,000 in credit, "as a courtesy."

On March 10, 2014, a lawsuit against Zayat was filed in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey. The plaintiff, Howard Rubinsky, was an associate of the Jelinskys who had also pleaded guilty in the illegal betting operation. His suit alleged breach of contract, claiming that Zayat failed to pay off a $1.65 million line of credit in 2004. Rubinsky said he extended credit to Zayat with Tradewinds Sportsbook so Zayat could bet on horse races via a gambling website set up in Costa Rica. Zayat's lawyer described the suit as "a meritless claim", filed a motion to dismiss in 2015 alleging lack of evidence, Zayat stated in court documents that he had met and loaned money to Rubinsky, but said, "I can say unequivocally that I did not give Mr. Rubinsky any money as payment on any debt ... I agreed to give him money because he told me he was ill and broke." On June 4, 2015, a federal judge in Newark, New Jersey, dismissed Rubinsky's lawsuit, citing both Rubinsky's difficulty in proving his case and the expired statute of limitations. In a related matter, June 1, 2015, days before American Pharoah was to run in the 2015 Belmont Stakes, the New York Times reported that Rubinsky's lawyer, Joseph Bainton, filed a $10-million libel suit against Zayat for comments to the press, including the characterization of Rubinsky's other lawsuit as "extortion, a fraud and blackmail." That suit was dismissed on August 5, 2015.

In a post-race press conference after winning the 2015 Belmont Stakes, Zayat stated that he was so anxious about American Pharoah's upcoming race that he neglected to bet on anything.