Khalid ibn Abdullah

Khalid bin Abdullah Al Saud ( Khalid bin ʿAbdullāh Āl Suʿūd; 1937 – January 2021) was a member of the House of Saud. He had extensive business interests, run through Mawarid Holding, but is probably best known as the owner of Juddmonte Farms. As such, he was one of the leading figures in the world of thoroughbred horseracing and the list of outstanding horses to have competed in his racing colours includes Arrogate, Dancing Brave, Enable, and Frankel.

Early life Prince Khalid was one of the sons of Abdullah bin Abdul Rahman, a younger half-brother of King Abdulaziz, the founder of Saudi Arabia. His mother was Noura bint Fahd Al Muhanna Aba Al Khail.

Prince Khalid was born in Ta'if in 1937. He studied history in the United States and Riyadh, and was employed for a time at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He then embarked on an extremely successful career in business, serving an apprenticeship under the guidance of Sulaiman Olayan.

Business career In October 1980 Khalid bin Abdullah and Suleiman Olayan bought stocks from First Chicago Corporation.

The main business vehicle of Khalid bin Abdullah was Mawarid Holding, one of Saudi Arabia's largest and most diversified private businesses, with extensive dealings in financial services, manufacturing, construction, medical supplies, catering, telecommunications and the media. A study of the commercial activities of members of the House of Saud published in 2001 listed 65 separate entities in which Prince Khalid held an interest. Until 8 February 2009 he served as chairman of the Saudi Chemical Company's board of directors and as chairman of Saudi Arabian Amiantit Company.

By the early 2000s responsibility for running his business had passed, in part, to Prince Khalid's four sons.

In 1990, Prince Khalid's wealth was estimated by Fortune magazine at $1.0 billion. Prince Khalid's introduction to the sport came on a trip to Longchamp with friends in 1956. Even so, he did not start owning race horses himself until the late 1970s. Prince Khalid's purchases of yearlings at that time heralded the start of the largescale investment in horseracing by owners from the Middle East that was to transform the sport.

In 1977 Prince Khalid's first racing adviser, the former trainer Humphrey Cottrill, bought for him four yearlings at the Newmarket sales. The following year Prince Khalid bought the top two lots in the Houghton Sales at Newmarket, although the top-priced yearling, Sand Hawk, for whom he paid a record 264,000 guineas, proved largely a disappointment; as would Convention, for whom he paid 1.4 million guineas in 1983. However, Cottrill and the trainer Jeremy Tree had also paid $225,000 for a dark bay colt by In Reality at the Keeneland Sales of 1978, their single purchase, who as Known Fact won the Middle Park Stakes in the autumn of 1979 and then, after Nureyev's disqualification, the 2,000 Guineas of 1980, following up his victory with a win in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes. His first winner of any kind had come the previous season, when Charming Native came home first at Windsor, while Abeer had provided his first victory at Royal Ascot with her win in the Queen Mary Stakes.

In 1982 Prince Khalid had his first homebred winner with Fine Edge at Newmarket. His Juddmonte breeding operation soon produced Warning, by Known Fact out of the broodmare Slightly Dangerous, who became Europe's Champion Miler in the 1988 season. Remarkably, Prince Khalid went on to win all five British Classic races with homebred horses: Quest For Fame, sired by Rainbow Quest, won Juddmonte's first Epsom Derby in 1990, followed by Commander In Chief (a son of Dancing Brave) in 1993, and finally the fourth-generation Juddmonte-bred Workforce, who broke the course record at Epsom with the victory in 2010. Toulon won the St Leger of 1991 and Zafonic carried off the 2,000 Guineas two years later, as did Frankel in 2011. Reams of Verse won The Oaks in 1997 and Enable won The Oaks in 2017. Wince won the 1,000 Guineas in 1999, followed by Special Duty's victory in the same race in 2010.

The winner of not just the 2,000 Guineas, but also of multiple Group One races, including the Juddmonte-sponsored International Stakes at York, Frankel was bred by Prince Khalid through three generations via his mare Kind. He is named after Bobby Frankel, who had trained Prince Khalid's horses in America.

Juddmonte also bred a clean sweep of French Classic winners. Sanglamore won the Prix du Jockey Club in 1990 and New Bay won it in 2015, whilst Houseproud, Zenda and Special Duty won the Poule d'Essai des Pouliches in 1990, 2002 and 2010. Jolypha and Nebraska Tornado won the Prix de Diane, in 1992 and 2003 respectively, and Raintrap and Sunshack were the winners of the Prix Royal-Oak in 1993 and 1995, before American Post took the Poule d'Essai des Poulains in 2004. Finally, there was victory for Rail Link in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe of 2006, a success repeated by Workforce in 2010 (making this horse only the sixth horse in history to win both the Derby and the Arc

At the Breeders' Cup in 2018, homebreds Enable and Expert Eye won the Breeders' Cup Turf and Breeders' Cup Mile respectively.

Recognition In North America, Prince Khalid was the recipient of an Eclipse Award as Top Owner in 1992, 2003, 2016 and 2017, and received five awards as the Top Breeder: in 1995, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2009. In 2003, Prince Khalid finished third in the American owners' championship.

In Europe, Prince Khalid's 78 winners in Britain and 58 winners in France made him the champion owner in both those countries in 2003, and he was British flat racing's champion owner again in 2010, with 74 winners and prize money of more than £3 million. He took the British title once more in 2011, when he had 63 winners and won more than £3.4 million in prize money.

In 1983 he was made an honorary member of The Jockey Club.

Trainers Prince Khalid's horses were initially trained mainly by Jeremy Tree, to whom he was introduced by Humphrey Cottrill, and by Guy Harwood, who trained Dancing Brave. The circle of European trainers widened to include Henry Cecil, Barry Hills and Criquette Head-Maarek, and now comprises André Fabre, Francis-Henri Graffard and Henri-François Devin in France, Dermot Weld and Ger Lyons in Ireland and John and Thady Gosden, Sir Michael Stoute, Hugo Palmer, Roger Charlton, Charlie Hills, and Ralph Beckett in England. In the US, his horses were for a long time in the care of Bobby Frankel She died on 20 July 2021. Another daughter, Fadwa bint Khalid, is married to Mohammad bin Nawwaf, former Saudi ambassador to the United Kingdom.

Prince Khalid was one of the closest friends of King Fahd, his brother-in-law. He was widely reported to be studiously courteous and personally unassuming.

Prince Khalid died on 12 January 2021.

Homes Prince Khalid had homes in Saudi Arabia and overseas, close to his various stables or to the Classic racecourses. In the United States, he had a home in Kentucky, He has also owned Newabbey House in Kildare since 1990.