Prince Khalid Abdullah, owner-breeder of champion horses including Frankel and Dancing Brave – obituary

Prince Khalid Abdullah, who has died aged 85, created one of the most remarkable racing empires in the long history of the Turf.

Most owner-breeders would count themselves lucky to produce one great horse. Khalid Abdullah’s green, pink and white colours (suggested by Lord Weinstock to match the Prince’s office curtains) were carried by four: the incomparable Frankel, unbeaten in 14 races, including 10 Group Ones; Enable, twice winner of the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe; the electrifying Dancing Brave, also an Arc winner and a desperately unlucky loser in the Epsom Derby; and the American horse Arrogate, rated the world best racehorse in 2016 and 2017.

Yet in some ways these were merely the icing on a very impressive cake. The Prince’s racing operation, Juddmonte Farms, with bases in Britain, Ireland and the United States, was responsible for winners (mostly homebred) of 13 British Classics, including three Epsom Derbys. To those can be added six Arcs, two French Derbys and one Irish Derby. On six occasions between 1993 and 2012 he was champion breeder in Britain, where in total he had nearly 2,500 winners.

He was in his forties when he first became involved in the sport, having been enchanted by a visit to the Longchamp racecourse in Paris as a young man in 1956. In the intervening two decades he had amassed a large fortune through Mawarid Holding, a private Saudi investment company with a vast range of interests, from financial services, construction, medical supplies and catering to telecommunications and conservation projects.

In the 1970s and 1980s it was said to be the largest private employer in the Middle East. He later handed over control to his sons to concentrate on racing, particularly the breeding element, which he always described as his “hobby”.

His Highness Prince Khalid bin Abdullah bin Abdulrahman Al Saud was born in the Saudi Arabian city of Ta’if on September 26 1935, the son of Prince Abdullah, half-brother and adviser to the founder and first king of Saudi Arabia, Abdulaziz.

From the Princes’ School in Riyadh, established by King Abdulaziz to educate members of the House of Saud, he went on to the King Saud University, Riyadh, and Columbia University in New York, where he read History. He was briefly employed at the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs before embarking on his career in business.

When his duties brought him to London he decided to pursue his ambitions on the Turf. Starting from scratch, he secured the services of the former trainer Humphrey Cottrill to purchase some yearlings to be trained by Jeremy Tree at Beckhampton.

Among them would be Known Fact, which won the 1980 2,000 Guineas, the first Arab-owned horse to win a British Classic. It is said that Tree was ready to celebrate with a glass of champagne, but, in deference to his abstinent patron, made do with a cup of tea.

Even in these early days, Khalid Abdullah was intent on starting a breeding operation in the manner of the Aga Khan or Lord Howard de Walden, deeming it to be “more fun”. Accordingly, he began buying fillies and broodmares, and in 1982 purchased Cayton Park Stud in Berkshire.

His first homebred Group One winner came in 1988, when Warning took the Sussex Stakes. Juddmonte Farms would eventually encompass four properties in Britain, two in Ireland and a 2,500-acre estate near Lexington in Kentucky.

At its height the Prince’s operation had around 350 horses in training at any one time, some in the US but most of them in Britain, France and Ireland. His trainers in Britain included Sir Henry Cecil, Roger Charlton, Guy Harwood (who handled Dancing Brave), John Gosden, Barry Hills and Sir Michael Stoute; among those in France were André Fabre and Criquette Head-Maarek.

In Britain, Khalid Abdullah’s Derby winners were Quest For Fame (1990), Commander In Chief (1993) and Workforce (2010). After the success with Known Fact, he took the 2,000 Guineas with Dancing Brave (1986), Zafonic (1993) and Frankel (2011); the Oaks with Reams Of Verse (1997) and Enable (2017); the 1,000 Guineas with Wince (1999) and Special Duty (2010); and the St Leger with Toulon (1991) and Logician (2019).

His King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes winners were Dancing Brave (1986) and Enable (in 2017, 2019 and 2020, the first three-time winner of the race). Oasis Dream, winner of the July Cup and Nunthorpe Stakes, was European Champion Sprinter in 2003.

Khalid Abdullah won the Irish Derby with Commander In Chief (1993) and the Prix du Jockey Club with Sanglamore (1990) and New Bay (2015). His other Arc winners were Rainbow Quest (1985), Rail Link (2006) and Workforce (2010).

In the US, in 2016-17 Arrogate (bought as a yearling for $560,000) won the Breeders’ Cup Classic and the inaugural $12 million Pegasus World Cup; it also won the Dubai World Cup.

Prince Khalid, who was elected an honorary member of the Jockey Club in 1983, had homes in Saudi Arabia, Britain, Paris and Kentucky, but wore his wealth lightly. Highly respected in the racing world, he was noted for his courtesy and self-effacement, preferring to be styled on racecards as “Mr K Abdullah”.

In a rare interview he once told the racing journalist Brough Scott: “How can I tell a trainer what to do? I have very good people and good managers. I talk to them all the time. It is not a business but it is my only hobby and so we have to run it like a business – not to make money, but to make sure we control it.” His staff – some 250 people internationally – responded with great loyalty, some of them remaining with him for more than four decades.

He retained his early interest in history, built up a substantial art collection (lending many works to exhibitions in Britain and abroad), and was happiest when in the company of his family and a small circle of close friends. Among the latter was Frankel’s trainer, the late Sir Henry Cecil. The Prince continued to send horses to Cecil during a difficult period in his career when other owners deserted him; and when the trainer was gravely ill with stomach cancer Khalid Abdullah financed vital medical treatment.

A noted philanthropist, he endowed chairs at Magdalen College, Oxford, and Harvard University, and gave charitable support to many institutions, including the National Gallery, the British Museum and the National Horse Racing Museum in Newmarket.

He married Princess Al Joharah bint Abdulaziz, a sister of Saudi Arabia’s present king, Salman. They had four sons (one of whom predeceased him) and three daughters. His wife and six children survive him.

HH Prince Khalid Abdullah, born September 26 1935, died January 12 2021