Juddmonte spans six farms covering more than 5,000 acres in England, Ireland and Kentucky. Despite the vast size, Crum said the farm is merely “a hobby” for Al Saud. In the Middle East, he’s invested in more than a dozen industries, such as insurance, financial services and poultry farming through Mawarid, according to one its subsidiary’s websites. Most of his interests are closely held and few aside from OSN disclose financials.
Best Horses
Crum said Al Saud, who was born in 1937, according to the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, spends most of the racing season in Europe, watching and enjoying his horses.
The best of Al Saud’s horses, the ones with the most victories, finest bloodlines and best conformation, return to Newmarket or to his farm in Kentucky after their racing career to be stallions or broodmares, Crum said. Those who don’t make the cut are sold, often for more than 500,000 pounds, at auctions such as Tattersalls, Europe’s largest thoroughbred auctioneer.
The extraordinary value of Juddmonte’s bloodlines is reflected in the prices paid for Frankel’s offspring. In November, one of Frankel’s fillies sold for a record 1.8 million euros ($2.1 million) at Goffs auction in Ireland. Five months earlier, another foal was sold alongside his mother for 1.2 million pounds.
And it’s still not certain that Frankel’s progeny can run. Most thoroughbreds start their racing careers as two-year-olds, so his first batch of foals won’t hit the track until next year.
“Frankel was the best racehorse ever, better than Secretariat,” said Oppenheim. “There’s no guarantee he will be as good a sire as he was a racehorse. But he’s got the greatest shot that any horse has ever had in history.”