Prince Khalid Abdullah, driving force behind Juddmonte Farms
The man behind Juddmonte Farms, Prince Khalid Abdullah is considered the top owner and provider of thoroughbreds in United States and United Kingdom.
The man owns three farms in United Kingdom namely Juddmonte Stud, Banstead Manor Stud and Eagle Lane Farm. He has a thoroughbred farm in Kentucky, United States, by the name of Stonechurch Stud which has a hundred thoroughbreds in it.
Prince Khalid had seen horses in his father’s stables as a child, it he fell in love with thoroughbreds in the 60s decade during his stay in London.
At the end of 1970s he bought four thoroughbreds and in 1979 Charming Native brought prince Abdullah is first victory.
His thoroughbred Known fact won the 2,000 Guineas Classic race of United Kingdom. This marked Khalid Abdullah’s first big victory.
After this he never looked back and in the following years he was blessed with one victory after another.
Prince Abdullah has a policy of keeping competent staff for Juddmonte Farms, and the success of the Juddmonte Farms can be attributed to this policy of Prince Abdullah’s.
He has major names from the thoroughbred industry working under him including Teddy Grimthorpe (Racing Manager), Philip Mitchell (General Manager), Barry Hills (Thoroughbred trainer-United Kingdom) and the late Robert Frankel for decades until his death
in 2009 (Thoroughbred trainer-United States) .
Speculating on his choice of staff, Prince Abdullah said that “They collect and use the best advice…………..I like to be involved in the decisions, but if the professionals feel strongly about something, I would not usually disagree”.
At the start of his career as a horse owner and breeder, Prince Abdullah bought two very expensive thoroughbreds worth 1.6 millions. Unfortunately, both these horses did not match up to their price and since then Prince Khalid has a policy of breeding his
own thoroughbreds and introducing them to the sport.
Under Khalid Abdullah’s sharp business sense and extra ordinary leadership Juddmonte Farms have flourished to become the best Breeders in the business.
The Juddmonte Farms have been honoured with the Eclipse Awards a total of ten times in various categories. Personally, Prince Khalid Abdullah has been honoured with the Eclipse Award for Top Owner in 1992 and Eclipse Award for Outstanding Breeder in 1995.
Prince Khalid’s most prized thoroughbred is Dancing Brave. However, when one of his home –bred thoroughbreds win a certain race, the victory is even more sweet.
Thoroughbreds from Prince Abdullah’s farms have won the British Classic races in United Kingdom and ever major race in United States.
The victories and successes of Prince Khalid Abdullah are so numerous that all of them cannot be listed in one go. It is great luck of the thoroughbred industry of United Kingdom and United Sates to be gifted with such a talented thoroughbred entrepreneur.
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