first word prince khalid abdullah
Prince Khalid Abdullah
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RINCE KHALID ABDULLAH was a member of the House of Saud, the ruling royal family of Saudi Arabia. The son of Abdullah bin Abdul Rahman, younger half-brother of the state’s founder King Abdulaziz, he was born in Ta’if in 1936. He was a cousin of the present ruler King Salman. Prince Khalid’s first wife Al Jawhara Bin Abdulaziz is the founder’s daughter; the late Fahd Salman, who owned the 1991 Derby winner Generous, was his son-in-law. Before embarking on a hugely successful business career, Prince Khalid studied history in Riyadh and the US and was also employed in the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs. His main business vehicle was Marawid Holding, a private investment company with extensive dealings in a vast range of commercial activities, including financial services, telecommunications, satellite TV and radio networks, construction, catering and restaurants. In the 1970s and 1980s Marawid was said to be the largest private employer in the Middle East. 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. He was the owner of Orbit Communications Company and until February 8, 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.
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www.internationalthoroughbred.net
1936 – January12, 2021 Prince Khalid’s first introduction to racing came on a trip to Longchamp with friends in 1956, but his venture into racehorse ownership did not begin until 1977 when his business interests brought him to London. The first batch of four yearlings bought by Humphrey Cottrill on his behalf in 1977 were sent to his first trainer Jeremy Tree. The following year Abdullah went to a then-record 264,000gns to purchase the highest-priced yearling at Tattersalls Houghton Sale. In 1979, Prince Khalid’s name made it to the winners’ board for the first time, courtesy of the Jeremy Tree-trained Charming Native, who won at Windsor on May 14.
The winners started to flow – a month later Abeer became the Prince’s first Royal Ascot winner (also his first Group winner) in the Queen Mary Stakes. Later that year, Known Fact, a son of In Reality bought at Keeneland in 1978, became the Prince’s first Group 1 winner when successful in the 1979 Middle Park. The following season Known Fact won the 2,000 Guineas after the disqualification of Nureyev. The colt was the first Classic winner in Arab ownership and went on to become the first stallion at stud for the Prince, standing at Wargrave. Known Fact is described on the Juddmonte website as a “founding horse”.
