Khalid bin Abdullah Al Saud (1937–2021)

Khalid bin Abdullah Al Saud (خالد بن عبدالله آل سعود Khalid bin ʿAbdullāh Āl Suʿūd; 1937 – 12 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, Frankel, and Mandaloun.

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.

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 large scale 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.

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.

Known Fact's victory in the 2,000 Guineas was not only Prince Abdullah's first victory in an English Classic race but was also the first by any Arab owner.

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.

Prince Khalid's colours, of green silks with white sleeves and a pink sash and cap, soon became a regular feature of the winner's enclosure in all the Classic races of the world.

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

They also had stocks of various American banks, including Mellon Bank, Pittsburgh; Western Bancorp, Los Angeles; Valley National Bank, Phoenix; Hawaii Bancorp, Honolulu; Southeast Bancorp, Miami; National City Bank, Cleveland and First Bank Systems, Minneapolis.

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.

In 1982 Prince Khalid had his first homebred winner with Fine Edge at Newmarket.

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.

In 1985, Rainbow Quest won the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.

The following year, Dancing Brave repeated that success and also won the 2,000 Guineas and the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes.

Furthermore, Dancing Brave failed only narrowly to add a victory in the Derby to this remarkable season.

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.

In 1990, Prince Khalid's wealth was estimated by Fortune magazine at $1.0 billion.

Although Prince Khalid's father had owned horses, he had not kept them for racing.

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.

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.

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.

Many regard him to be one of the greatest racehorses of all time.

Juddmonte also bred a clean sweep of French Classic winners.

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

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.

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.