By Emma Berry
In recent years the name of Najd Stud has appeared with increasing frequency on the list of sales returns in Britain and Ireland, and the bloodstock industry globally can expect to hear plenty more about the growing Saudi Arabian breeding empire of its owner, HRH Prince Faisal Bin Khaled Bin Abdulaziz.
On the Saudi Cup undercard, Prince Faisal was represented by a number of runners, including Grocer Jack (Ger) (Oasis Dream {GB}) who was just over two lengths behind Authority (Jpn) (Orfevre {Jpn}) when fifth in the G3 Neom Turf Cup, and Alnaader (KSA) (Teletext), who was the same distance off the winner Pinehurst (Twirling Candy) in the G3 Saudi Derby.
Grocer Jack, a Group 2 winner in his native Germany, had made headlines last October when topping the Tattersalls Horses-in-Training Sale at 700,000gns. In the last year alone, Najd Stud has signed for 26 horses in Newmarket for just shy of 4 million gns. The horses in training have mostly headed to Saudi, though Grocer Jack remained in Europe and is trained in Newmarket by William Haggas, who also has three 2-year-olds for the prince this year. Najd Stud also boards three mares in England and was active during the yearling section of the recent Goffs February Sale, buying eight youngsters, as well as Kadinnka (Ire) (Oasis Dream {GB}), a 3-year-old filly from the Aga Khan Studs.
In just four years, Najd Stud in Riyadh has grown to an operation which consists of 120 broodmares and five stallions. Alnaader's good run in the Saudi Derby will doubtless have brought pride to his owner/breeder as he represents the first crop of one of the resident stallions, Teletext. The Juddmonte-bred son of Empire Maker was third in the G1 Grand Prix de Paris and beaten a neck by Ectot (Ire) when runner-up in the G2 Prix Niel before concluding his racing career in Saudi, where he won a local Group 1 in Prince Faisal Bin Khaled's colours.
Speaking ahead of Alnaader's run on Saturday, Najd Stud's representative Saud Al Qahtani, now a familiar face at the European sales, said of the homebred, “We hope he will show everybody that a Saudi horse can be a good horse and he might go to the UAE Derby.”
He would certainly be entitled to take up that engagement now, and it may not be long before more of the Najd Stud homebreds are seen in action around the globe.
“We have a new foundation in Europe,” said Al Qahtani on Friday. “We have three broodmares and some yearlings we bought from Goffs and Tattersalls, so we hope to have some good horses to run in England and France and to make Najd Stud a global brand.”
The mares, all in England, include the G3 Princess Margaret S. winner Under The Stars (Ire) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}), who was bought in foal to Frankel (GB) last December from Godolphin for 300,000gns, and Serene Oasis (Ire) (Oratorio {Ire}), who is in foal to Almanzor (Fr) and will visit Pinatubo (Ire) this year. The latter, a four-time winner and daughter of Round Hill Stud's Princess Serena (Unbridled's Song), now looks to have been a shrewd purchase 10 years ago for 30,000gns. Still only 13, her pedigree has received several significant updates in recent years thanks to her Group-winning half-siblings Zabeel Prince (Ire) (Lope De Vega {Ire}), Puissance De Lune (Ire) (Shamardal) and Queen Power (Ire) (Shamardal).
“To buy a very good horse is very difficult, beach no-one wants to sell them,” said Al Qahtani. “So we started to do this to try to breed good horses to be competitive all around the world.”
While the mares are currently boarding at studs in England, there are plans afoot for Prince Faisal Bin Khaled to acquire his own stud in the country before too long.
His advisor added, “We will try to produce good horses from them and if they are good enough to stay in Europe then that's great, otherwise they will come here [to Saudi Arabia]. It is our hope to have our own farm in England in the next three or four years. We would like to start in England because Juddmonte started there and all the best breeders are there.”
The influence of Saudi Arabian breeders in the world of Thoroughbred breeding has been immense, not least through the late Prince Khalid Abdullah's hugely successful Juddmonte Farms, but also through the boutique operation of Prince AA Faisal, which has given the stallion scene Kodiac (GB) and Invincible Spirit (Ire) and is currently represented on the track by Mishriff (Ire), a Group 1 winner in three countries. His sire Make Believe (GB) also raced in the same colours but was bought by Prince AA Faisal as a foal.
It would seem that through Najd Stud, Prince Faisal Bin Khaled aims to follow his compatriots' example, and in the meantime those behind racing in his home country have their own aims of significant growth through the addition of new racecourses and expansion of the Saudi race programme.
Al Qahtani noted that he has been heartened by the response to the country's flagship Saudi Cup meeting in the last three years, which, as the most valuable in the world, could hardly have failed to make an impression.
He said, “If you compare the horses from last year to those who came this year from all around the world you will see it's even more competitive. We have the best horses coming from America and from Europe and Japan.”
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