Sir Evelyn De Rothschild

Sir Evelyn Robert de Rothschild was born into substantial wealth on August 29, 1931, but didn’t join the family business, the NM Rothschild & Sons Banking House, until he was 26. Founded by Nathan Mayer Rothschild in 1811, this British investment banking company employs more than 3,000 people in 42 countries. After joining his family’s company, Sir Evelyn de Rothschild carved his own niche in the finance world and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1989 after serving as her financial adviser. He served as chairman of many endeavors including The Economist, the United Racecourse, the British Mercantile Banking & Securities House Association, St. Mary’s Hospital Medical School and the Princess Royal Trust for Carers. He was a director of IBM United Kingdom Holdings Limited, De Beers Consolidated Mines and the Daily Telegraph. From three marriages, he has two sons, one daughter and two stepsons. His third marriage was to American lawyer and entrepreneur Lynn Forester. They spent one night of their honeymoon as guests at the White House. Sir Evelyn bred Hillstar at historic Southcourt Stud in Bedfordshire. His family’s involvement in Thoroughbred racing began in 1835 when banker Baron James de Rothschild began racing and breeding horses in France. Frequently referred to as the richest man in the world, Sir Evelyn’s net worth has been reported as $20 billion.

Qatar Racing Ltd & Sangster Family

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Robert Sangster, who died in April 2004, at the age of 67, literally transformed Thoroughbred racing. His impact continues today through his son, Adam, the owner of 900-acre Swettenham Stud in Victoria, Australia. Sangster was the British Flat Champion Owner five times, and his horses won 27 European Classics and more than 100 Group 1 stakes. Sangster, the son of Vernons Pools founder Vernon Sangster, was born in Liverpool. After attending Repton School, he served in the Cheshire Regiment and won a brigade heavyweight-boxing championship in Berlin. Then he joined the family business, becoming managing director and chairman. Aware of the plans to create the National Lottery, he sold the business to Ladbrokes for a reported 90 million pounds. His first horse, Chalk Stream, won two stakes. In October 1971, Sangster was introduced to John Magnier, an Irish stud farmer. Joining legendary trainer Vincent O’Brien, they formed a team that became known as “The brethern.” In the early 1970s, Sangster and Magnier began shuttling stallions between the northern and southern hemispheres. Sangster sold his interest in Coolmore in 1993 while retaining breeding rights to a number of stallions, including Saddler’s Wells and Danehill. Sangster was married and divorced three times and had five sons and a daughter. Racing correspondent Julian Wilson said of Sangster: “His pleasures were boxing, champagne, golf, racing and beautiful women, in no particular order, and often more than one at the same time.”

Rabbah Bloodstock LLC, Lessee

Rabbah Bloodstock was founded in 2006 by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, to manage and breed horses for his friends and business associates.     One of Rabbah Bloodstock’s principal owners, Mohammed Jaber, owns Sheikhzayedroad.

Rabbah Bloodstock’s breeding operation is at Gainsborough Stud and Aston Upthorpe Stud in England. Its racing operation is also in England at Newmarket, where it is managed by former jockey Bruce Raymond. 

Khalid Khalifa al Nabooda & Kamal Albahou

Joshua Tree’s historic third victory in the $1 million Pattison Canadian International at Woodbine on October 27 was his second for Khalid Khalifa al Nabooda, who, with partner Robert Andreas al Bahou, purchased Joshua Tree from Coolmore after he won his first one in 2010. In 2011, Joshua Tree finished second in the Pattison before capturing it again in 2012 and in 2013. Kamal Albahou is now the co-owner with Al Nabooda.

Joshua Tree’s victory was his sixth in 27 lifetime starts with six seconds, four thirds, and earnings of more than $3.5 million.

The 47-year-old al Nabooda, who lives in Dubai, is the managing director of the Khalifa Juma al Nabooda Companies in Dubai, which is composed of more than twenty businesses owned by the al Nabooda family. The parent company started as Dubai Printing Press in 1963 and has grown into a multi-faceted operation dealing with real estate, hospitality and food services management, construction, civil and marine engineering, hotels, education, printing, equipment trading, and facilities management and consultancy. Dubai Printing Press was honored with the Silver Award for Best Catalogue in 2012.

Al Nabooda first got involved in horseracing in 1990. In 1995, he turned his focus from Thoroughbreds to Arabians, and he currently owns more than 300 of them, who are trained by Eric Lamatinel and Gill Duffield, and two stud farms, Al Aweer and Al Bahayes. His number of Arabian horseracing winners increased from three in 2008 to 11 in 2011 and 12 in 2012. 

Albahou, who is 52, has been involved in racing and breeding Arabians for more than thirty years under the name of “Mr. Khalid.” He has Arabians stables in Jordan, Holland, France and Belgium, and lives in Amman, Jordan.  

Stella Perdomo

Even today, when so much of racing is centered on getting the most you can out of horses when they’re two and three years old, having patience and doing the right thing with your horses can still pay off big time. It sure has for Stella Perdomo, who continues to have success with horses others might think were well past their prime.

Forte Dei Marmi’s third consecutive graded stakes victory in the Northern Dancer Turf Stakes at Woodbine pushed his earnings over the $1 million mark at the age of seven. “He’s at the best he’s ever been,” his trainer, Roger Attfield, said after the race. Having a horse peak at seven certainly reflects positively on Attfield and Perdomo. But Forte Dei Marmi isn’t close to being the oldest horse to go over the $1 million mark for Perdomo. Last year, Musketier did so as a ten-year-old, thanks to his third victory in the Grade 3 Singspiel Stakes at Woodbine.

Musketier, too, was trained by Attfield, who began training for Perdomo four and a half years ago. Attfield has yet to meet Perdomo in person.

Perdomo is the wife of trainer Pico Perdomo, a 71-year-old native of Uruguay. Perdomo was a successful jockey in Uruguay, winning that country’s Triple Crown, and in Argentina before becoming a trainer. He began training in the United States at Santa Anita in 1977. “My friends told me to go somewhere smaller and get my feet wet,” he said. “But I have survived. Just don’t ask me how.”

Perdomo trained in the United States for a long time before returning to Uruguay. He came back to the U.S. in 2010, but then took a job as racing manager for Rancho San Paesea, S.A. When he did, he leased three horses with Santa Anita trainer Humberto Ascanio to Stella, including multiple stakes winner Proudinsky and Philatelist. Ascanio was a former assistant to the late Hall of Fame trainer Bobby Frankel.