A Saudi Arabian businessman spent more than $10 million on a horse with a decorated pedigree during the final day of the Ocala Breeders’ April Sale on Friday.
Hip No. 1056 was sold by Hartley/DeRenzo Thoroughbreds LLC. to Zedan Racing Stables, Inc., for $10,500,000 during the final session of the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Spring 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale on Friday, April 17.
According to records maintained by Ocala Breeders’ Sales, the sire (father) of the horse is Flightline and the dam (mother) is Lucrezia.
Flightline is an American Thoroughbred who retired undefeated after six starts. The horse won the 2021 Malibu Stakes and the Breeders’ Cup Classic in 2022. The horse was named the 2022 American Horse of the Year and Champion Older Horse.
Flightline’s sire, Tapit, was the leading sire in North America in 2014, 2015, and 2016, having sired Belmont Stakes winners Tonalist, Creator, Tapwrit, and Essential Quality.
Zedan Racing Stables, Inc. is owned by Amr F. Zedan, a Saudi Arabian businessman who is the chairman of his family’s business, the Zedan Group, which is an engineering conglomerate.
Although a specific valuation of the company is not available, reports as recent as 2022 suggest the Zedan Group is worth over $1 billion.
Friday’s record-setting sale comes just over a year after the previous record was set at $3 million.
With the first two days in the books at the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Spring 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale, records maintained by OBS show that over 300 horses were sold for a whopping $50,805,000. During those first two days, multiple horses broke the $1 million mark, with at least one breaking the $2 million mark.
Ocala-News.com will provide an update on the sales totals from the entire 4-day April sales event on Saturday, April 18.
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