A RELATIVE of Osama bin Laden has made a splash in British racing after spending £1.8million on horses.
And he has signalled his intent to be part of the sport for a ‘long time’ after rocking this week’s star-studded Tattersalls sales with big purchases.
AP:Associated PressA relative of terrorist Bin Laden, who was disowned by his family in 1994, has made a move into British racing[/caption]
Mohammed Saleh bin Laden – who in 2019 came close to investing in Sheffield United – bought seven fillies at the Newmarket auction for a grand total of £1.83m.
The purchases were made under the name of Salhia Stud, report the Racing Post.
Bin Laden is listed as the majority shareholder of the company on the Companies House website.
The Saudi native, a relative of the terrorist behind 9-11, is 41 years old and chairman of MBL Limited, a construction firm based in Jeddah.
He also runs Al Salhia Stud and Hossam Alsaady, the director of the stud, made the Newmarket purchases.
Alsaady told the Racing Post: “We have invested and spent a lot on UK business and are involved in many areas of the UK, so we thought why not British racing too and let’s see what we can do.
“It’s a long-term project. What we are doing is inspired by Juddmonte, who are Saudi, and I believe they started off with ten fillies and have grown to where they are now.
“That said, if we see a colt that we like then we will take a chance with him too.
“We want to be here in the UK for a long time and we are going to be investing in the horses at the sales for the next few years.”
It has not yet been decided who will train the horses.
Osama bin Laden was disowned by his family in 1994 and killed in Pakistan in May 2011.
One of the horses Bin Laden bought at the money-spinning sales is a £300,000 daughter of Frankel.
Another yearling purchased cost £525,000 and is out of super stallion Dubawi and is a half-sister to multiple Group 1 winner Barney Roy.
Bin Laden’s love of horses is said to come from when his uncle Bakr bin Laden – Osama’s half-brother – gifted him one.