Manchester City owner splashes £21million to buy world famous French stud farm
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Manchester City’s billionaire owner has announced his first purchase of the January transfer window. Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan, who owns a number of clubs through the City Football Group, has bought one of the world’s most successful stud farms.
The Abu Dhabi royal rose to fame in the sporting sphere for establishing Manchester City as a team of champion thoroughreds, winning eight Premier League titles and the Champions League. He is less well known in horse racing as his involvement to date has been concentrated on Purebred Arabians. He owns Arab stud farms in Abu Dhabi and France and is chairman of the Emirates Racing Authority.
Haras de Fresnay le Buffard, in Normandy, was put on the market last year by the Niarchos family who had owned the 120-year-old stud since 1980. Over that time the winners of 45 European Classic winners were bred on the farm plus seven winners of the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe and seven Breeders’ Cup winners.
The champions produced by the Niarchos family have included Miesque, Kingmambo, Sulamani, Hernando and Six Perfections. It has now been confirmed that Sheikh Mansour is the new owner of the 600-acre estate which has stabling for 200 horses plus a 16-room chateau.
The Sheikh’s lawyer Edouard Vitry told Ouest-France, “Al Wathba Stud in Abu Dhabi, owned by His Highness Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan, Vice President, Deputy Prime Minister and President of the Presidential Court of the United Arab Emirates, has acquired the Haras de Fresnay le Buffard.
