Saudi royal placed on forfeit list after racking up debts of £321,000 owed to Richard Hannon

Saudi royal Prince Sultan bin Mishal Al Saud has been placed on the BHA forfeit list after running up unpaid training bills of more than £320,000.

Prince Sultan, 48, had four horses in training with Richard Hannon, two of whom – A La Noche and Time To Hunt – ran during the 2023 Flat season in Britain. 

Neither horse was successful in a combined five outings, with Time To Hunt producing the best performance of the two when second in a maiden at Wolverhampton in September 2023.

The Racing Post understands Prince Sultan failed to pay for the training of any of his four horses during their time with Hannon.

On Monday, Prince Sultan was placed on the forfeit list with debts of £321,933.75 owed to Hannon. As a consequence the owner is disqualified from participating in British racing until the debt is paid.

Hannon said: “This is a disappointing situation and is now a matter for the BHA. I will not be making any further comment at this time, but I am incredibly grateful for the actions taken by the BHA and its continued support to resolve things.”

While his ownership in Britain was limited, Prince Sultan has a number of horses in training in the US and in Saudi Arabia, where the world’s richest race, the $20 million Saudi Cup, takes place on Saturday. Prince Sultan does not have any horses entered for the meeting.

According to Equibase, Prince Sultan has had 241 starters in the US since 2019 with 34 winners and total earnings of $3,022,966 (£2.4m/€2.9m). 

In Saudi, he has had 370 winners from 5,117 runners with total earnings of SAR 57,595,450 (£12.2m/€14.7m). His most recent winners came on February 7 with the successes including a local Group 3 victory for Off The Map.

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