Zayat Stables

The sport's first Triple Crown winner since 1978, American Pharoah famously went through Fasig-Tipton's Select Saratoga Yearling Sale in 2013 only to be bought back by his breeder to race as a homebred. He spent eight months at Taylor Made Farm before the sale; Mark Taylor, who has had his hands on a lot of nice horses, distinctly remembers him. "It's kind of a microcosm of this industry: when you think you have it figured out, you don't have it figured out. He was born at Vinery, then went to...

The trustee overseeing owner, breeder Ahmed Zayat's personal bankruptcy proceedings made several court filings Tuesday to recover roughly $90,000 in allegedly fraudulent payments to various law firms. According to the court filings, Zayat was insolvent at the time the transfers were made, and therefore, the law firms who are the defendants in the suits received more than they would have done through the Chapter 7 bankruptcy proceedings "had the Transfer[s] not been made." Trustee Donald Biase alleges in his court filings that the largest transfer of money Zayat fraudulently made...

On the same day that the federal judge overseeing Ahmed Zayat's two intertwined bankruptcy cases ordered the 13th consecutive extension of time for the trustee poring over Zayat's racing stable finances to file a complaint objecting to the dischargeability of any debt, the company that services the mortgage on Zayat's $3.5-million New Jersey home on Friday filed a separate motion asking the court to remove the automatic stay on that property. Such a request, if granted at a Feb. 1 hearing, could pave the way for the financial institution to...

In a bankruptcy case already brimming with fraud allegations that has languished in federal court for over a year, the trustee pouring over the finances of Ahmed Zayat filed a new complaint alleging wrongdoing Friday. This latest court action in the twisted saga of the owner and breeder of Triple Crown champ American Pharoah alleges that Zayat and his wife, Joanne, secured a $400,000 mortgage on two back lots adjacent to their New Jersey home in 2018, then had the money wired to the bank account of Zayat's fiscally troubled...

Ahmed Zayat's attempt to get out from under $19 million in debt has reached yet another--and purportedly intentional--legal bottleneck. The trustee assigned to the case is now alleging that three children and the wife of the financially strapped owner and breeder of Triple Crown champ American Pharoah are refusing to cooperate in providing documentation the trustee had subpoenaed from them to try and trace millions of dollars in possibly fraudulent transfers. "[T]he Trustee's investigation reveals that the Debtor and his family members have engaged in a pattern of intermingling of...

The federal judge overseeing Ahmed Zayat's Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition has ordered that the trustee in the case will now have through Apr. 30 to pore over financial documentation to make sure the allegedly insolvent owner and breeder of Triple Crown champ American Pharoah isn't hiding assets. In a court order dated Mar. 31 that was filed Apr. 2 in United States Bankruptcy Court (District of New Jersey), Judge Vincent Papalia wrote that "the Trustee's time to file a complaint objecting to the Debtor's discharge is further extended..." In the...

Ahmed Zayat, the financially embattled Thoroughbred breeder and owner whose insolvent business dealings are currently being scrutinized in three intertwined legal cases, revealed in an otherwise routine bankruptcy court filing Tuesday that prior to being sued for alleged fraud and loan defaults last year, he had lined up at least two global investment partners purportedly willing to pump hundreds of millions of dollars into his failing racing and bloodstock operation. Most notably, Zayat claimed he had been tantalizingly close--just days away--from securing a $100 million "equity infusion" from an undisclosed...

MGG Investment Group, LP, is already nearly a year into a civil lawsuit initiated to try and recoup $24 million in loan defaults by Ahmed Zayat and his family-owned bloodstock and racing operation. Now the New York-based lender is going after the insolvent Triple Crown-winning owner and breeder in a different court by trying to get a federal bankruptcy judge to rule that some of Zayat's debts shouldn't be legally forgiven under the Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection he is seeking because those loans were the product of years of systematic...

A pair of racehorse prospects offered by St. George Sales late in the day were the lone lots to bring six figures during Monday's session of the Keeneland November sale, with graded-stakes placed Bob and Jackie (Twirling Candy) (hip 3017F) bringing top price of $190,000 when selling to bloodstock agents Grey Price and Mike Recio on behalf of California owner Calvin Nguyen. Bred and raced by Zayat Stables, the 4-year-old is a three-time stakes winner and recently finished third in the Oct. 3 GII City of Hope Mile S. Bob...

After nine months under court-appointed receivership to liquidate and manage its remaining equine assets, the insolvent Zayat Stables, LLC, is down to 12 remaining horses at eight locations, according to an October status report filed Nov. 11 in Kentucky's Fayette Circuit Court. One formerly valuable colt had to be given away during the most recent month of transactions: Lexington-based receiver Elizabeth Woodward wrote that she released the ownership of a 3-year-old Empire Maker--Duke's Dream colt "to offset boarding, training and veterinary charges which exceeded the estimated fair market value of...

Attorneys representing MGG Investment Group, LP, which is the plaintiff in a $24.5 million Kentucky civil lawsuit alleging fraud and loan defaults against Ahmed Zayat and his family's Zayat Stables, LLC, disclosed in a legal document filed Sept. 18 that the court-appointed receiver in that case intends to hold a November auction to sell off horses that are being held as collateral against the unpaid debts. News about this anticipated November auction was made public in the form of a letter dated Friday and filed in United States Bankruptcy Court,...

Ahmed Zayat's former financial advisor is among the entities now initiating an "involuntary bankruptcy" petition against Zayat's family-owned racing stable. This Sept. 14 court action comes six days after the allegedly insolvent Triple Crown-winning breeder and owner voluntarily filed for his own personal Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection. Although once prevalent, involuntary bankruptcy proceedings are now relatively uncommon in United States courts. They are designed to protect creditors, not debtors, and are often filed against companies (as opposed to individuals) as an attempt to get paid when it is believed that...