ZAYAT: I AM A VICTIM OF VERY BAD PEOPLE
In perhaps the most extensive piece written about the Zayat bankruptcy, especially in a non-industry publication, writer Hugh Morley gets up close and personal with the controversial owner. Among other things, Zayat insists that he wants to pay the Fifth Third bank but not on the backs of depressed value for his assets (horses).
"God forbid. I want to pay them. But I want to pay them when I am supposed to pay them. I am a victim of very bad people. I am a victim of a very bad environment."
Then come back to the Paulick Report and let us know what you think
Tags: ahmed zayat, bradford cummings, fifth third bank, Hugh Morley, NorthJersey.com, Paulick Report
February 22nd, 2010 at 11:36 am
Eskendereya might be worth $5-$10 million at this time, Fifth Third Bank might hold the pink slip to this horse, and Team Dubai might be a willing buyer. Might a forced sale take place to offset some of the debt due? I’m sure that quite a few parties listed on the bankruptcy papers would appreciate getting paid what they are owed.
February 22nd, 2010 at 1:23 pm
The only thing he is a victim of is his stupidity.
February 22nd, 2010 at 1:34 pm
After reading a particularly pointed comment on the NJ article - I’m curious to find out if Zayat did indeed graduate from Harvard.
And I still haven’t seen a picture of Thorn Song in the present day - anywhere.
The facts will just keep coming out. Fifth Third wouldn’t be taking it to him without a loaded arsenal - why open themselves up to suits, etc?
February 22nd, 2010 at 2:01 pm
Anyone able to enter a joint master’s degree program at Harvard and BU at age 19 must be nothing short of mega-brilliant.
The Ahmed Zayat file (per NorthJersey.com)
1962: Born in Cairo.
1981: Enters a joint master’s degree program in public health and business administration at Harvard and Boston universities.
1986: Goes to work for Zev Wolfson, a New York City real estate/leveraged buyout investor.
1993: Pursues various business ventures and does consulting.
1995: Starts helping the Egyptian government’s privatization effort.
1997: Takes control of Al Ahram Beverages Co. for $70 million.
2002: Sells the company to Heineken for $280 million.
2005: Leaves Al Ahram Beverages Co.; starts Zayat Stables LLC.
2008: Ranked top thoroughbred owner.
2009: Takes second place in Kentucky Derby; Fifth Third Bank files suit, alleging Zayat Stables is in default.
2010: Zayat Stables files for bankruptcy.
Sources: The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, U.S. District Court documents; Ahmed Zayat
February 22nd, 2010 at 2:54 pm
Lets give the guy a break! Has he made some enormous mistakes with his racing and breeding operations - absolutely, but his passion for the sport should be applauded by all who have an interest in our great sport. Anyone who has any spark of compassion for the banking industry must live on another planet.
I wish Mr. Zayat, good luck with his horses and hope that he will choose any futures lenders more carefully.
February 22nd, 2010 at 3:15 pm
@ #5 “.. his passion for the sport should be applauded by all …”
Set the banking aside and lets go back to just before the 2009 Preakness Stakes. Anyone recall who was in support for blocking out Rachel Alexandra along with the New Mexico boys? Oh, that’s right, Zayat Stables. Yes he backed down but only after a real owner worthy of applause, Marylou Whitney, said not a chance to such un-sportsman like antics.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/11/sports/othersports/11filly.html
February 22nd, 2010 at 3:20 pm
Are you freaking kidding me??? Oh poor guy actually put up $40 million of his own money….So, I am thinking that he is playing the LLC card here and wishes that the bank would have put up all of the money. He already went bankrupt once in 1993 ( I think I read?). Now he is playing the system. This crap, owning a race horse brings along financial responsibility, IF HE CAN’T AFFORD IT, then he shouldn’t do it. I would rather see Mike Gill who pays his bills rather than this dead beat.
February 22nd, 2010 at 3:24 pm
If Fifth Third gets nothing-zero-zilch, then it couldn’t have happened to a better bank.
February 22nd, 2010 at 4:00 pm
Glimmerglass. Passion for sport does lead people to make bad decisions. I already said I believed he had made some enormous mistakes of judgement, the 2009 Preakness was surely one of them.
Racing needs owners like Zayat, Jackson, however unpalatable they may be at times. They introduce vast amounts of money into the industry which trickles down to farms and breeders.
February 22nd, 2010 at 5:13 pm
“I AM A VICTIM”
He must have borrowed Gill’s deck of cards.
February 22nd, 2010 at 5:49 pm
While I agree that racing certainly needs high profile owners to spend money and keep the sport alive, the entitlement right of such charachters is beyond belief. He mismanaged funds,made poor business decisions and is begging for mercy. Should we really expect lenders to let him slide because we want the horse business to survive?Here is a tip from the real world. Most normal people see no real importance and significance in horse racing and neither do the banks don’t expect them to make concessions for something they perceive to be risky and irrelevant. Mark zayat, either pay your debts or move on to another more reasonable, profitable venture
February 22nd, 2010 at 5:51 pm
Correction Mr zayat. Spell check went to mark
February 22nd, 2010 at 8:32 pm
There’s a saying on Wall St that I’m sure Mr. Zayat is familiar with,
Bull and bears get fed…PIGS get slaughtered……
That saying applies in the tbrd industry as well. So many people get into this business, not just for the money but more importantly to feed their overblown egos….
“Passion for the sport”..give me a break. Why does somebody need to borrow MILLIONS to show a “passion” for anything…what a pile of crap. If he really cared he wouldn’tve put other peoples money at risk. And sorry bloodsuck world…the days of borrowing cheap, easy money is long gone…Deal with it.
February 22nd, 2010 at 9:17 pm
I want to see a current, untouched photo of Thorn Song who is the VICTIM, not Zayat who chose to borrow money to buy and race horses.
Zayat wanted to race Thorn Song and chose Mike Mitchell for the deed. That horse was in so much pain he could not stand it and bolted to the outside.
Thorn Song was let down by everybody around him. As a result of being raced in the Eddie Read, he has been in agony between life and death for the past seven months. Was TS already foundered before the Eddie Read on top of suffering from multiple abcesses in both feet? Thorn Song is the victim of all those who wanted to run him in such painful and dangerous condition, who drugged him to hide his pain, who found him sound enough to run, who let him run and agreed to ride him.
I would like to see a full, independant investigation, –not an inbred, conflicted, underfunded, secret CHRB investigation– regarding the abuse of this horse and deception of bettors. I want to see the results released to the public: what drugs and treatments made Thorn Song appear sound enough to race? How was his pain blocked? Who insisted that he run with abscesses in both feet and perhaps laminitis? Did his lameness really escape the racing secretary, all track and CHRB officials and state vets? Name of the private vet who agreed to drug and block him before the race? How long was he lame before the Eddie Read? What caused multiple abcesses in both feet? Were his feet injected before? How many times? With what? For what? What other drugs was he on and for how long before the Eddie Read?
TS should never have run that day and he is probably still fighting for his life seven months later because he was sent to the starting gates instead of the hospital that day. Since the insurance paid Zayat, it hopes to sell him if he survives. The whole thing is troubling for so many reasons.
I would like to see recent, untouched photos of the foundered Thorn Son and Kip DeVille.
February 22nd, 2010 at 10:41 pm
What a windbag this guy is. The Mellons, Greentrees, and Englehards have been replaced by the Ramseys, Zayats, and Gills
February 23rd, 2010 at 12:08 am
Everyone is a victim. Tiger Woods, Michael Gill, Steve Asmussen, Todd Pletcher and now Ahmad Zayat. Start taking responsibility people.
February 23rd, 2010 at 1:54 am
JS #13 your Wall St. theory has been enthusiatically adopted by racing! What does “Other peoples money” mean, I thought this was a bank that we’re talking about, not a philanthropic organisation - that ’s what they do, rent money to people [and they rent out up to 10 times more than they actually have under present rules, which is why they get in a muddle when someone doesn't pay real interest on imaginary funds promptly].
If these business geniuses were told - and if they were they wouldn’t listen - how tough this game is then they wouldn’t do it. Who buys the yearlings then?
Actually Zayat stable has done quite well - unless Fifth Third are exceptional in the banking world he has probably done better than they have over the same period.
Founder is not a daily issue in Europe, so it presumably has something to do with your [not your personal!] cutting edge vetyerinary/training regime.
I though we’d established that insurers do sometimes take over horses in these circumstances.
When the FOY horse wins the Derby this will all blow over!
February 23rd, 2010 at 10:26 am
Paulick report is horrible as always. If anyone knows who Paulick is you would know he is a drug addict. Why don’t you go ask bloodhorse?
February 23rd, 2010 at 10:34 am
Alvin,
You are an idiot troll. Why are Pat Day, Jerry Bailey, etc cheered for overcoming their adversities and Mr Paulick doesn’t deserve the same.?
Get a life!
February 23rd, 2010 at 11:07 pm
If we're talking incompetent businessmen, what's the names of the bankers that got Fifth Third into this pickle? And how many of you guys would like your mortgage holder to show up and demand immediate payment in full on your house? None of us know the details on this transaction so anything we say just demonstrates our own personal biases.