Successful breeder, agent and racing manager Anthony Penfold dies aged 74

Anthony Penfold, former racing manager to the late Prince Fahd Salman, as well as bloodstock agent and owner of Bugley Stud, has died aged 74.

Penfold started out in the business with former jump jockey John Woodman in 1972, forming the Goodwood Bloodstock Agency, "specialising in group ownership and management of horses in training, thus bringing new owners into racing”.

The fun-loving pair lived in Chichester, while John's brother Steve Woodman, who is still training, handled horses owned by Penfold, including Balidon, who won the Tankerville Nursery at Ascot, and decent juvenile hurdler Passing Shot.

The bloodstock agency went on the backburner in 1984, when accomplished horseman Penfold became racing manager to Salman, a member of the Saudi royal family who was introduced to racing by younger brother Ahmed and was the son-in-law of Prince Khalid Abdullah.

Salman's racing and bloodstock interests were bundled together under the banner of Newgate Stud, which was never a bricks and mortar establishment and used Penfold's address as its own, while boarding mares at Sandley Stud in Dorset and Mill Ridge Farm in Kentucky.

Penfold's big coup was buying dual Derby hero Generous for Salman as a yearling for Ir200,000 guineas at Goffs in 1989, while Newgate Stud bred fellow Epsom-Curragh Classic winner Ramruma.

Trainers on the Salman roster in the early days included Paul Cole, Sir Mark Prescott, Henry Candy, William Jarvis and Michael Bell, as well as Neil Drysdale in the United States.

It was Cole who trained Generous, who also won the Dewhurst and King George, and he said on Friday: "Anthony was a pleasure to work with and we toured the sales, including Keeneland, to try to buy winning horses for his Highness.

"He had a very good eye for a horse and, one way or another, Prince Fahd was extremely successful under his guidance."

Prince Fahd with Generous after Derby glory in 1991

On what made Penfold such an expert of horseflesh, Cole added: "He had worked with horses all his life and was equally good with pedigrees, which are two things you require to pick a nice horse. He was always very positive and was a great man."

Generous was one of eight European Classic winners and 90 Group or Graded winners in Europe and the United States for Salman, who had bought Cole's Whatcombe Stables, near Lambourn, in 1984, before establishing Newgate Stud with Penfold.

In 2001 Salman died aged 46, and a few years later Penfold was left facing a bill of nearly £500,000 after a High Court ruling over a case brought by Newgate Stud relating to the sale of mares.

Penfold had since focused on his Bugley Stud in Gillingham, Dorset, with wife Mary-Ann. Offering boarding, mating plans and consultancy services, successful horses bred by the Penfolds include Vintage and July Stakes winner Strategic Prince and last season's Airlie Stud Stakes winner Velocidad.

There were occasional sales ring forays too, such as when Penfold acquired Juddmonte mare Sandstone for 155,000gns at Tattersalls in 2016.

Velocidad: Group 2-winning juvenile was bred by PenfoldCredit: Patrick McCann

Mary-Ann said: "Anthony was a special person and quite often used to say to me, 'I bred the dam of that', so in one way he's going to live on.

"His main love was the mares and he was passionate about doing all the mating plans for Prince Fahd; quite often I'd wake up at 4am and he'd be downstairs poring over his books and pedigrees. He was like an encyclopedia - you'd name a horse and he'd tell you exactly what it had done.

"Generous was an incredible moment but, to him, buying mares like Victoria Cross and Midnight Air and breeding all those good horses like Ramruma was what really lit him up. He felt that had Generous not been a chestnut he'd have never been able to buy him - they got him because a lot of owners are funny about buying chestnuts.

"He was passionate about Prince Fahd's mares; he bred Ausherra who, after the Prince died, he bought at the Keeneland sales for our stud and her last daughter, Astrantia, is the dam of Velocidad.

"It was so lovely that the whole family revolved around his initial mating plans and that she did that last year for him, and he saw that."

Funeral arrangements will be made in due course.