An addict has to “want to stop” before any change can happen.
It’s well known that Zayat is a heavy gambler & he obviously has no intentions of trying to change that. Especially when he keeps getting off with no more then a slap on the wrist.
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This has always been my thought. I don’t have any personal dealings with Zayat, but have heard the problems for years. I truly wonder if he intentionally engages criminal behavior, or if his behavior is that of an addict who is continually enabled by his ability to evade serious repercussions.
Not saying the same thing but if you compare someone addicted to gambling compared to someone who is addicted to say, opioids or meth, they just can’t (in most cases) stop the addictive behavior. Many drug addicts experience ‘serious repercussions’ and continue to use or re-start use once they have served their sentence or are released from rehab.
I am no MD but I would consider that gambling is as addictive as many of the drugs available on the street. The high on the win has got to be pretty powerful.
Me? I don’t try to understand the addiction as I just don’t understand it. Doesn’t mean I don’t think it exists, I just don’t understand it having not personally experienced it.
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I’m glad Zayat has no ownership interest in AP, so the stallion won’t be affected by this behavior.
This may be true, but there’s no protection for all of the rest of the horses owned by his stable.
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Unfortunately, it’s very common - i know a few not BNT who are in six digits with owners. It just happens. You can’t fire every owner who doesn’t pay in full on time every month or you won’t have any owners. You let them slide for a few weeks, then ask, then they don’t respond, then they have a bad week at the races, then they have a big vet bill, then you try again the next month but they’re out of town, then you have a couple of chances to win some nice races, and a few nice young ones, and they do win some nice races, and then you get a check for half of a bill from 3 months ago, then the rest of that bill on the 5 month billing cycle, then you lose track of time, then they want to go to the sales to buy more nice horses, so you go, and buy some nice horses you’re excited about, then they offer you half what they owe in cash as accord and satisfaction, and you don’t want to lose them because the’re the best thing going you have, or they offer a half share of what they bought, and all the while you get in deeper and deeper, and suddenly you find yourself in so deep you can’t get out. And they promise to pay next week, they just have to move some money around, and they pay another 50%, and you forego the other 50% and just hope that nice filly turns out as nice as you think she might. That’s pretty much a trainer’s life. Not to mention, good luck finding owners if you have reputation for suing them to recover your money.
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I was on the receiving end of this, as well, many years ago. I had an individual who was the manager of a syndicate that owned a stallion approach me about standing the stud. She was a friend of a friend, so I worked with her. She ended up leaving the stud, a bunch of in foal mares, and some yearlings with me, and stopped paying her bills. She buried me.
By the time you can get into court with people like this, you’re already in way too deep. And then, of course, all you can do is sell off the horses. THAT seldom bails you out.
I feel for anyone in the horse business, which by the way, is an oxymoron.
Want to make a million in the horse business? Start with 2…
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If you buy a bicycle that was stolen by the seller, the bicycle is still owned by the original owner.
The bank still owns the breeding rights, since Zayat has defaulted on the loan.
Except in this case the breeding rights were owned by Zayat (not stolen). They never belonged to the bank–they were only used as collateral.
Zayat presents his side of the case:
https://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-rac…nting-receiver
I read Zayat’s attorney’s filing. As you would expect, it is well done, and drafted to spin Zayat’s actions as being completely above board. Somehow, I doubt it, given his behavior over the years.
To the point of the AP seasons, when you obtain a loan, where collateral is required, you are expected to pledge property that you already own…
"Collateralization occurs when a borrower pledges an asset as recourse to the lender in the event that the borrower defaults on the initial loan. Collateralization of assets gives lenders a sufficient level of reassurance against default risk."
I can certainly understand the bank wanting Zayat to put up something of serious worth, against the amount of the loan. His perspective, in the filing, is quite different from the norm- he should not have been allowed to sell those shares for any reason, until such time as the loan was satisfied. If he did sell those shares on the shady- regardless of what agreement he signed with the buyer(s), it’s illegal. Those shares were out of play. Essentially, it’s like trying to make double the money on one asset, which wanders into the question of fraud, for me. I dont’t doubt that Zayat’s attorney’s are carefully steering the ship away from those waters.
It will be interesting to see how this shakes out.
Wonder if he doesn’t pay his attorney bills either. :lol:
If the guy is dirty enough to make a deal to SELL the collateral for the loan, he is awfully bold. Given his treatment of horse trainers, I doubt he is any better with the attorneys.
Highly likely the attorney insists on a BIG cash retainer up front!
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Trainer Mike Maker is now suing Zayat for $120,000 in unpaid training bills.
“Better to be closer to front of the line than the back,” Maker said of the possibility of other creditors.
https://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/238243/maker-files-legal-complaint-against-zayat
I am willing to bet Mike is only one of many that will come about. RRodriguez went after him in late 2019.
In the Bloodhorse article, they mention that the Bloodhorse had a copy of the complaint. Additionally, Maker states that they entered into the agreement to pay him 10K a month on the bill, and then stopped- he calls that “pretty fraudulent”. No Joke!
And Zayat? “I don’t understand…” :lol: :lol:
Well, apparently Zayat got his Attorneys to write a letter to Mike Maker for filing that nasty lawsuit…
https://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/238261/zayat-issues-statement-on-maker-lawsuit
I wonder who is next?
Interesting article from Ray Paulick: The Irrational Exuberance of Ahmed Zayat:
Among other things it says:
One of the exhibits attached to the lawsuit is a six-page email dated Jan. 13, 2020, from Ahmed Zayat to Devin Griffin, the founder of MGG and the company’s chief executive officer. In it, Zayat claims he had recently been in Shanghai, China, giving presentations to potential investors he hoped would be “a lifeline for a cash injection into (Zayat Stables) that will not only make the company fiscally functional but also will get you whole and my other lender Cedarview.” (Zayat said he had paid over $1 million in interest in 2019 to Cedarview Capital, a New York hedge fund.)
In fact, Zayat said, he had been casting his net around the world.
“I employed every single investment bank that would talk to me and have given over 100 presentations to private equity firms, hedge funds, alternative assets lenders, family offices. Locally and internationally,” he wrote.
Zayat referenced Morgan Stanley, Consilium Capital, Piper Jaffray, Keith Harris and Associates, FocalPoint, Marc Howland, Janney Montgomery and Inner Circle as among those he had pitched for financial support.
“There has not been a stone unturned,” Zayat’s email states.
“I have used every trick in the book to find money / Borrow money,” he added. “Just so I can operate Zayat Stables and float it for the last 15 months to allow myself the chance to get a partner that would make my company financially stronger….
“I don’t know what’s next, but I know I am committed to helping maneuver this company through this crisis by monetizing and selling the remaining assets to get you whole,” said Zayat. “In the interim, there is still a glimpse of light that a miracle can happen, that an investor or a firm will come and fund this company.”
It’s hard to figure why he thinks anyone would/should be eager to fund his racing stable. 
The entire article can be read here:
https://www.paulickreport.com/news/r…f-ahmed-zayat/
That borders strongly on delusional. Horse breeding and racing is not for the faint of heart- or the normal investor.
I guess he figures he bred AP, and shazam, that makes him a GENIUS!!
