Azerbaijan owner buys Kentucky farm

Mammad Mirza Huseynov, the buyer of the $800,000 sale-topping Storm Cat colt at Keenelands 2-year-old sale in April, has now purchased a farm in the Lexington, Ky., area.

Huseynov and his wife purchased the former Saddlebred property Brookhill Farm on Yarnallton Road in early July, according to Kentucky bloodstock agent Hanzly Albina, who said Husyenov has hired him to be his chief of North American operations. The Huseynovs already have a large breeding and racing operation in Azerbaijan.

Mr. Huseynovs primary business is real estate, but he has always loved horses and has owned many of various breeds all over the world, Albina said in a release issued Wednesday. While visiting Keeneland Racecourse in 2004, Mr. Huseynov was taken by the beauty of the land and devotion to the horse in the Bluegrass State. After that visit to Kentucky, Mr. Huseynov decided to abandon plans to start a racing and breeding operation in France and decided to come to Kentucky.

Huseynov, whose agent Guy Khoury spelled his last name as Gusseynov at the Keeneland April sale, is a racetrack owner in Baku, Azerbaijan, Khoury said after signing for the $800,000 colt Don Gato in April.