The Thoroughbred Corp. essentially is finished in horse racing.

Not quite two years following the death of its main owner, the mysterious Saudi Arabian Prince Ahmed bin Salman bin Abdul Aziz al Saud, the entity dispersed its racehorses this past week in California.

One yearling, five 2-year-olds and 46 horses of racing age grossed $6.5 million at a Barretts Equine Limited sale in California. Broodmares belonging to the prince sold last fall at Keeneland for $30.8 million, the fourth highest-grossing dispersal ever in North America.

Still to be sold privately, according to Bloodhorse.com, are Johar, who finished in a dead-heat for the win in the Breeders' Cup Turf last fall, and Elusive City. Two mares, Dessert and Styllish, will be bred and sold at Keeneland next November.

Racing likes to tidy things up with neat statistics like the above-cited figures. What has never been tidied up are suggestions that Kentucky Derby winner Prince Ahmed (War Emblem, 2002) might have been involved at least peripherally in the terrorism acts of Sept. 11, 2001.

Suggestions linking the prince with Osama bin Laden's network did not surface until a year following his death at age 43 in Saudi Arabia. The suggestions arose in 2003 with publication of Gerald Posner's book, Why America Slept. Citing two unnamed government sources, Posner told how U.S. authorities were given the name of Prince Ahmed by a terrorist linked to Osama bin Laden's network and known as Abu Zubaydah.

The name Zubaydah might not have resonated with sports fans but the prince's name did, for he'd been seen by a global TV audience proclaiming his love for America from the winner's circle at the Derby. His War Emblem won the Derby eight months after the attack on the World Trade Centers. The terrorist attack took place four months after the prince's Point Given raced fifth, as favorite, in the 2001 Derby.

Memories of a jolly Prince Ahmed raising the Derby trophy in his arms while clowning with trainer Bob Baffert are now juxtaposed in everyone's minds on the suggestions made in Posner's book. Did he or didn't he know in advance that a terrorist strike on America was in the works? And did he lend financial support to bin Laden's network? One can only wonder how Prince Ahmed would have side-stepped this question were he alive to answer, upon publication of the book.

He certainly dodged the inevitable questions at the Derby and Preakness (which War Emblem also won). What did he have to say as a Saudi about the terrorist attacks on America? The prince's answer was as evasive as it was polished:

"I leave those questions to the politicians," he said. "I am a businessman, not a politician."

Anyone who loves a conspiracy theory had no trouble connecting the dots after Posner's book became available.

The Prince Salman of international horse racing was a son of the well-connected Governor of Riyadh, also named Prince Salman. The governor, whose position makes him nearly as significant in Saudi Arabia as the king, is closely related to King Fahd as well as one of the Sudeiri 7, all brothers. This well-connected group come from a line of Wahabbi fundamentalists who have supported charitable causes said to be connected to terrorist groups.

Did the dots link horse-loving Prince Ahmed all the way to al-Qaida?

It looks like this one will remain one of horse racing's unsolved mysteries.

A big price

Hopefully, he doesn't lie down in the stretch and take a beauty rest. If During wins the Dubai World Cup March 20, someone is going to get a free Simmons mattress.

During's owner, Jim "Mattress Mac" McIngvale of Houston, Texas, has promised that anyone purchasing a Simmons mattress from his galleryfurniture.com between now and the race will receive a gift certificate matching the price of the mattress -- if the horse wins.

McIngvale also is having T-shirts made up to promote his horse in the race. The shirts will depict During "running on top of a mattress," McIngvale said.

During was runner-up by a neck to Domestic Dispute in the Strub Stakes in early February at Santa Anita.

McIngvale, known for his wacky promotions at his Gallery Furniture in Houston, formerly starred in his own TV commercials, dressed up in a mattress.