Ruler of Dubai since early 2006, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum has long been an influential figure in British racing. Indeed, he celebrated his first winner as an owner on British soil, Hatta, trained by John Dunlop, in a two-year-old fillies’ maiden stakes race at Brighton as long ago as June 20, 1977. In the succeeding decades, his famous racing colours – maroon, white sleeves and maroon cap with white star – were carried to victory by the likes of Pebbles, Oh So Sharp, who won the Fillies’ Triple Crown in 1985, and Singspiel.
More recently, Sheikh Mohammed has become synonymous with royal blue colours of Godolphin, the bloodstock and racing operation that he founded in 1992, which has since produced over 9,000 winners worldwide. Nowadays, the Godolphin team is led by Charlie Appleby and Saeed bin Suroor, whose British bases are at Moulton Paddocks and Goldolphin Stables, fornerly Stanley House Stables, both in Newmarket, respectively.
In the three-and-a-bit decades since its formation, Goldolphin has chalked up over 300 Group 1 and Grade 1 victories worldwide. Internationally, notable names include Dubai Millenium, who won the Dubai World Cup – a race created by Sheikh Mohammed – in 2000, Anamoe, a nine-time Group 1 in Australia, Cody’s Wish, back-to-back winner of the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile in 2022 and 2023 and Rebel’s Romance, dual winner of the Breeders’ Cup Turf in 2022 and 2024. On British soil, Masar, trained by Charlie Appleby, won the Derby in 2018, Adayar, also trained by Appleby, won the Derby and the King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes in 2021 and Hurricane Lane, another occupant of Moulton Paddocks, won the St. Leger later in 2021. More recently, Notable Speech won both the Lockinge Stakes and the City of York Stakes for Appleby in 2026, while Ombudsman won the Prince of Wales’s Stakes for John and Thady Gosden.