The Maktoums Legends of the Turf 4th Edition commemorates 25 years of commitment to excellence and sportsmanship and marks a key moment in the Maktoums’ involvement in the sport. A journey that began with the filly Hatta in 1977 was then a 25-year sojourn into the annals of racing history.
It has been estimated that the sport of racing worldwide would be smaller by one-quarter without the involvement of the Maktoum family. Without going into the mathematics of such a claim, the facts are that never, in the history of the turf, has any family or nucleus of individuals played such an important role in preserving and developing the status of Thoroughbred racing.
During an era of rampant social and economic change worldwide, the benevolent support of the family has helped the sport overcome an aversion to change and become a force for modernisation and evolution – highlighted by the establishment of the Dubai World Cup, the World’s richest race, the World Racing Series and the extraordinary success of Godolphin.
But the road has not been smooth. Like any owners, the Maktoums have had their share of highs and lows. Over the previous quarter century, Maktoum racing has experienced all the emotions that make racehorse ownership as thrilling as it is unpredictable – from Dubai Millennium’s triumphant Dubai World Cup success, to the desperation of Dayjur’s Breeders’ Cup self-destruction.
Wherever top-class racing takes place the Maktoum family is, or has been there, and there can be no doubt that Sheikhs Maktoum, Hamdan, Mohammed and Ahmed have enriched the sport more in their 25 years than anyone else over the last two centuries. Since the foundations of the Thoroughbred were being laid by Byerley Turk, Godolphin Barb and Darley Arabian, Arab involvement has never been greater, or more important to the future of the sport.
Legends of the Turf records some of the great Thoroughbreds to represent the family during this period, in addition to highlighting the extraordinary breeding operations in Europe and North America that are today producing some of the world’s finest horses.
Media Prima’s first three editions of Legends of the Turf enjoyed a combined circulation exceeding 50,000, making this one of the highest circulating industry journals ever published.
