|
The Maktoums Legends of the Turf (Lord Godolphin to Godolphin of Dubai) 6th Edition marks a key period in the Maktoum’s involvement in the sport. Three key landmarks had been reached in recent times. Dubai’s ruling family had now been involved with Thoroughbred racing for over 25 years.
Godolphin reached the extraordinary milestone of 100 Group/Grade One victories. And, in 2005, the Dubai World Cup comes of age with its tenth running. A journey that begun with the filly Hatta in 1977 is now one generation into the annals of racing history. It has been estimated that the sport 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, the benevolent support of the family had helped the sport overcome an aversion to change and become a force for modernization and evolution, highlighted by the Dubai World Cup, the world’s richest race.
Wherever top-class racing takes place, the Maktoum family is, or has been, there. There can be no doubt that Sheikh Maktoum, Sheikh Hamdan, Sheikh Mohammed and Sheikh Ahmed had enriched the sport more in the previous 25 years than anyone else over the last two centuries.
Since the foundations of the Thoroughbred were laid by Byerley Turk, Godolophin Arabian and Darley Arabian, Arab influence has never been greater, or more important, to the future of racing than it is today. 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.
The first five editions of Legends of the Turf enjoyed a combined circulation exceeding 80,000.
|
