Just months after the death of Prince Khalid Abdullah, racing is mourning the loss of another hugely influential owner-breeder from the Middle East whose colours have been an equally familiar sight on British racecourses for the last 40 years.
In the same year, 1980, that Prince Khalid won his first classic when Known Fact was awarded the 2000 Guineas, Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum enjoyed his first success as an owner when a two-year-old colt named Mushref, trained by Tom Jones and ridden by Paul Cook, won at Redcar.
Within ten years of that first success, Sheikh Hamdan became the first Maktoum family member to win the Derby, something younger brother Sheikh Mohammed did not achieve until much more recently with Masar for Godolphin in 2018. Nashwan’s Derby victory in 1989, officially by five lengths but Timeform made it more like six, followed his success in the 2000 Guineas, while further wins in the Eclipse and King George made Nashwan the first horse to win all four races in the same season.
But, much to the dismay of many traditionalists, Nashwan, rated 135 by Timeform, was never asked to tackle the final leg of the Triple Crown. Timeform defended the Sheikh’s decision – “there could be no argument that it was the right of Nashwan’s owner to make his own choice” – and went on to report that “Sheikh Hamdan, it is said, formed a great sentimental attachment to Nashwan and didn’t want to risk defeat in the St Leger, the distance of which in his opinion might have stretched Nashwan’s stamina.”
Despite Nashwan’s success in 1989, Sheikh Hamdan finished runner-up to Sheikh Mohammed in the owners’ championship that year, but just 12 months later he became champion owner for the first time thanks to two more of the best horses to carry his colours.
Brilliant sprinter Dayjur (rated 137) was Timeform’s Horse of the Year after a season in which he reeled off victories in the Temple Stakes, King’s Stand, Nunthorpe, Sprint Cup and Prix de l’Abbaye. Meanwhile, Salsabil (130) added to her 1000 Guineas and Oaks victories by beating the colts in the Irish Derby.
Two more owners’ titles followed later in the 1990s. Erhaab became Sheikh Hamdan’s second Derby winner in 1994, while his 1995 championship owed plenty to the exploits of high-class miler Bahri, winner of the St James’s Palace Stakes and Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, and to Alhaarth who was the season’s champion two-year-old. Bahri, incidentally, went on to sire Sakhee (136) whose career began in the Hamdan silks before he won the Juddmonte International and Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe carrying the Godolphin colours.
Alhaarth was by Nashwan’s half-brother Unfuwain, while a third half-brother Nayef became another of the best middle-distance performers in the Hamdan colours. Having been Timeform’s top-rated two-year-old, Nayef went on to Group 1 success at three, four and five, his four-year-old season in 2002, during which he won the Juddmonte International, being the one which helped his owner to another owners’ title.
The Queen’s filly Height of Fashion, the dam of Nashwan, Unfuwain and Nayef, proved to be an inspired broodmare purchase as all eight of her winners achieved Timeform ratings of at least 100. Ghanaati, the most recent of five Hamdan-owned 1000 Guineas winners in 2009 (when he was champion owner again), was a granddaughter of Height of Fashion.
Unfuwain was also the sire of Sheikh Hamdan’s next Oaks winner, Eswarah, successful at Epsom in 2005 when her owner was champion again, while another Oaks winner Taghrooda, who followed up in the King George, contributed to another title in 2014 when Mukhadram won the Eclipse.
Coming right up to date, Sheikh Hamdan has been champion owner again – on Timeform statistics covering first three earnings for the full calendar year - for the last two seasons when his standard-bearer has been another outstanding sprinter Battaash (rated 136 at his best) who broke Dayjur’s track record when winning the first of his two Nunthorpes in 2019.
By any standards, Sheikh Hamdan enjoyed a remarkable season in 2020, particularly at the big summer meetings in Britain where Battaash was the common thread. Battaash’s King’s Stand victory at Royal Ascot was one of six for his owner that week, his fourth success in the King George Stakes at Goodwood came at a meeting where Mohaather was an impressive winner of the Sussex Stakes, while Battaash’s second Nunthorpe at York completed a four-timer on the card for his owner that also included wins for Enbihaar in the Lonsdale Cup and Minzaal in the Gimcrack.
Several of the best horses to have carried Sheikh Hamdan’s colours have already been mentioned among whom Dayjur was just about the pick on Timeform ratings.
Muhaarar (132) was another top-class sprinter, Intikhab (135) was another Godolphin recruit by the time he won the Queen Anne Stakes by eight lengths in 1998, while Argentinian-bred and US-trained Invasor (133) won the 2006 Breeders’ Cup Classic and the following year’s Dubai World Cup. Indeed, while much of Sheikh Hamdan’s success came from his British-based horses, he had success in both hemispheres as well as on both sides of the Atlantic, with two winners of the Melbourne Cup, At Talaq and Jeune, as well as a victory in the 2006 Belmont Stakes with Jazil.
Like Khalid Abdullah, Sheikh Hamdan leaves behind a huge international bloodstock empire, with the Shadwell broodmare band alone consisting of around 230 mares. Even having established a thriving operation, the major difference between Juddmonte and Shadwell was that Sheikh Hamdan remained a very active buyer at the yearling sales to supplement his home-grown produce. Many of his purchases benefited more commercial breeders as he sought out animals with speedier pedigrees, Battaash, who cost 200,000 guineas as a yearling, being a good example.
In the same year that he became champion owner for the first time, 1990, Sheikh Hamdan established Nunnery Stud in Norfolk as his first stallion base where Nashwan and Unfuwain were joined by July Cup winner Green Desert who had raced for his elder brother Maktoum Al Maktoum.
The likes of Taghrooda, Muhaarar, Mohaather and Nazeef, whose wins in 2020 included the Falmouth Stakes and Sun Chariot Stakes, were all by stallions from the Green Desert line which Sheikh Hamdan continued to support, both as a breeder and at the sales.
