Comment: cutbacks within global operation unwelcome - but not unexpected

Use of the word 'substantial' in Shadwell’s update on Thursday concerning the contraction of its worldwide operation suggests that, while we can still expect to see the late Hamdan Al Maktoum’s blue and white silks on the racecourse, they will be a far less frequent sight than for the last 30 or 40 years.

Such news was not unexpected, as unwelcome as it is. Following Sheikh Hamdan's death in March, an important clue came at the Tattersalls July Sale, an early auction of mostly horses in training.

Shadwell put 81 individuals under the hammer – by comparison its totals for the previous three sales had been 28, 41 and 34. In June its long-serving stud director Richard Lancaster announced he would be stepping down, and there has been a dispersal of Australian bloodstock interests.