'Each year it felt like we'd have a top-class horse' - 40 years of Sheikh Hamdan

Following the passing of influential owner-breeder Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum, we recall an incredible figure in an article first published in the Racing Post on Sunday, August 2, 2020.

There was no way of knowing that the two-year-old who flashed past the winning post at Redcar on July 30, 1980, had just bequeathed a seminal moment in turf history.

The horse in question was Mushref. He was trained by Tom Jones and ridden by Paul Cook, who was bedecked in anonymous blue silks. It was the first time they had been carried to victory in Britain.