Sheikh Mohammed: the desert ruler who built a racing empire like no other

He is the man who presides over the largest string of racehorses the sport has ever known. Yet remarkably Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, ruler of Dubai, the most dynamic of seven territories that comprise the United Arab Emirates, spends only around five per cent of his time on one of his enduring passions.

In a book the sheikh wrote recently, he condensed the meaningful chapters of his life into 50 chapters – only one is devoted to horseracing. In consequence, any appraisal of the man beneath the keffiyeh must delve into a world beyond the sport’s confines. What emerges is a complex matrix in which old and new, tradition and innovation, sit side by side.

The sheikh makes an instructive observation about himself when he says of his training at Mons Officer Cadet School, in Aldershot in 1968: “My goal is always to be in first place, and I always strive for this – even when I’m not aware I’m doing so.”