From a small Redcar race to one of the world's great racing and breeding empires

Long before the boys in blue there was the brother with the blue colours.

For more than four decades the famous silks of Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum were a constant feature of Flat racing. We see them and think of true equine greats, magnificent animals like Nashwan, Dayjur and Battaash. They became part of our racing lives and hugely enriched the life of the Dubai royal in whose livery they competed.

Just months after the sport lost one of its mightiest and most influential owner-breeders in Khalid Abdullah, another remarkable chapter has now closed.