The Flat will look very different in 2022 as loss of Sheikh Hamdan takes hold

I stood on the gallops at the bottom of Warren Hill at the start of last week trying to shelter from the cold and thinking I did not envy anyone who had to train racehorses during the winter.

As I waited for some yearlings to canter by with all the enthusiasm and dreams they bring with them at this time of year, I found myself gazing at vast strings of thoroughbreds traipsing up and down the pathways, and then on up to Sheikh Mohammed's palace that stands on top of the gallops and looms over everything below.

You cannot escape the influence of the Maktoum family in Newmarket, be it through the imposing buildings or extensive property it owns, the copious number of blue-liveried staff who walk through the streets or the sheer quantity of horses it underwrites in one way or another.