Two things about Sheikh Mohammed’s patronage of the Turf are beyond dispute. Over three decades his outlay has been so vast that it defies calculation. And British racing today would be unrecognisable had he not chosen to embrace it.

Little on racing’s canvas has remained untouched since the then 28-year-old sheikh watched Hatta, the first horse he owned, win a humble race at Brighton in 1977. Four years later, the man synonymous with Dubai bought his first stud farm, the 161-acre Dalham Hall property in Newmarket. Today he owns 7,000 acres of paddocks and 5,000 acres of farmland at the headquarters of British racing. At today’s prices, those tracts alone are worth £130 million.

That is just in Britain. His 4,000 acres of pasture in Ireland make him the largest farmer in that country. He owns equally significant parcels of land in Japan, the United States and Australia. And that is just the land. He has spent far more on horses; literally billions of pounds in pursuit of fleet-footed thoroughbreds, all of which descend from three Arabian stallions. In the past two years he has bought ten superior stallion prospects at a cost of more than £150 million.

And that is just him. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum — vice-president and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates, and ruler of Dubai — is one of four Maktoum brothers to have invested heavily in British racing.

The benefits for Newmarket, where Sheikh Mohammed’s global bloodstock interests are centred, have been immense. So much so that Sheikh Mohammed, whose worth is estimated at $16 billion (about £9.5 billion), has transferred the balance of racing power from the United States to Britain.

Every year for 30 years, he has bought the cream of the young horses in the United States and raced them here. As the numbers increased he required more and more acres to accommodate them, spending as much on renovating these properties as he did on their purchase. He thus enriched a battery of builders, feed and tack merchants, blacksmiths, vets and manufacturers of farm machinery.

With about 375 permanent staff, Darley, his umbrella organisation in Newmarket, employs slightly more people than Godolphin, his racing stable in the town. They and their families are housed free as part of their remuneration. Hundreds of the sheikh’s new intake of racehorses are dispersed among trainers across Britain every year. Each of them costs him about £20,000 annually in training fees. The question now is whether his operation is too big.

Until the mid-1990s, Newmarket’s trainers divided into the haves and have-nots. Those enjoying the sheikh’s patronage thrived; those without it struggled. However, any jealousies were effectively wiped away when the sheikh established Godolphin. From that moment all his trainers became subservient to the racing stable within which his is the guiding hand.

Godolphin opened a window on the collective Gulf mind. It has evolved from the sheikh’s desire to have horses trained in Dubai, thus claiming sovereignty over them, and against the counsel of British trainers who told him it would not work. Because it offended his profound sense of national pride, he delighted in proving them wrong.

The success of his desert venture prompted him to establish the annual Dubai racing carnival, which from next year will be staged at Meydan racecourse —built from scratch inside two years at a cost of $200 million.

Godolphin’s horses are trained by Saeed bin Suroor, a native Dubaian. Ahmed Ajtebi, a young Dubaian apprentice, now rides for the stable. This month he won a race at the celebrated Breeders’ Cup in California, with Frankie Dettori, whom the sheikh retains at considerable expense, sitting on the sidelines.

The sheikh’s determination to make Godolphin succeed has opened up another significant income stream for British owners. He has become ever more acquisitive of their horses, often for life-changing, seven-figure sums.

In recent years, however, Godolphin’s fortunes in Britain have declined. Part of the reason rests with Sheikh Mohammed’s four-year boycott of Coolmore Stud, which has a near-monopoly on the best stallions, because of his annoyance that his support of Coolmore’s stallions was never reciprocated.

Undeterred, the sheikh has spent more heavily in an effort to redress the balance. That, in turn, shored up bloodstock values at last month’s Newmarket yearling sales, where average prices barely receded despite the global recession. He was less active in the US, where prices duly plummeted.

Some maintain that Sheikh Mohammed’s dominating presence in Britain masks underlying problems; that bloodstock prices are prohibitively high, and that poor prize money levels are not being addressed. Owners are also being forced out by the intensely competitive nature of the sport. As one banking scion said after a poor season: “I am a taxpayer trying to compete against a tax collector.”

There are also problems closer to home. The recession has undermined Dubai’s series of building projects. Property loans extending to billions have been underwritten by Abu Dhabi. Sheikh Mohammed is anxious to quell the uncertainty surrounding Dubai’s continued expansion. Last week he told an investment conference in Dubai: “What is for Abu Dhabi is for Dubai, and what is for Dubai is for Abu Dhabi. We are family.”

As for Dubai’s long-term patronage of British racing, that is unclear. Rumours persist that Sheikh Mohammed, 60, is not in the best of health and his heirs do not share his love of the sport. This raises the possible dissolution of Sheikh Mohammed’s holdings farther down the road. The consequence would be a collapse in bloodstock prices as thousands of regally bred horses came up for sale.

Experts estimate that values would fall by between 25 and 40 per cent unless another Gulf potentate filled the breach. Despite sporadic interest, there is no significant patronage from Bahrain, Abu Dhabi or Qatar.

Any such sale would precipitate British racing’s own Black Monday. Although it would ensure much broader British ownership of horses that raced in Britain, the overall loss would be far more acute.

The standard of racing would decline, the sport would lose the sponsor of myriad races, equine charities, building projects, courses for students and homes for failed racehorses, and whose funding of the Channel 4 Racing programme keeps the sport on mainstream television.

Titans of the British turf
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum The Ruler of Dubai, and the largest owner and breeder of racehorses in the sport’s history. Has about 700 horses in training under various names.
Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid al-Maktoum Brother of Sheikh Mohammed, Dubai’s Minister of Finance and Industry. Owns 2,000-acre Nunnery Stud in Norfolk and similar properties in Ireland and the United States. About 200 horses in training.
Rabbah Bloodstock A 20-strong collection of Sheikh Mohammed’s Dubaian friends, including Jaber Abdullah, Saeed Suhail, Mohammed Obaid and Saeed Manana. Has broodmare interests and will have 500 horses in training in 2010.
Khaled Abdulla From the Saudi royal family. Has developed a breeding operation that delivers a consistent stream of champions. Rarely buys at auction. About 120 horses in training.
Ireland’s Coolmore syndicate Fronted by John Magnier with financial support from Michael Tabor and Derrick Smith, Coolmore owns Europe’s pre-eminent stallions and the Ballydoyle complex where Aidan O’Brien trains. About 250 horses in training
Cheveley Park Stud Owned by the Thompson family, this all-British outfit competes successfully with Middle East patrons with its home-bred horses and some sales purchases. About 60 horses in training