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Company type | Thoroughbred Racing Stable, Stud farm |
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Key people | Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum |
Website | http://www.shadwellfarm.com; http://www.derrinstown.com; http://www.shadwellstud.co.uk |
Shadwell Racing is the Thoroughbred horse racing operations of Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Introduced to Thoroughbred flat racing while a student in the United Kingdom, Sheikh Hamdan established his first racing stable there in 1981. Over the years he has invested heavily in both racing and breeding and has acquired major operations in England, Ireland and the United States.
He owns eight stud farms worldwide containing over 200 regally bred mares and many top stallions. Six of these are in the county of Suffolk, England, three near Thetford – Nunnery, Melton and Snarehill Studs – plus the Salsabil Stud near Bury St Edmunds, Elmswell Park Stud and Beech House Stud just outside Newmarket. The other two are Derrinstown Stud near Maynooth, County Kildare, Ireland, and the 3,200 acre Shadwell Farm near Lexington, Kentucky, United States.
The Nunnery Stud is where the whole British breeding operation is controlled and currently standing there are Eqtidaar, Muharaar, Mukhadaram and Tasleet. In the past legendary stallions such as Green Desert, Nashwan, Unfuwain, Haafhd, Nayef and Sakhee also stood there. Beech House Stud is used as a base for Shadwell's private mares, both Thoroughbred and Arabian. The paddocks are also used to winter the private Arabian young stock before they are broken in at Snarehill. Elmswell Park Stud and Salsabil Stud are located deep in the Suffolk countryside. These operations together look after Sheikh Hamdan's private mares. It is here that the mares are cared for prior to foaling, and then once they have foaled they stay until they return to Ireland with their foals in the late summer. The quiet surroundings of Salsabil Stud are ideal for the mares and foals at this early stage of the foals' development. The Snarehill Stud is used as a base for breaking in the young Thoroughbreds. It is also used for rest and rehabilitation for horses in training. Finally there is Melton Paddocks which was originally the public stud before the building of the Nunnery Stud, but now it houses the Arabian stallions.
The Shadwell Farm in Lexington, Kentucky, was constructed in 1985. At the farm's stallion division, Nashwan Stud, currently stand Mohaymen, Qurbaan and Tamarkuz.
The Derrinstown Stud currently stands Awtaad, Haatef, Markaz and Tamayuz.
This investment has translated to great success on the race track. He was the British flat racing Champion Owner in 1990, 1995, 2002, and 2005. He has enjoyed over 50 Group 1 wins in Europe in addition to big race success in America, Australia and Dubai. His leading horses have ranged from sprinting champions such as Dayjur and Hamas, champion milers like Lahib and Bahri to great middle-distance runners such as Nashwan, Unfuwain, Haafhd, Nayef, Jazil and Invasor. This is in addition to racing several classic winning fillies who have gone on to be great broodmares. The most famous being Salsabil who topped winning the Epsom Oaks by beating the colts in the Irish Derby. Shadwell's most famous broodmare is Height of Fashion who was sold by Queen Elizabeth II to Sheikh Hamdan Al-Maktoum after setting a new course record in the Princess of Wales' Stakes. She was the dam of Nashwan, Nayef and Unfuwain. She is also the grand dam of Ghanaati through her daughter Sarayir.
In England he currently has approximately 200 horses in training spread over a number of trainers including Michael Stoute, Owen Burrows, John Gosden, William Haggas, Marcus Tregoning, Ed Dunlop and Mark Johnston. In the past he sent horses with great success to Dick Hern, Michael Jarvis, Barry Hills, Alec Stewart, John Dunlop and Harry Thomson Jones. In Ireland he has sent his horses for many years to Kevin Prendergrast and Dermot Weld and likewise in France to Freddy Head. In the United States, Kiaran McLaughlin is a trainer for Sheikh Hamdan's stable. David A. Hayes conditions horses for the sheikh in Australia. In the UAE American trainer Doug Watson is responsible for the sheikh's runners at the Dubai carnival.
In England he currently has Jim Crowley as his retained jockey. In the 1980s and 1990s, Willie Carson won many big races for Shadwell most famously on Nashwan and Salsabil.
In late 2005, his Shadwell Stable acquired the Argentina-bred and Uruguay-owned racehorse Invasor and brought him to race in the United States. Invasor won several major graded stakes races including the 2006 Breeders' Cup Classic and was voted the U.S. Horse of the Year and ranked No.1 in the World Thoroughbred Racehorse Rankings. He won them the Dubai World Cup but was retired in June 2007 following a non-life-threatening training injury and now stands as a stallion at Shadwell Farm in Kentucky. Shadwell Stables won the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Owner of 2007 thanks to the efforts of Invasor and leading filly Lahudood.
Invasor is a Thoroughbred racehorse bred in Argentina by Haras Clausan. The winner of the 2005 Triple Crown in Uruguay, he was later purchased by Sheik Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who paid approximately US$1.4 million for the horse. His two biggest wins were the 2006 Breeders' Cup Classic, in which he defeated heavily favored Bernardini and highly fancied Lava Man, and the 2007 Dubai World Cup, the world's richest horse race. He finished racing with a record of eleven wins in twelve starts and career earnings of $7,804,070. He was voted the Eclipse Award for American Horse of the Year and led the year-end World Thoroughbred Racehorse Rankings in 2006. In 2013 he was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs, New York.
Nashwan was an American-bred, British-trained Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. After winning both his starts as a two-year-old, he developed into an outstanding performer in the spring and summer of 1989, completing a unique four-timer when winning the 2000 Guineas, Epsom Derby, Eclipse Stakes, and King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes. After sustaining his only defeat in the Prix Niel in September, he was retired to stud where he was a successful sire of winners.
Kiaran P. McLaughlin is an American Thoroughbred racehorse trainer best known for training 2006 Horse of the Year Invasor.
Swain was an Irish-bred Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. He is one of only three horses to win two editions of Britain's premier weight-for-age race, the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes.
Dayjur was an American-bred, British-trained Thoroughbred racehorse. A specialist sprinter, he ran eleven times between June 1989 and October 1990 and won seven races. In 1990 he dominated European sprinting, winning the King's Stand Stakes, the Nunthorpe Stakes, the Ladbroke Sprint Cup and the Prix de l'Abbaye. On his final racecourse appearance he finished second to Safely Kept in the Breeders' Cup Sprint. The Racing Post and the Sporting Life called him the world's fastest horse. Dayjur was one of the highest-rated European sprinters since World War Two.
Almutawakel was a British thoroughbred racehorse sired by Machiavellian and the Irish stakes-winning Green Desert mare, Elfaslah.
Unfuwain was an American-bred, British-trained Thoroughbred racehorse bred and owned by Hamdan Al Maktoum. In a career of ten starts, lasting from 1987 to 1989, he won four Group races and was placed in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes and the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. He went on to become a successful sire.
Haafhd is a retired British Thoroughbred racehorse and active stallion, best known for winning the 2000 Guineas Stakes and Champion Stakes in 2004.
Nayef is a retired Thoroughbred racehorse and active sire. Bred in the United States and trained in the United Kingdom, his racing career ran from 2000 to 2003. He is best known for winning a series of important races, including four Group One races: the Champion Stakes, the Dubai Sheema Classic, the International Stakes and the Prince of Wales's Stakes.
Alhaarth was a champion Thoroughbred racehorse and sire, bred in Ireland, but trained in the United Kingdom and Dubai during a racing career that lasted from 1995 to 1997. He was named European Champion Two-Year-Old at the 1995 Cartier Racing Awards. In his championship season he won all five of his races including the Group One Dewhurst Stakes and three other Group races. He went on to win the Prix du Rond Point at three and the International Stakes (Ireland) and Prix Dollar as a four-year-old. After his retirement he became a successful stallion.
Harayir was an American-bred, British-trained Thoroughbred racehorse. In a racing career which lasted from June 1994 to October 1995 she ran thirteen times and won six races. As a two-year-old she won two races, including the Group Two Lowther Stakes at York. The following spring, Harayir became the first horse to win a Classic on a Sunday, when she was victorious in the 1000 Guineas at Newmarket Racecourse after being rejected by her regular jockey Willie Carson in favour of her owner's other runner Aqaarid. Her success gave her trainer Dick Hern his fourteenth and final classic winner. Later in the year, Harayir competed successfully against colts and older horses, winning the Hungerford Stakes at Newbury, the Celebration Mile at Goodwood and the Challenge Stakes at Newmarket. She was retired from racing to become a broodmare.
Salsabil was an Irish-bred, British-trained Thoroughbred racehorse and broodmare. In a racing career which lasted from September 1989 to October 1990 she ran nine times and won seven races. Salsabil was one of the leading two-year-old fillies in Europe in 1989, winning two races including the Group One Prix Marcel Boussac at the Longchamp. After winning the Fred Darling Stakes on her three-year-old debut, Salsabil won both of Britain's Classic races for fillies: the 1000 Guineas over one mile at Newmarket and the Oaks over one and a half miles at Epsom. She was then raced against colts and became the first filly for ninety years to win the Irish Derby at the Curragh. In autumn, Salsabil added a victory in the Prix Vermeille at Longchamp but finished unplaced when favourite for the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe in October. Salsabil was then retired to stud where she had success as a broodmare before dying of cancer in 1996.
Height of Fashion was French-bred, British-trained Thoroughbred racehorse and broodmare. Owned and bred by Queen Elizabeth II, she was undefeated in her three races as a two-year-old in 1981, winning the Acomb Stakes, May Hill Stakes and Fillies' Mile. The following year she added a win in the Lupe Stakes before a record-breaking victory in the Princess of Wales's Stakes. She ran poorly in her two remaining races and was retired to stud at the end of the season. Height of Fashion proved to be an exceptional broodmare, producing the major stakes winners Unfuwain, Nashwan and Nayef. She died in Kentucky in 2000.
Al Bahathri was an American-bred, British-trained Thoroughbred racehorse and broodmare. As a two-year-old she was one of the best of her generation in Europe, winning three of her five races including the Princess Margaret Stakes and the Lowther Stakes. In the following year she was narrowly beaten in the 1000 Guineas before winning the Irish 1,000 Guineas, Coronation Stakes and Child Stakes. After her retirement from racing she became a very successful and influential broodmare, whose descendants included Haafhd, Military Attack, Gladiatorus and Red Cadeaux. She died in 2014 at the age of thirty-two.
Elnadim was an American-bred, British-trained Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. After failing to win as a juvenile he developed into a high-class sprinter in 1997, winning four of his six races including the Hopeful Stakes and the Diadem Stakes. In the following year he recorded his biggest success when he won the Group One July Cup. His subsequent form was disappointing and he was retired from racing in 2000. He stood as a breeding stallion in the United States, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand and had some success as a sire of winners. He died in 2015 at the age of twenty-one.
Hamas was an Irish-bred, British-trained Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. Unraced as a two-year-old he won three of his eleven races in 1992 including the Bentinck Stakes, but appeared to be well below top class and was used as a pacemaker for a more fancied horse in the same ownership on his only run in Group One class. As a four-year-old, he won the Group Three Duke of York Stakes but was well beaten in his next two races before recording a 33/1 upset win in the July Cup. He finished last in both of his subsequent races and was retired at the end of the year. He had limited success as a breeding stallion.
Lahib was an American-bred, British-trained Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. He was unraced as a juvenile and won once from two starts as a three-year-old in the spring of 1991. In the following year he improved to become one of the best milers in Europe, winning the Queen Anne Stakes and the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes as well as finishing second in the Lockinge Stakes, Prix Jacques Le Marois and Champion Stakes. He was retired from racing at the end of the year and became a breeding stallion. He had some success as a sire of winners.
Awzaan is a British Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. He showed his best form as a two-year-old in 2009 when he was unbeaten in four races including the Mill Reef Stakes and the Middle Park Stakes. He raced for two more seasons but never won again. In 2012 he was retired from racing to become a breeding stallion in Uruguay.
Tamayuz is a British-bred, French-trained Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. He won both of his races as a two-year-old in 2007 and took the Prix de Fontainebleau on his first run of 2008. After running poorly in the Poule d'Essai des Poulains he recorded Group 1 wins Prix Jean Prat and Prix Jacques Le Marois. On his only subsequent start he finished fourth in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes. He has had some success as a breeding stallion.
Baaeed is a British retired Thoroughbred racehorse. He began his racing career as a three-year-old in 2021 and was undefeated in six races that year, including the Prix du Moulin and Queen Elizabeth II Stakes. In the following year he took his unbeaten run to ten with victories in the Lockinge Stakes, Queen Anne Stakes, Sussex Stakes and International Stakes, before losing his final race in the Champion Stakes.