Legendary horse owner dies as ten-day mourning period announced

SportHorse Racing ICONIC horse owner Sheikh Ahmed has died at the age of 76. A huge supporter of racing, he was best known for the yellow and black silks of stars such as Mtoto, Wassl and more recently Addeybb. Legendary horse owner Sheikh Ahmed (right) has died, triggering a 10-day mourning period in Dubai Credit: Racingfotos.com His famous yellow silks won the best of the best races on the Flat Credit: Alamy Ahmed’s death was announced today by the Ruler’s Court, which declared ten days of mourning across Dubai. As the younger brother of Godolphin founder Sheikh Mohammed, Ahmed was known as a major figure in racing. Sign up for the Sport newsletter Thank you! However, he was by no means in the shadow of the all blue silks of Godolphin, as he owned his own horses. He owned an absolute host of Group 1 winners, with his silks being best known for 1980s hero Mtoto. READ MORE ON HORSE RACING Mtoto rose to the top when beating Derby winner Reference Point in the 1987 Coral-Eclipse at Sandown. He became Britain’s dominant middle-distance horse the following year as he notched the Eclipse again and the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot. Another icon who was ridden in the yellow silks of Ahmed was Wassl. He won the Greenham Stakes (Irish 2000 Guineas qualifier) in 1983 before taking the Irish 2000 Guineas itself later that year at Curragh. Most read in Sport In the last decade, Ahmed’s most famous horse was Addeybb, who won the 2020 Champion Stakes and three Group 1s in Australia for the William Haggas stable. Even more recently, Almaqam has been Ahmed’s most notable horse. The star took the Tattersalls Gold Cup, again in Curragh, earlier this year. Comment now