Leading racehorse owner and breeder Sheikh Maktoum Rashid Al Maktoum, the eldest brother of the ruling family of Dubai, has died at the age of 62.
He is belived to have suffered a heart attack while visiting Australia.
He and his two brothers Sheikh Mohammed and Sheikh Hamdan, revolutionised racing not only in Britain but throughout the world.
Sheikh Maktoum had 10 trainers throughout the world including Michael Stoute, Ed Dunlop, Mark Johnston and Neil Drysdale as well as hundreds of horses in training.
He had a host of big-race winners, with his best-known horses included Fantastic Light, Cadeaux Genereux, Shadeed and Shareef Dancer.
Maktoum was the owner of Gainsborough Stud in Newmarket, where many of his stallions were stood after their racing careers.
The news came as a great shock to former champion jockey Joe Mercer, his racing manager for the past 19 years.
"It's absolutely awful," he said.
"We had hundreds of great horses - Cadeaux Genereux, Royal Applause, Fantastic Light, Hatoof, Shadeed, Shareef Dancer - dozens and dozens of them.
"He had over 200 horses in training and a lot of yearlings still to come in. They bought stallions at the right price and invested a tremendous amount of money into the bloodstock business. They have been great for the industry."
