DARLEY STUD 
- Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum

     "A love for horses runs in my blood. Don't forget that horses have been bred for centuries by Arabic tribes, they were used for hunting and fighting and they symbolise our history. Horse riding is more than merely sitting on a horse's back. It is nobility and chivalry." Sheikh Mohammed.
     Year after year, Darley Stud has been at the mainfront of the Arabian racing in California. Headed by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Crown Prince of Dubai, Darley Stud finished as the leading Arabian owner at Los Alamitos in 2004 with 30 victories. More importantly, Darley Stud earned the Darley Award for breeder of the year. We do not wait for things to happen. We make them happen, Sheikh Mohammed said. My love for horses seems unremarkable to me. It is part of my blood, my should and my history. This love originated in this land.
     In the past year or so, many other people have had the opportunity to purchase racehorses bred and owned by Darley Stud.Sheikh Mohammed decided to sell his horses hoping that it would allow Arabian owners an opportunity to acquire top racing stock for a fraction of the cost. Thus, when these horses started racing combined with the strong stable they maintain themselves, the Darley name was everywhere. In 2004, horses bred by Darley started an incredible 552 times with 91 wins, 80 seconds and 77 thirds. They earned over $520,000 - quite an impressive amount for one year in Arabian racing. While horses bred by Darley raced all over the country, there were a large number of them in California. With so many starts, the figures really spread the wealth among many horses, but their leading runners included Seeze The Breeze (Virgule Al Maury) owned by Warren Shelley and Vialyn, owned by Richard Kiekow.
    Horses have played an important role in the history of the Arab world, particularly in combat, where their speed, agility and stamina were often the decisive factor. Horses were highly prized, being a symbol of wealth and nobility. As a member of one of the Gulf's leading families, it was only natural that Sheikh Mohammed should be introduced to horses at an early age and that he would come to honor and respect them in accordance with their cultural status. Sheikh Mohammed learned to ride as a child. He and his brothers were taught by their father, Sheikh Rashid. Sheikh Mohammed was a promising athlete, an accomplished player of tennis and football, but equestrianism was, and remains, his true sporting passion. Sheikh Mohammed first visited a racecourse in 1967, in England. He and his brother, Sheikh Hamdan, watched Royal Palace win the 2000 Guineas.  Sheikh Mohammed established Godolphin, in 1994, and the success and growth of Godolphin coincided with, and undoubtedly assisted, the rise in Dubai's international profile in horse racing. At the time it was established, owners tended to race their horses only on their own continent. Sheikh Mohammed wanted to race his horses all over the world and to encourage others to do the same. The world's richest horse race, the Dubai World Cup, was established in 1996 with this aim in mind. That first World Cup was won by an American horse, Cigar, and the race continues to attract entries from around the globe.