WATHNAN Racing is the horse racing operation of Qatar’s Amir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, and while the operation could be described as boutique when first bursting onto the British racing scene two years ago, there is little doubt that Sheikh Tamim’s vision is to marry quality with quantity in order to match his country’s growing influence in world politics.

But despite the immediate success that Wathnan Racing enjoyed in 2023, when a handful of recently-acquired horses saw victory in two of the meeting’s most prestigious contests, the man behind the operation remains something of a mystery to British racing fans.