Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid spends $3 million on a horse

Dubai's ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum reportedly visited Tattersalls October Yearling Sale in newmarket England on October 8. He spent approximately $3 million on a young horse who was a subject of a fierce bidding war. The Sheikh who is also the founder of the successful Goldphin horse racing stable paid millions for the Dubawi colt, which is the half-brother to 2017 Greenham stakes winner Barney Roy. The Dubai Sheikh was also to attend the High Court hearing in his legal battle with his ex-wife and instead, he was bidding pounds at a racehorse auction. 

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Legal battle

The Sheikh who is in an unprecedented legal battle between Jordan's Princess Haya was reportedly represented at the High Court by his lawyer Lord Pannick QC, who is widely known for representing Gina Miller at the UK Supreme court. Princess Haya, 45, the half-sister of Jordan's King Abdullah II and a member of the country's ruling Hashemite family, had fled to London where she has brought a case against her husband. The couple had married in 2004. After reportedly leaving the UAE some time ago, Haya applied for a British forced marriage protection order, as well as wardship of their children, and a non-molestation order relating to herself. 

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Princess Haya was reportedly the sixth wife of Sheikh Mohammed. They have one daughter, 11, and a son, seven. According to Andreas Krieg, a professor at King's College London, the issue is a family affair between the Al-Maktoum's and Hashemites -- the ruling families in Dubai and Jordan. The ripple effects for international relations between both countries will be limited. Hussein Ibish, a senior resident scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, also ruled out any "real diplomatic or political problem" between Jordan and the UAE. Only four days before the court hearing in London, King Abdullah II visited Abu Dhabi, where he stressed their family ties. Jordan has struggled in past years with unprecedented humanitarian and financial crises after hundreds of thousands of refugees poured across the border to escape Syria's civil war. 

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(With inputs from agencies)