Go behind the scenes at Godolphin's winter base in Dubai

A visit to Sheikh Mohammed’s private stables 30 minutes south of the dizzying heights of Dubai’s ever-expanding metropolis is a rare invitation – and one you grab with both cameras.

Marmoom stables is the winter base of the always-amiable trainer Charlie Appleby, who had his best season last year training 12 Group/Grade 1 winners worldwide for the Godolphin operation, including Derby hero Masar and Melbourne Cup winner Cross Counter. It was a stellar campaign and one he hopes to repeat.

In recent years the weather has been unpredictable in Dubai World Cup week, and 2019 is no exception. It has been raining for more than 24 hours and the leaden skies over the oasis of Marmoom have an eerie quality. The golden sands have turned to mud and it looks more like the dunes of Suffolk in January. It does no harm to the gallops however.

The training facilities are the best in Dubai. A nine-furlong oval dirt track rises out of the ground, the recycled sand witness to many glory days when the surface at Nad al Sheba, home of the World Cup in the days before Meydan.

Hugging the outside of the dirt track is the beautiful turf course, more like a long golf fairway than a strip for training thoroughbreds. Along its winding course are evenly spaced trees, which on a sunny day cast long shadows across the rye grass – but even in the rain it is quite magical, and watching the Melbourne Cup winner Cross Counter power between the trunks is spectacular.

Sixty of Godolphin’s elite horses call Marmoom home over the winter months. Some are recuperating, others have been trained for the season in Dubai. Among their number is Masar, building up to his return following Epsom triumph with workouts on the treadmill. His stablemate Quorto will miss the early part of the season due to injury – but remains full of beans and mischief as he takes a chunk out of his trainer’s arm.

Horses may be horses wherever they are, but one striking difference around Marmoom are the sounds – or lack of. Appleby is an instinctive horseman, and out here does not feel the need to shoe his charges, so gone is the familiar clip clop echoing around the barns.

But when it comes to winners, Appleby will be hoping for more of the same in 2019, starting with his team for the Dubai World Cup on Saturday.

The Racing Post's Edward Whitaker won the Horserace Writers and Photographers Association photographer of the year award for a record eighth time in December

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