Sheikh Mohammed's equine operations must not be above the law after recent ... - Telegraph.co.uk

The history of positive tests in endurance racing yards in Dubai owned by the Maktoums points to an endemic problem, which the family moved to correct this summer by banning the use of steroids in the gulf state.

Similarly Princess Haya had apparently already warned all employees of Sheikh Mohammed's racing and endurance operations not to play fast and loose with the rules, which, in case of doubt, are designed to protect animals from cruelty as well as protect the integrity of the sports. "I wish for all managers to accept the responsibilities that their positions bestow on them and to ensure that all efforts are made to protect the good name of the Maktoum family at all times," she wrote.

Though clear in purpose, this is a curiously conciliatory tone for a non-democratic state with an autocratic leader to adopt with employees who might be wrecking the Sheikh's reputation as the No?1 figure in world racing. Maybe the private warnings were more combative. Either way they appear not to be working. The al-Zarooni scandal had already caused chaos in the Godolphin operation by the time the Dubai government jet landed at Stansted, the day before Sheikh Mohammed won the 2,000 Guineas with Dawn Approach and then declined to answer questions on live television from Clare Balding.

An especially damning statement in Monday's Guardian report comes from Princess Haya's spokesman: "Nobody seems to know in the organisation who is buying what or where." So the Sheikh, a famously enthusiastic and interventionist owner, seems to have no control over trainers, couriers or vets working in his name.

Obedience is doubtless a prerequisite for taking a job with the Maktoums. What he needs, more than a series of missives reminding staff of their responsibilities, is to expose any employee engaged in these disgusting practices. The suspicion that unlicensed vets are working in this field adds to the seriousness of the offence, and renders horses even more vulnerable to the risk of breaking down or suffering side-effects from dangerous medication.

The BHA is running a mile from the Stansted episode, on the grounds that the material seized was not bound for the racing industry and therefore falls outside their jurisdiction. But their haste to dispatch al-Zarooni without punishing everyone associated with the scam suggests an inbuilt reluctance to challenge the Maktoums. The fear, as ever, is that racing's richest family will load up their horses and ship them to another land.

But with these three separate incidents the Maktoums should be on an official warning that pharmaceutical cruelty to horses of all kinds will not be tolerated.

Public disgust will be far more damaging to equine sport than the Maktoums pulling out of Newmarket, which they are unlikely to do, given the depth of their economic stake and the prestige which British racing bestows.

Internal inquiries and memos to staff are no longer enough. The rogue element inside equine sport has to be crushed and only Sheikh Mohammed himself can authorise such a purge. But he never will if he is treated as a visiting God who cannot be challenged. The rule of law is meant to apply to all.