The bloodline that reached Dubai.

A rarely-seen BBC profile of my grandfather, Jim “Jimmy” McCaughey — a Warwickshire builder who turned a construction fortune into one of the boldest racing operations in Britain, and then handed a piece of English turf history to the ruling family of Dubai.

He built the Heart of England group of companies out of Leamington Spa, and by the late 1970s he was one of the largest landowners in the country. Then he walked into racing at full tilt. He was spending so heavily at the Newmarket sales that the BBC put him on television as the face of the money pouring into bloodstock — and he was unrepentant about it, arguing on camera that a good colt was worth the price before he had ever run.

The yellow silks with the black diamond and sleeves went out over roughly 32 horses, placed with the best trainers of the day — Fred Rimell over jumps, Ryan Price, and a young Michael Stoute on the Flat. His bloodstock agent was David Minton, then of the Curragh Bloodstock Agency, who he met by chance at Warwick racecourse in 1977. The first horse Minton bought him, Connaught Ranger, won the Triumph Hurdle at Cheltenham the following March.

In 1979 he bought Harwood Stud at Woolton Hill near Newbury from Major Herbert Blagrave, and renamed it Gainsborough Stud after the 1918 Triple Crown winner buried in its paddocks. He kept Blagrave’s stud manager, Michael Goodbody, and set about stocking it with mares.

Then, in 1981, he sold it to Sheikh Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum of Dubai. It was the Sheikh’s first stud in Britain. From those hundred-odd acres, Gainsborough grew into farms across England, Ireland and Kentucky, and after Sheikh Maktoum’s death in 2006 the bloodstock passed to his brother Sheikh Mohammed and into Godolphin — with echoes still visible in champions like the 2025 Kentucky Derby winner Sovereignty.

He was gone by the end of the decade, still a relatively young man, and the racing world he had stormed into forgot him faster than it should have. That handshake in 1981 is, in a quiet way, why I’m here: I grew up knowing a little about my grandfather’s horses, and living in Dubai now, that history feels a lot closer. It is also the clearest lesson he left me — the best ventures, in racing or in anything else, are built for the long run.

Centurius cost a reported 280,000 guineas (£294,000 at the time; roughly £2 million in today’s money) — Grundy’s full brother, bought to win a Derby. He never did. That was the shape of the whole adventure: enormous swings, some of which landed.

Jim McCaughey

Born

Warwickshire, England. Died in the late 1980s.

Business

Founder of the Heart of England group of companies, Leamington Spa — construction and industry.

Standing

Held to have been the 11th-wealthiest man in the United Kingdom as a landowner.

Racing colours

Yellow, black diamond and sleeves.

String

Around 32 horses, over jumps and on the Flat.

Trainers

Fred Rimell · Ryan Price · Michael Stoute

Bloodstock agent

David Minton, Curragh Bloodstock Agency — met at Warwick racecourse, 1977.

Stud

Harwood Stud, Woolton Hill, Newbury — bought 1979 from Major Herbert Blagrave and renamed Gainsborough Stud.

Sold to

Sheikh Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum, 1981 — the Dubai ruling family’s first stud farm in Britain, and the seed of Godolphin.

The horses

Horse	Race	Year
Connaught Ranger	Triumph Hurdle, Cheltenham Festival — trained by Fred Rimell	1978
Lord Seymour	Mill Reef Stakes, Newbury — beating the future 2,000 Guineas winner Known Fact	1979
Shaftesbury	Ebor Handicap, York — one of Britain’s richest staying handicaps	1980
Centurius	Blue Riband Trial, Epsom — full brother to Grundy, the 1975 Derby winner	1980
Bajan Sunshine	One of the better horses to carry the yellow and black	c. 1980