Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum has made no secret of his desire to win the Kentucky Derby and his willingness to spend any amount of money to do it.

On Tuesday, with that goal in mind, he spent $9.7 million on one horse.

“From the first moment he laid eyes on this horse,” said John Ferguson, Maktoum’s buyer, “he felt it was very, very important that this horse race for his brothers.”

Maktoum, the crown prince of Dubai, came to the Keeneland September Yearling Sale ready to buy. During the sale’s two-day select portion, which ended Tuesday, he bought 23 horses, including four sons of elite sire Storm Cat.

Those purchases cost Maktoum $40.99 million, breaking his own record for money spent at the Keeneland September sale. Was it worth it? Check back in two years, when the horses sold this week might be on the Derby trail.

But, if nothing else, Maktoum rewrote the Keeneland sales record book in his quest.

The $9.7 million he paid for a Storm Cat colt out of the broodmare Tranquility Lake was the highest price ever paid in the September sale’s 62-year history and the third-highest price ever paid for a yearling at a Keeneland auction.

Posted: 09|14|05 at 9:14 am. Filed under: US News.