In the biggest racing stable in the world, owned by a family of fabulously wealthy Arab sheikhs there was a place near the top on Saturday for a man who shampoos the horses and picks up the dung.Muhammad Rashid on Saturday strapped the Caulfield Cup winner All The Good.He brushed his horse's coat to a brilliant gold, he dressed his hooves with oil and he combed its mane.He travelled with him in the back of the float, kept him calm and happy all afternoon and led him around the parade ring before

In the biggest racing stable in the world, owned by a family of fabulously wealthy Arab sheikhs there was a place near the top on Saturday for a man who shampoos the horses and picks up the dung.

Muhammad Rashid on Saturday strapped the Caulfield Cup winner All The Good.

He brushed his horse's coat to a brilliant gold, he dressed his hooves with oil and he combed its mane.

He travelled with him in the back of the float, kept him calm and happy all afternoon and led him around the parade ring before the race.

And when All The Good loomed up to win the $2.5 million race, Muhammad led the cheering for the entire worldwide Godolphin stable.

Standing by the outside fence in front of the winning post he leapt and shouted and cried for "my boy".

As he collected him at the gate to the enclosure, Muhammad kissed his horse's sweaty neck and slapped his hand against its shoulder.

"It is my happiest day," he said.

"I thank my God."

It was impossible to know how the main players in the Godolphin team reacted to the win, because none of them was at Caulfield.

Sheikh Mohammed, who heads the stable, and his brothers Sheikh Hamdan and Sheikh Ahmed were either in Dubai or England, as was the horse's trainer Saeed bin Suroor.

But it can be assumed Sheikh Mohammed at least was rather pleased.

The Caulfield Cup isn't the biggest race he has won, not by a longshot.

While Sheikh Mohammed and Sheikh Hamdan have won several Group One races in Australia in their own right, the Cup was Godolphin's first Australian Group One after trying with 15 horses.

The stable's racing manager Simon Crisford said the All The Good had given Godolphin the major Australian win that it had so desperately wanted.

"We have been coming to Australia for more than a decade trying to win one of your big Cups," Crisford said.

"We've had a lot of bad luck, a lot of disappointment.

"But it is a tribute to Sheikh Mohammed that the stable has finally broken through."

Godolphin has regularly sent horses to Melbourne in the spring since 1995.

They had won a couple of Group Two races with Hatha Anna and Beekeeper and had three placings in Melbourne Cups.

But mostly it has been a story of misfortune.

Two years ago, things went so poorly that they packed up and went home a week before their first scheduled start.

Things haven't entirely turned around since.

This year, for instance, the Godolphin horses had won around US$9 million and had collected seven Group One wins around the world before Saturday.

All The Good added $1.5 million to that total, becoming the stable's biggest single earner for the year.

The man who got him ready on Saturday morning, looked after him at the races, hosed him down in the afternoon and put him to bed in the night will see his share of it.

But he won't be out on Saturday night toasting the victory with the rest of the team.

He'll go home and get the buckets and the sponges ready for Saturday's shampooing, and muck out his horse's box.

"Then I will pray."