LOUISVILLE, Ky. — New York has the Yankees. Dallas has the Cowboys. Dubai has Godolphin Racing.

The top racing operation for Dubai ruler Sheik Mohammed is the gold standard by which other major racing stables are compared.

Godolphin has won 146 Grade 1 victories in 12 countries over the last 17 years, and the stable's stars are considered heroes in the desert nation.

"Godolphin is Dubai," said John Ferguson, a bloodstock agent for Sheik Mohammed. "One mustn't forget that his people follow Godolphin in the same way that people from New York follow the Yankees or whatever else. It's a flagship."

A flagship still looking for its first Kentucky Derby victory. Godolphin hopes to fill the only hole left in its resume on Saturday when Desert Party and Regal Ransom head to the post in the Run for the Roses.

Sheik Mohammed is 0-for-5 in the Derby. The best effort by a Godolphin horse is China Visit's sixth-place finish in 2000.

Critics have blamed Godolphin's inability to produce a Derby winner on a training program that sends the stable's top American horses to Dubai every year rather than keeping them on a more traditional Derby trail.

Several U.S.-bred colts have headed to the desert as budding stars and come back as also-rans, if they even come back at all.

Discreet Cat was bred in Kentucky and taken to Dubai, where he became a Derby contender by winning the UAE Derby. He was shipped back to the United States but was kept out of the 2006 Derby to be given more time to develop. He eventually captured a couple of major stakes in the U.S. before retiring in 2007.

Godolphin's Derby chances this year seemed to take a major hit when Midshipman, who won the Breeders' Cup Juvenile for Bob Baffert last fall, developed a soft tissue injury after being shipped to Dubai.

Yet all the setbacks through the years have done little to change the way Sheik Mohammed runs his program. His best 3-year-olds will spend the winters in Dubai. That's it.

"He's a very, very competitive man and if somebody told him he couldn't do it from Dubai, well, he is going to do it from Dubai," said trainer Eoin Harty, who guided Desert Party as a 2-year-old before he was moved to Godolphin.

Like the Yankees, Sheik Mohammed spares no expense in search of a championship.

Godolphin horses are superstars in Dubai and well taken care of at the stable's state-of-the-art training facility. Life is just as good on the road. Desert Party and Regal Ransom traveled to Churchill Downs in their own planes and have their every step closely monitored by an attentive staff and a nation glued to a popular 24-hour racing channel.

Ferguson has spent more than $281 million on over 300 yearlings at the Keeneland September sale in the last 10 years. It hasn't led to a Derby win but that doesn't mean Sheik Mohammed is going to keep his wallet closed when he sees a horse he likes.

The spending spree has slowed recently, but not because of the economic downturn. All that buying has helped Sheik Mohammed build an impressive collection of stallions and broodmares, and the hope is one day he'll be able to breed a winner without having to buy one.

Just not yet. Desert Party was bought for $2.1 million at the Fasig-Tipton 2-year-old sale last year. Regal Ransom came for a more economical $675,000.

Both horses began their careers in the U.S. before spending the winter in Dubai to grow and mature.

"They needed to prove themselves in Dubai," said Godolphin lead trainer Saeed bin Suroor. "The horse racing over there has really improved. Every year the class of racing, the horses, is much better. You have to see how good they are before you dream to send them to win the big races."

The fact that Desert Party and Regal Ransom have raced against each other three times — on dirt no less — means they're more battle-tested than some of Godolphin's previous Derby entries.

"The group of horses we had, they're nice, but they're not good enough really to win the Kentucky Derby," bin Suroor said. "But this year we have better horses, better class than what we saw in the past and we're looking for luck."