Godolphin gave Saeed bin Suroor the job of conditioning Sakhee for his four-year-old racing campaign. Being prepared for top-level races, he was entered and won the Steventon Stakes Listed race. In his next outing of 2001, he dominated the competition, winning the Group One International Stakes by seven lengths. Sent to Longchamp Racecourse in Paris, France for October's prestigious Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, Sakhee once again dominated his opponents and won by six lengths over the previously undefeated filly, Aquarelliste. In his final start of 2001, Sakhee was sent to the United States to compete in the 2001 Breeders' Cup Classic at New York's Belmont Park. Racing on dirt for the first time in his career, he finished second by a nose to Tiznow.