The Ruler of Dubai may have a new favourite thoroughbred racehorse. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, the Vice President of the UAE, was present again at Meydan Racecourse yesterday to watch Gamilati put her rivals to the sword in the UAE 1000 Guineas.
Sheikh Mohammed graced the Dubai track when Gamilati was an easy winner of the UAE 1000 Guineas trial last month, and he was full of pride when his filly toyed with her rivals to win the first UAE Classic of the season.
The winning margin of five-and-a-half lengths was scarcely indicative of her superiority over her stablemate Pimpernel, who had shown a high level of form in England last season.
Much like the trial, the pace was slow and Gamilati showed that her most potent weapon is pace. She finished the final 400 metres in 22.43 seconds but won the race hard held under Frankie Dettori.
Pimpernel was second in the Group 2 Rockfel Stakes at Newmarket in October, finishing two lengths behind Wading, who won in a time quicker than the Group 1 Dewhurst Stakes on the same card.
Although collateral form is often misleading, this was an extremely high-class effort.
Before the race, the Godolphin operation had suggested that the English 1000 Guineas at Newmarket was on Gamilati's schedule, but after travelling so well throughout her race she could well stay further at Meydan.
Sheikh Mohammed suggested as much afterwards. His Darley operation bred the filly, crossing Bernardini, who was a triple Group 1 winner over 2,000m, with Illustrious Miss, a mare who struggled to get a mile well. As a result, in Gamilati's early years Godolphin believed that she would turn out to be a sprinter.
Yesterday, however, she coasted through the 1,600m, and while Godolphin contemplate a tilt at the first Classic of the British season in May, surely an effort over a longer distance will be discussed by Sheikh Mohammed and Simon Crisford, his racing manager.
The UAE Derby on Dubai World Cup night, a race which Godolphin won last year with Khawlah, could be a possibility, while the UAE Oaks on February 23 would surely be at her mercy.
Gamilati showed at York last year that she had a tendency to pull in her races.
A horse often fights the bit in anticipation of having to go to its reserves of energy when it does not really want to. It can sometimes mean there is something wrong physically, but there was no evidence of this at Meydan.
Dettori settled his mount beautifully at the back of the pack and 500m into the race he made up the ground he had left between him and field. It showed that he had complete confidence in Gamilati's tactical speed, and when the moment came in the straight he angled his mount around the outside to victory.
As for Pimpernel, the UAE 1000 Guineas has proved to be a rich source of winners of the UAE Oaks, and the daughter of the sprinter Invincible Spirit ran a race that suggests she could also take in an extra 200m. Given it was her first run of the UAE season, she may well reduce the deficit should her conqueror be aimed at the race.
When Mickael Barzalona angled Pimpernel for a run past Mirco Demuro on Colorful Notion he found nothing and his mount plugged past Sheikh Sultan bin Khalifa's runner.
Demuro, the Dubai World Cup victor, clearly did not take kindly to Barzalona barging through and used his elbows to restrict the Frenchman's passing.
The move highlights what a competitive jockey the Italian is, but competition was not a concept in much evidence yesterday.
The race was supposed to be Gamilati's only run in the UAE but you can count on seeing a bit more of her over the next few weeks.
sports@thenational.ae
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre V8 twin-turbocharged and three electric motors
Power: Combined output 920hp
Torque: 730Nm at 4,000-7,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch automatic
Fuel consumption: 11.2L/100km
On sale: Now, deliveries expected later in 2025
Price: expected to start at Dh1,432,000
GAC GS8 Specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh149,900
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Email sent to Uber team from chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi
From: Dara
To: Team@
Date: March 25, 2019 at 11:45pm PT
Subj: Accelerating in the Middle East
Five years ago, Uber launched in the Middle East. It was the start of an incredible journey, with millions of riders and drivers finding new ways to move and work in a dynamic region that’s become so important to Uber. Now Pakistan is one of our fastest-growing markets in the world, women are driving with Uber across Saudi Arabia, and we chose Cairo to launch our first Uber Bus product late last year.
Today we are taking the next step in this journey—well, it’s more like a leap, and a big one: in a few minutes, we’ll announce that we’ve agreed to acquire Careem. Importantly, we intend to operate Careem independently, under the leadership of co-founder and current CEO Mudassir Sheikha. I’ve gotten to know both co-founders, Mudassir and Magnus Olsson, and what they have built is truly extraordinary. They are first-class entrepreneurs who share our platform vision and, like us, have launched a wide range of products—from digital payments to food delivery—to serve consumers.
I expect many of you will ask how we arrived at this structure, meaning allowing Careem to maintain an independent brand and operate separately. After careful consideration, we decided that this framework has the advantage of letting us build new products and try new ideas across not one, but two, strong brands, with strong operators within each. Over time, by integrating parts of our networks, we can operate more efficiently, achieve even lower wait times, expand new products like high-capacity vehicles and payments, and quicken the already remarkable pace of innovation in the region.
This acquisition is subject to regulatory approval in various countries, which we don’t expect before Q1 2020. Until then, nothing changes. And since both companies will continue to largely operate separately after the acquisition, very little will change in either teams’ day-to-day operations post-close. Today’s news is a testament to the incredible business our team has worked so hard to build.
It’s a great day for the Middle East, for the region’s thriving tech sector, for Careem, and for Uber.
Uber on,
Dara
The specs
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Transmission: ten-speed
Power: 420bhp
Torque: 624Nm
Price: Dh325,125
On sale: Now
Know your Camel lingo
The bairaq is a competition for the best herd of 50 camels, named for the banner its winner takes home
Namoos - a word of congratulations reserved for falconry competitions, camel races and camel pageants. It best translates as 'the pride of victory' - and for competitors, it is priceless
Asayel camels - sleek, short-haired hound-like racers
Majahim - chocolate-brown camels that can grow to weigh two tonnes. They were only valued for milk until camel pageantry took off in the 1990s
Millions Street - the thoroughfare where camels are led and where white 4x4s throng throughout the festival
PROFILE OF SWVL
Started: April 2017
Founders: Mostafa Kandil, Ahmed Sabbah and Mahmoud Nouh
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: transport
Size: 450 employees
Investment: approximately $80 million
Investors include: Dubai’s Beco Capital, US’s Endeavor Catalyst, China’s MSA, Egypt’s Sawari Ventures, Sweden’s Vostok New Ventures, Property Finder CEO Michael Lahyani
