Dane O'Neill, on Darej, won the opening race at the Sharjah racecourse before riding to victory on Ameer Al Sraya in the second.
Dane O'Neill, on Darej, won the opening race at the Sharjah racecourse before riding to victory on Ameer Al Sraya in the second.
Dane O'Neill, on Darej, won the opening race at the Sharjah racecourse before riding to victory on Ameer Al Sraya in the second.
Dane O'Neill, on Darej, won the opening race at the Sharjah racecourse before riding to victory on Ameer Al Sraya in the second.

Sport

Darej gets maiden UAE win with O'Neill on top

Jockey O'Neill rides two winners while O'Shea goes one better to claim hat-trick.

John Byrne

December 29, 2012

  • English
  • Arabic

SHARJAH // The season's leading owner, Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid, had a one-two finish in the only thoroughbred race at Sharjah yesterday afternoon, a 1,200m handicap, with Dane O'Neill claiming the victory on Darej.

Trained by Doug Watson, the four year old, given a positive ride by O'Neill, was making it third time lucky in the UAE and has now won two of his six career starts.

Watson said: "He has made virtually every yard of the running which was the plan and we were keen to try him over 1,200m as that was the trip he won in England. We were not worried about the dirt and I imagine we will keep him sprinting now."

He was chased home by Serhaal, under Paul Hanagan, the owner's first jockey.

O'Neill was then involved in another one-two but this time it was the trainer Tony Manuel saddling the first two home with the jockey completing a double on Ameer Al Sraya, who denied stable companion AS Alkhattaf in a 2,000m maiden.

Manuel said: "We knew we had two decent chances as they had both shown they handle the track. As they turned for home they always looked in control and it is a great result for the yard."

Adrie de Vries was the runner-up and later produced Helouane with a perfectly timed challenge to win the only Purebred Arabian handicap on the card for the trainer Jaber Bittar.

With 50 metres of the 1,700m race to run, any one of seven could have won and Helouane still had five rivals ahead of him, but he picked up well to lead on the line.

The rest of the card was dominated by the champion jockey Tadhg O'Shea who rode three winners, and was seen at his best on the Gill Duffield-trained AF Hasba, who made virtually every yard of the running in a 1,700m maiden.

O'Shea sent the four year old for home from about 600m out and said: "We wanted to be handy with her and she was enjoying it out in front. She responded well when I asked her and ran all the way to the line."

He then won a second 1,700m maiden on Callateral for Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed, President of the UAE, and the trainer Ernst Oertel and again O'Shea made a decisive move, this time as the runners swung into the short straight.

O'Shea said: "I was keen to get on with things as we know he stays further and once I was clear I was never likely to be caught."

The jockey completed a good afternoon by steering Richlore to a cosy victory in the concluding 1,700m conditions race for the same owner and trainer.

O'Shea joked: "The 1,700m seems to be my lucky course and distance today!"

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Friday Hertha Berlin v Union Berlin (11.30pm)

Saturday Freiburg v Borussia Monchengladbach, Eintracht Frankfurt v Borussia Dortmund, Cologne v Wolfsburg, Arminia Bielefeld v Mainz (6.30pm) Bayern Munich v RB Leipzig (9.30pm)

Sunday Werder Bremen v Stuttgart (6.30pm), Schalke v Bayer Leverkusen (9pm)

Monday Hoffenheim v Augsburg (11.30pm)

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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.”

Salah in numbers

€39 million: Liverpool agreed a fee, including add-ons, in the region of €39m (nearly Dh176m) to sign Salah from Roma last year. The exchange rate at the time meant that cost the Reds £34.3m - a bargain given his performances since.

13: The 25-year-old player was not a complete stranger to the Premier League when he arrived at Liverpool this summer. However, during his previous stint at Chelsea, he made just 13 Premier League appearances, seven of which were off the bench, and scored only twice.

57: It was in the 57th minute of his Liverpool bow when Salah opened his account for the Reds in the 3-3 draw with Watford back in August. The Egyptian prodded the ball over the line from close range after latching onto Roberto Firmino's attempted lob.

7: Salah's best scoring streak of the season occurred between an FA Cup tie against West Brom on January 27 and a Premier League win over Newcastle on March 3. He scored for seven games running in all competitions and struck twice against Tottenham.

3: This season Salah became the first player in Premier League history to win the player of the month award three times during a term. He was voted as the division's best player in November, February and March.

40: Salah joined Roger Hunt and Ian Rush as the only players in Liverpool's history to have scored 40 times in a single season when he headed home against Bournemouth at Anfield earlier this month.

30: The goal against Bournemouth ensured the Egyptian achieved another milestone in becoming the first African player to score 30 times across one Premier League campaign.

8: As well as his fine form in England, Salah has also scored eight times in the tournament phase of this season's Champions League. Only Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo, with 15 to his credit, has found the net more often in the group stages and knockout rounds of Europe's premier club competition.

Key developments in maritime dispute

2000: Israel withdraws from Lebanon after nearly 30 years without an officially demarcated border. The UN establishes the Blue Line to act as the frontier. 

2007: Lebanon and Cyprus define their respective exclusive economic zones to facilitate oil and gas exploration. Israel uses this to define its EEZ with Cyprus

2011: Lebanon disputes Israeli-proposed line and submits documents to UN showing different EEZ. Cyprus offers to mediate without much progress.

2018: Lebanon signs first offshore oil and gas licencing deal with consortium of France’s Total, Italy’s Eni and Russia’s Novatek.

2018-2019: US seeks to mediate between Israel and Lebanon to prevent clashes over oil and gas resources.

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Sharjah