Seven of last year's nine Dubai World Cup night winners have been included in the free entry nominations for the US$27.25 million (Dh100m) extravaganza at Meydan Racecourse in March.
Monterosso headed the entries for the $10m Dubai World Cup after the Dubai Racing Club released all 2,043 entries across the bumper card on Tuesday.
Godolphin's six year old is set to his open his account in Round 3 of the Al Maktoum Challenge on Super Saturday on March 9 before defending his crown in the world's most valuable race.
Mahmoud Al Zarooni could also saddle Capponi, who chased home Monterosso last season, and is included in a total entry from the trainer of 16.
Saeed bin Suroor, the Godolphin handler who boasts five wins, entered 11, including Alpha, the exciting American recruit.
Godolphin could face a strong international challenge after America provided the largest entry from any of the 22 countries from outside the UAE. There were 27 horses accepted to the World Cup from the US, with as many as 11 from Japan.
The US challenge is spearheaded by Royal Delta and Game On Dude, ninth and 12th respectively last season, while the likes of Animal Kingdom, the 2011 Kentucky Derby winner, Dullahan, the triple Group 1 winner on synthetics and Little Mike, the Breeders’ Cup Turf winner, were all handed entries.
Japan provided the one-two when Victoire Pisa and Transcend held off Monterosso in 2011, and could be represented again by the wonder filly Gentildonna, the four-time Group 1 winner who is set to jet into Dubai after Super Saturday.
“It’s early stages but at least they have all got something to aim at and we know that they are interested in coming,” Martin Talty, the International Manager of Dubai Racing Club, said.
“A lot can happen in the next few weeks and there is of course Super Saturday here and the big meetings at Santa Anita and Gulfstream Park in America in between.
“We know Royal Delta and Game On Dude are better than they showed last season and the Japanese have proved they have the best set of horses in the world. In 2002 we had 87 horses nominated for the Dubai World Cup at this stage and this year we have 272.”
Although Cirrus Des Aigles is struggling to shake off the injury he picked up in Hong Kong in December, the evergreen gelding has been handed an opportunity to defend his crown in the $5m Dubai Sheema Classic, while African Story, last season’s Godolphin Mile winner, has also been entered in the World Cup and the Dubai Duty Free.
Krypton Factor, last season’s Dubai Golden Shaheen winner, could well face Rocket Man and Kinsale King, the 2011 and 2010 winners of the race, while Mike De Kock hopes Daddy Long Legs could step up on last season’s UAE Derby success by entering his new acquisition in the World Cup, Sheema Classic and Duty Free.
One of the most intriguing entries is that of Ortensia, the Australian sprinter who took Britain by storm last season having won the Al Quoz Sprint.
Paul Messara’s mare has been entered in the five furlong sprint once again and had her first serious gallop on January 17 having finished down the field in the Haydock Sprint Cup in September.
TM Fred Texas heads 60 Purebred Arabian entries for the Dubai Kahayla Classic.
Dubai World Cup
Races to be run at Meydan Racecourse on March 30
1 Dubai Kahayla Classic
2 Godolphin Mile
3 Dubai Gold Cup
4 UAE Derby
5 Al Quoz Sprint
6 Dubai Golden Shaheen
7 Dubai Duty Free
8 Dubai Sheema Classic
9 Dubai World Cup
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Last five meetings
2013: South Korea 0-2 Brazil
2002: South Korea 2-3 Brazil
1999: South Korea 1-0 Brazil
1997: South Korea 1-2 Brazil
1995: South Korea 0-1 Brazil
Note: All friendlies
Dr Graham's three goals
Short term
Establish logistics and systems needed to globally deploy vaccines
Intermediate term
Build biomedical workforces in low- and middle-income nations
Long term
A prototype pathogen approach for pandemic preparedness
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Results:
First Test: New Zealand 30 British & Irish Lions 15
Second Test: New Zealand 21 British & Irish Lions 24
Third Test: New Zealand 15 British & Irish Lions 15
The Africa Institute 101
Housed on the same site as the original Africa Hall, which first hosted an Arab-African Symposium in 1976, the newly renovated building will be home to a think tank and postgraduate studies hub (it will offer master’s and PhD programmes). The centre will focus on both the historical and contemporary links between Africa and the Gulf, and will serve as a meeting place for conferences, symposia, lectures, film screenings, plays, musical performances and more. In fact, today it is hosting a symposium – 5-plus-1: Rethinking Abstraction that will look at the six decades of Frank Bowling’s career, as well as those of his contemporaries that invested social, cultural and personal meaning into abstraction.
Did you know?
Brunch has been around, is some form or another, for more than a century. The word was first mentioned in print in an 1895 edition of Hunter’s Weekly, after making the rounds among university students in Britain. The article, entitled Brunch: A Plea, argued the case for a later, more sociable weekend meal. “By eliminating the need to get up early on Sunday, brunch would make life brighter for Saturday night carousers. It would promote human happiness in other ways as well,” the piece read. “It is talk-compelling. It puts you in a good temper, it makes you satisfied with yourself and your fellow beings, it sweeps away the worries and cobwebs of the week.” More than 100 years later, author Guy Beringer’s words still ring true, especially in the UAE, where brunches are often used to mark special, sociable occasions.
Specs
Engine: 2-litre
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 255hp
Torque: 273Nm
Price: Dh240,000
How Apple's credit card works
The Apple Card looks different from a traditional credit card — there's no number on the front and the users' name is etched in metal. The card expands the company's digital Apple Pay services, marrying the physical card to a virtual one and integrating both with the iPhone. Its attributes include quick sign-up, elimination of most fees, strong security protections and cash back.
What does it cost?
Apple says there are no fees associated with the card. That means no late fee, no annual fee, no international fee and no over-the-limit fees. It also said it aims to have among the lowest interest rates in the industry. Users must have an iPhone to use the card, which comes at a cost. But they will earn cash back on their purchases — 3 per cent on Apple purchases, 2 per cent on those with the virtual card and 1 per cent with the physical card. Apple says it is the only card to provide those rewards in real time, so that cash earned can be used immediately.
What will the interest rate be?
The card doesn't come out until summer but Apple has said that as of March, the variable annual percentage rate on the card could be anywhere from 13.24 per cent to 24.24 per cent based on creditworthiness. That's in line with the rest of the market, according to analysts
What about security?
The physical card has no numbers so purchases are made with the embedded chip and the digital version lives in your Apple Wallet on your phone, where it's protected by fingerprints or facial recognition. That means that even if someone steals your phone, they won't be able to use the card to buy things.
Is it easy to use?
Apple says users will be able to sign up for the card in the Wallet app on their iPhone and begin using it almost immediately. It also tracks spending on the phone in a more user-friendly format, eliminating some of the gibberish that fills a traditional credit card statement. Plus it includes some budgeting tools, such as tracking spending and providing estimates of how much interest could be charged on a purchase to help people make an informed decision.
* Associated Press
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
The Equaliser 2
Director Antoine Fuqua
Starring: Denzel Washington, Bill Pullman, Melissa Leo, Ashton Sanders
Three stars
Dhadak
Director: Shashank Khaitan
Starring: Janhvi Kapoor, Ishaan Khattar, Ashutosh Rana
Stars: 3
Emergency
Director: Kangana Ranaut
Stars: Kangana Ranaut, Anupam Kher, Shreyas Talpade, Milind Soman, Mahima Chaudhry
Rating: 2/5
Spare
Profile
Company name: Spare
Started: March 2018
Co-founders: Dalal Alrayes and Saurabh Shah
Based: UAE
Sector: FinTech
Investment: Own savings. Going for first round of fund-raising in March 2019
Unresolved crisis
Russia and Ukraine have been locked in a bitter conflict since 2014, when Ukraine’s Kremlin-friendly president was ousted, Moscow annexed Crimea and then backed a separatist insurgency in the east.
Fighting between the Russia-backed rebels and Ukrainian forces has killed more than 14,000 people. In 2015, France and Germany helped broker a peace deal, known as the Minsk agreements, that ended large-scale hostilities but failed to bring a political settlement of the conflict.
The Kremlin has repeatedly accused Kiev of sabotaging the deal, and Ukrainian officials in recent weeks said that implementing it in full would hurt Ukraine.
Tightening the screw on rogue recruiters
The UAE overhauled the procedure to recruit housemaids and domestic workers with a law in 2017 to protect low-income labour from being exploited.
Only recruitment companies authorised by the government are permitted as part of Tadbeer, a network of labour ministry-regulated centres.
A contract must be drawn up for domestic workers, the wages and job offer clearly stating the nature of work.
The contract stating the wages, work entailed and accommodation must be sent to the employee in their home country before they depart for the UAE.
The contract will be signed by the employer and employee when the domestic worker arrives in the UAE.
Only recruitment agencies registered with the ministry can undertake recruitment and employment applications for domestic workers.
Penalties for illegal recruitment in the UAE include fines of up to Dh100,000 and imprisonment
But agents not authorised by the government sidestep the law by illegally getting women into the country on visit visas.
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Globalization and its Discontents Revisited
Joseph E. Stiglitz
W. W. Norton & Company
