The Meydan Racecourse dirt has not had a major headline international horse race on it, but all that is about to change.
Stepping out in the Al Bastikiya, the first thoroughbred contest on the eight-race Super Saturday card, will be the strapping dark form of Sir Fever, the Uruguayan Triple Crown winner who will carry William Buick in the royal blue silks of Godolphin.
Sir Fever arrived at Charlie Appleby’s Marmoom stables from Uruguay in January with a flawless reputation, having won all of his 10 starts at Maronas Racecourse.
The southern hemisphere three year old’s efforts last year ranged from running over 1,000 metres to winning the Gran Premio Nacional, the local Group 1 race over 2,500m in which Invasor, the subsequent 2007 Dubai World Cup winner, also secured the coveted hat-trick.
Such athleticism over various distances needs to be taken with a pinch of salt, as he is unlikely to have been running against horses that match the quality of Mubtaahij and Ajwad, the Mike de Kock pair that stands in his way today.
Yet Sir Fever’s race times were comparable to that of Invasor’s and, in addition to Buick, Sir Fever will have to shoulder a significant dose of expectation in the Listed event.
Until the third round of the Al Maktoum Challenge is run later this evening we will not know the true state of Godolphin’s World Cup pecking order, but with African Story and Prince Bishop looking some way off the level of American horse of the year California Chrome and UAE Derby winner Toast Of New York, Sir Fever’s run takes on an extra dimension.
Sir Fever is qualified to run in the Dubai World Cup, and there are many around the world who are hoping the son of Texas Fever will be aimed at the most valuable race on the planet on March 28, rather than the UAE Derby, for which the Al Bastikiya is a traditional lead-in race.
Wisely, Appleby is not getting carried away.
“Is he mature enough to take on older horses? Yes, he is,” Appleby said. “Is it right at this stage of his development to do so? Probably not.
“We will obviously learn a lot more about him in a race like this. Sure, if he wins by 15 lengths then we have to sit down and have a discussion.
“If he doesn’t win, then it is not all about Super Saturday. He has a long future ahead of him at Godolphin, so we are hardly going to go crash, bang, wallop in a Listed race at Meydan.”
Appleby’s record on the dirt at Meydan hardly makes appetising reading, with three placed horses from 25 runners, but he counters that by suggesting he simply has not had the stock.
“I haven’t really had a horse that either really went on it, or one that was good enough on it,” Appleby said.
“Put it this way, I haven’t had the right calibre of horse on it, and I’m not going away each Carnival meeting trying to work out what I have done wrong.”
Sir Fever has to concede 5.5 kilograms to Mubtaahij, who was denied in a magnificent set-to by Saeed bin Suroor’s Maftool in the UAE 2,000 Guineas three weeks ago.
It looks a tall order for Sir Fever on his first start, given the streetwise nature of Mubtaahij, and his superior fitness, but the suspicion is that Sir Fever could be really something special. Meydan holds its breath.
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The essentials
What: Emirates Airline Festival of Literature
When: Friday until March 9
Where: All main sessions are held in the InterContinental Dubai Festival City
Price: Sessions range from free entry to Dh125 tickets, with the exception of special events.
Hot Tip: If waiting for your book to be signed looks like it will be timeconsuming, ask the festival’s bookstore if they have pre-signed copies of the book you’re looking for. They should have a bunch from some of the festival’s biggest guest authors.
Information: www.emirateslitfest.com
Various Artists
Habibi Funk: An Eclectic Selection Of Music From The Arab World (Habibi Funk)
Cricket World Cup League Two
Teams
Oman, UAE, Namibia
Al Amerat, Muscat
Results
Oman beat UAE by five wickets
UAE beat Namibia by eight runs
Namibia beat Oman by 52 runs
UAE beat Namibia by eight wickets
Fixtures
Saturday January 11 - UAE v Oman
Sunday January 12 – Oman v Namibia
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.”
Zakat definitions
Zakat: an Arabic word meaning ‘to cleanse’ or ‘purification’.
Nisab: the minimum amount that a Muslim must have before being obliged to pay zakat. Traditionally, the nisab threshold was 87.48 grams of gold, or 612.36 grams of silver. The monetary value of the nisab therefore varies by current prices and currencies.
Zakat Al Mal: the ‘cleansing’ of wealth, as one of the five pillars of Islam; a spiritual duty for all Muslims meeting the ‘nisab’ wealth criteria in a lunar year, to pay 2.5 per cent of their wealth in alms to the deserving and needy.
Zakat Al Fitr: a donation to charity given during Ramadan, before Eid Al Fitr, in the form of food. Every adult Muslim who possesses food in excess of the needs of themselves and their family must pay two qadahs (an old measure just over 2 kilograms) of flour, wheat, barley or rice from each person in a household, as a minimum.
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Tips from the expert
Dobromir Radichkov, chief data officer at dubizzle and Bayut, offers a few tips for UAE residents looking to earn some cash from pre-loved items.
- Sellers should focus on providing high-quality used goods at attractive prices to buyers.
- It’s important to use clear and appealing photos, with catchy titles and detailed descriptions to capture the attention of prospective buyers.
- Try to advertise a realistic price to attract buyers looking for good deals, especially in the current environment where consumers are significantly more price-sensitive.
- Be creative and look around your home for valuable items that you no longer need but might be useful to others.
