Soorah, who was ridden by Ryan Moore, in orange and white silks, at Range Rover Sport Trophy on Thursday, provided the first success in Dubai for trainer William Haggas.
Soorah, who was ridden by Ryan Moore, in orange and white silks, at Range Rover Sport Trophy on Thursday, provided the first success in Dubai for trainer William Haggas.

Sport

Haggas eyes more Dubai success as Entifaadha slated to run in derby

English handler ended five-year wait without a win when Sooraah was first in the Range Rover Sport Trophy last week.

Geoffrey Riddle

February 20, 2012

William Haggas put an end to a five-year wait for success in the UAE last week and the English trainer will bolster his team in Dubai with the arrival of Entifaadha into international quarantine on Monday.

Haggas won with Sooraah in the Range Rover Sport Trophy on Thursday, the trainer's first winner in Dubai since Charlie Cool took the Muhtathir Cup at Nad Al Sheba. For a handler who has won the English Derby with the Khalifa bin Dasmal-owned Shaamit and was successful twice at the highest level last season with Dancing Rain, Dubai has proved frustratingly elusive for the Newmarket-based handler.

Most of his UAE-based owners transfer their horses to local trainers for the Dubai World Cup Carnival but despite Entifaadha running in the blue and white silks of Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid, Haggas was given permission in October to prepare the three-year-old son of Dansili for the UAE Derby.

Entifaadha displayed some decent Group-race form in England as a juvenile last season but after four months strengthening up in Newmarket Haggas is excited by running the colt at Meydan racecourse on Thursday.

"I haven't had one good enough for Sheikh Hamdan until now," Haggas said at his Somerville Lodge base. "He thinks it is a great idea and Entifaadha has a bit more to offer in Europe yet, which is why he is probably still with me. He'll start off in the Meydan Classic over a mile, which should suit him. I'm not sure about the Tapeta surface but he's been training on Polytrack at home all winter so it shouldn't be a problem. He's not a very big horse and I'm looking forward to seeing him run in person."

Haggas has saved his trump card until last, however, and his best horse this campaign will not arrive in the UAE until March 24 before a tilt at the Dubai Sheema Classic seven days later.

The 51 year old is a believer in keeping his horses at home and Beaten Up will undergo a precise programme in England with a view to running in the US$5 million (Dh18.37m) middle-distance contest.

Beaten Up will race in an all-weather contest at Lingfield on Saturday before completing Haggas's meticulous groundwork by working under the floodlights of Wolverhampton racecourse to recreate the conditions on World Cup night.

The four year old has raced just three times but on his final start in October he won a Group 3 race by an easy four lengths, which suggests the Sheema Classic would be well within his compass. As an inside line, the horse is owned by Haggas's father, but the word has spread far and wide already about the latent talent lurking within the gelding's impressive frame.

"It was a hell of a run last time and I want to look at that performance in a positive light," Haggas said. "I haven't had him off the bit yet at home and we sold shares in him to two Australian owners over the winter.

"He's a fine looking horse, and although it's not my job to admire them, but bring the best out in them, it's hard not to just look at him on the gallops."

With such firepower at his disposal, Haggas may not have to wait another five years before he next visits the winners' enclosure in the UAE.

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.”

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