Bhupat Seemar remains on track for a maiden UAE trainer’s championship after saddling a double including the feature prize of the seven-race card at Jebel Ali’s final meeting on Saturday.
His stable jockey Tadhg O’Shea landed the Jebel Ali Classic on board Discovery Island and Bernardo Pinheiro grabbed the concluding handicap on Ghost Of The Mambo.
The double took Seemar’s tally to 45 winners, six more than his closest challenger Doug Watson with four race days left, including the Dubai World Cup meeting.
Discovery Island led close home to win from stable mate Rodaini by half-a-length. On The Warpath took third ahead of another Seemar runner Bochart in the conditions race over 1,400 metres.
“We have always liked this horse who was a maiden when we bought him,” the Zabeel Stables trainer said of the five-year-old Dubawi gelding.
“We are delighted to have won three times with him. Hopefully there is more to come,” Seemar added.
Pinheiro completed the double when he produced a strong run up the hill to win on Ghost Of The Mambo from Tolmount and Dubalin Parade for Seemar to regain the six-winner lead after Watson had also saddled two winners.
The Red Stables trainer took the second and third races with Pat Dobbs producing a strong late run on Winners Club.
Sam Hitchcock on Watson’s Raneen got up on the line to win from stable mate Minwah by a length to deny Dobbs also completing a double half an hour later.
“We gave this filly plenty of time and I was impressed with that,” Watson said of Raneen.
“I imagine she will go back to England now, as will Minwah who has also run very well.”
Pinheiro also celebrated a double at the meeting having steered Rashed Bouresly’s Balletomane to victory in the fifth race.
The Brazilian made all on the seven-year-old son of Exceed And Excel to win from Lake Causeway under O’Shea by a length.
Lake Causeway has now finished runner up on five times, and either third or fourth in the remaining three starts for the season. The five-year-old Creative Cause gelding remains winless after 17 starts.
Results
2.30pm: Commercial Bank Of Dubai – Maiden (TB) Dh60,000 (Dirt) 1,400m
Winner: Street Mood, Antonio Fresu (jockey), Musabah Al Muhairi (trainer)
3pm: Al Shafar Investment – Handicap (TB) Dh76,000 (D) 1,400m
Winner: Winners Club, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson
3.30pm: Shadwell – Conditions (TB) Dh200,000 (D) 1,400m
Winner: Raneen, Sam Hitchcock, Doug Watson
4pm: Jebel Ali Classic (Silver Jubilee) – Conditions (TB) Dh250,000 (D) 1,400m
Winner: Discovery Island, Tadhg O’Shea, Bhupat Seemar
4.30pm: Al Firdous – Handicap (TB) Dh68,000 (D) 1,000m
Winner: Balletoman, Bernardo Pinheiro, Rashed Bouresly
5pm: Dubai Creek Tower – Handicap (TB) Dh84,000 (D) 1,950m
Winner: Quip, Xavier Ziani, Salem bin Ghadayer
5.30pm: Jebel Ali Racecourse – Handicap (TB) Dh72,000 (D) 1,800m
Winner: Ghost Of The Mambo, Bernardo Pinheiro, Bhupat Seemar
The Sand Castle
Director: Matty Brown
Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea
Rating: 2.5/5
Indika
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NINE WINLESS GAMES
Arsenal 2-2 Crystal Palace (Oct 27, PL)
Liverpool 5-5 Arsenal (Oct 30, EFL)
Arsenal 1-1 Wolves (Nov 02, PL)
Vitoria Guimaraes 1-1 Arsenal (Nov 6, Europa)
Leicester 2-0 Arsenal (Nov 9, PL)
Arsenal 2-2 Southampton (Nov 23, PL)
Arsenal 1-2 Eintracht Frankfurt (Nov 28, Europa)
Norwich 2-2 Arsenal (Dec 01, PL)
Arsenal 1-2 Brighton (Dec 05, PL)
The specs: 2019 GMC Yukon Denali
Price, base: Dh306,500
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Power: 420hp @ 5,600rpm
Torque: 621Nm @ 4,100rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 12.9L / 100km
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.”
Brief scores:
Manchester City 2
Gundogan 27', De Bruyne 85'
Crystal Palace 3
Schlupp 33', Townsend 35', Milivojevic 51' (pen)
Man of the Match: Andros Townsend (Crystal Palace)
