Doug Watson saddled his second treble of the season at Jebel Ali on Saturday to take his tally at the venue to eight in three meetings.
The seven-time UAE champion trainer sent out Fanaar and Mayaadeen, both ridden by Shadwell’s retained jockey Dane O’Neill, while stable jockey Pat Dobbs steered Silver Jubilee to an impressive win.
O’Neill brought Fanaar from the back of the field to win from another Shadwell runner Almoreb, trained by Musabah Al Muhairi and ridden by Antonio Fresu, by three quarters of a length.
Half an hour later Watson was celebrating a double after Dobbs and Silver Jubilee took the 1,600-metre maiden for three year olds.
“He is a very genuine horse, not very big but very tough,” Dobbs said. “He did not handle the tight bend very well but came home well in the straight and he should improve from that.”
Mayaadeen completed the treble for Watson to take his overall tally for the season to 11.
“He ran really well on his return over 1,400m and he has stayed the 1,600m well today which was a query but to have a double for Shadwell and Sheikha Hissa is great, as is of course a treble for the yard,” the American said.
Ahmed Al Shemaili saddled his first winner from his new Meydan base at Grandstand Stables by taking the opener with Ibra Attack ridden by Adrie de Vries.
After a slow start, De Vries was soon able to find a handy position before striking for home 200m out and they always appeared likely to hold on, despite a renewed challenge from Onda Ruggente and a late flourish from Desert Destination, third and second respectively.
“I rode him last time and he was a bit naughty, almost babyish, so I told Ahmed to put the visor on and he was much more mature today,” De Vries said.
Mersaal completed back-to-back victories over the track and trip by taking the day’s feature prize, a handicap for horses rated 80-106, over the 1,200m distance.
Jean Van Overmaire settled the Ghostzapper gelding before easing into contention throughout the straight, settling matters with almost 200m remaining for the Jebel Ali Stables trainer Michael Costa.
In maintaining his unbeaten record, Costa’s charge overhauled 2020 Group 3 UAE Oaks heroine Down On Da Bayou, also a dual winner over this course and distance last season.
“He has clearly improved a lot from that first run and we almost missed the break so I decided to be patient and see how things panned out. Luckily it worked out well,” Van Overmaire said.
Results
2.15pm: Commercial Bank of Dubai – Maiden (TB) Dh60,000 (Dirt) 1,400m
Winner: Ibra Attack, Adrie de Vries (jockey), Ahmed Al Shemaili (trainer)
2.45pm: Al Shafar Investment – Handicap (TB) Dh84,000 (D) 1,400m
Winner: Fanaar, Dane O’Neill, Doug Watson
3.15pm: Al Redha Insurance Brokers – Maiden (TB) Dh60,000 (D) 1,600m
Winner: Silver Jubilee, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson
3.45pm: Shadwell – Handicap (TB) Dh84,000 (D) 1,600m
Winner: Mersaal, Jean Van Overmeire, Michael Costa
4.15pm: Dubai Real Estate Centre – Handicap (TB) Dh68,000 (D) 1,600m
Winner: Mayaadeen, Dane O’Neill, Doug Watson
4.45pm: JAARC – Handicap (TB) Dh80,000 (D) 1,950m
Winner: First Of November, Royston Ffrench, Salem bin Ghadayer
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PROFILE
Name: Enhance Fitness
Year started: 2018
Based: UAE
Employees: 200
Amount raised: $3m
Investors: Global Ventures and angel investors
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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.”
Company profile
Company: Verity
Date started: May 2021
Founders: Kamal Al-Samarrai, Dina Shoman and Omar Al Sharif
Based: Dubai
Sector: FinTech
Size: four team members
Stage: Intially bootstrapped but recently closed its first pre-seed round of $800,000
Investors: Wamda, VentureSouq, Beyond Capital and regional angel investors
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