Tadhg O’Shea scooped the Listed Abu Dhabi Championship prizes for both the Purebred Arabians and thoroughbreds on Thursday.
The UAE champion jockey steered Jaber Bittar’s Unleashed to take the prize for the Arabians, and completed the double by claiming the concluding race for the thoroughbreds on the Bhupat Seemar-trained Wickywickywheels.
The two winners also took the Irishman’s tally to 25 for the season, nine more than his closest challenger Antonio Fresu.
The only filly in the thoroughbred race, Wickywickywheels was making a winning debut in the UAE, having arrived with five wins when trained by Jim Goldie in the UK.
O’Shea had to bring Wickywickywheels from the back of the field. She made steady progress approaching the final bend of the 2,200-metre race, and then got up just past the 200m pole to win from Fresu and Away He Goes by a length and a quarter.
“She is a special filly and we think she is very good,” Jimmy Long, the owner, said of the four-year-old daughter of The Carbon Unit.
“She’s now won six from 14 and potentially can turn out to be a Group 1 horse. We have a plan mapped out at the carnival (from January 6 at Meydan), as long as she stays sound. I have all the family so, as a breeder, this is a big result and just brilliant.”
O’Shea said: “That is a wonderful result for the yard and a very enthusiastic owner-breeder. We are all delighted.”
O’Shea won on Unleashed for the second time and added: “I had a lovely tow into the race and then, once we were in front, he perhaps idled a bit but I was always confident we were going to hold on. This fellow will probably be better over a bit further.”
Rookie trainer Hamad Al Marar’s Suny Du Loup under Pat Dobbs clinched the UAE Arabian Derby.
The most experienced of the 14 runners, the French-bred colt by AF Albahar raced prominently behind the leading group before Dobbs sent him to the front on the home stretch to win from the fast-finishing Ajrad Athbah, under Fresu, by a neck.
Arriving from a campaign in France with two wins under his belt in seven starts, Suny Du Loup was winning back-to-back prizes in Abu Dhabi.
He was a winner over the 2,000m trip under the same rider in his last start two weeks ago and prior to that was runner-up on his debut in Abu Dhabi over the 1,400m trip on November 10.
Dobbs also completed a double on the night after steering Abdallah Al Hammadi’s Only Smoke to victory in a handicap for horses rated 75-100.
Results
5pm: Al Rabi Tower – Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 (Turf) 1,400
Winner: Maimoon, Richard Mullen (jockey), Salem Al Ketbi (trainer)
5.30pm: Wathba Stallions Cup – Handicap (PA) Dh70,000 (T) 1,600m
Winner: AF Kal Noor, Marcelino Rodrigues, Ernst Oertel
6pm: Abu Dhabi Championship – Listed (PA) Dh180,000 (T) 1,600m
Winner: Unleashed, Tadhg O’Shea, Jaber Bittar
6.30pm: Hili Tower – Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 2,200m
Winner: Only Smoke, Pat Dobbs, Abdallah Al Hammadi
7pm: UAE Arabian Derby – Prestige (PA) Dh150,000 (T) 2,200m
Winner: Suny Du Loup, Pat Dobbs, Hamad Al Marar
7.30pm: Abu Dhabi Championship – Listed (TB) Dh380,000 (T) 2,200m
Winner: Wickywickywheels, Tadhg O’Shea, Bhupat Seemar
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Director: Goran Hugo Olsson
Rating: 5/5
Fifa Club World Cup quarter-final
Esperance de Tunis 0
Al Ain 3 (Ahmed 02’, El Shahat 17’, Al Ahbabi 60’)
Ten tax points to be aware of in 2026
1. Domestic VAT refund amendments: request your refund within five years
If a business does not apply for the refund on time, they lose their credit.
2. E-invoicing in the UAE
Businesses should continue preparing for the implementation of e-invoicing in the UAE, with 2026 a preparation and transition period ahead of phased mandatory adoption.
3. More tax audits
Tax authorities are increasingly using data already available across multiple filings to identify audit risks.
4. More beneficial VAT and excise tax penalty regime
Tax disputes are expected to become more frequent and more structured, with clearer administrative objection and appeal processes. The UAE has adopted a new penalty regime for VAT and excise disputes, which now mirrors the penalty regime for corporate tax.
5. Greater emphasis on statutory audit
There is a greater need for the accuracy of financial statements. The International Financial Reporting Standards standards need to be strictly adhered to and, as a result, the quality of the audits will need to increase.
6. Further transfer pricing enforcement
Transfer pricing enforcement, which refers to the practice of establishing prices for internal transactions between related entities, is expected to broaden in scope. The UAE will shortly open the possibility to negotiate advance pricing agreements, or essentially rulings for transfer pricing purposes.
7. Limited time periods for audits
Recent amendments also introduce a default five-year limitation period for tax audits and assessments, subject to specific statutory exceptions. While the standard audit and assessment period is five years, this may be extended to up to 15 years in cases involving fraud or tax evasion.
8. Pillar 2 implementation
Many multinational groups will begin to feel the practical effect of the Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax (DMTT), the UAE's implementation of the OECD’s global minimum tax under Pillar 2. While the rules apply for financial years starting on or after January 1, 2025, it is 2026 that marks the transition to an operational phase.
9. Reduced compliance obligations for imported goods and services
Businesses that apply the reverse-charge mechanism for VAT purposes in the UAE may benefit from reduced compliance obligations.
10. Substance and CbC reporting focus
Tax authorities are expected to continue strengthening the enforcement of economic substance and Country-by-Country (CbC) reporting frameworks. In the UAE, these regimes are increasingly being used as risk-assessment tools, providing tax authorities with a comprehensive view of multinational groups’ global footprints and enabling them to assess whether profits are aligned with real economic activity.
Contributed by Thomas Vanhee and Hend Rashwan, Aurifer
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The Bio
Favourite Emirati dish: I have so many because it has a lot of herbs and vegetables. Harees (oats with chicken) is one of them
Favourite place to go to: Dubai Mall because it has lots of sports shops.
Her motivation: My performance because I know that whatever I do, if I put the effort in, I’ll get results
During her free time: I like to drink coffee - a latte no sugar and no flavours. I do not like cold drinks
Pet peeve: That with every meal they give you a fries and Pepsi. That is so unhealthy
Advice to anyone who wants to be an ironman: Go for the goal. If you are consistent, you will get there. With the first one, it might not be what they want but they should start and just do it
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Director: Kushan Nandy
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Director: Hasan Hadi
Starring: Baneen Ahmad Nayyef, Waheed Thabet Khreibat, Sajad Mohamad Qasem
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Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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.”
