The 28th edition of the Dubai World Cup will forever be remembered as Bhupat Seemar and Tadhg O’Shea's day.
The Zabeel Stables trainer and jockey racked-up a double, rounding off the nine-race card meeting with Laurel River scooping the $12 million Dubai World Cup after their triumph with Tuz earlier in the $2 million Dubai Golden Shaheen at Meydan on Saturday.
Seemar earned a slice of the prize monies in the $1 million Godolphin Mile when Walk Of Stars (O’Shea) and Southern Artist (Antonio Fresu) finished second and fourth, respectively.
Mendelssohn Bay and Leading Spirit were also in the money when placed fourth in the $1 million UAE Derby and sixth in the $2 million Dubai Golden Shaheen, both ridden by Patrick Cosgrave.
“I’m still coming to terms with what’s happened,” Seemar said of Laurel River's win at the post-race conference.
“I think it’ll probably sink in another day or two. It’s absolutely amazing. Tadhg said this morning ‘we’re drawn 12, I’m not going to be two-minded about it, I’m going to go forward.’
“He’s got so much natural pace. He comes out of the gate and this is why we ran him over six furlongs [in the Al Shindagha Sprint].
“Tadhg was able to get some easy fractions and then I saw Defunded coming on his outside but he just kept on going further. I expected to see all the closers flying at him but he kept going.
“I was a small kid when I was watching these colours [Juddmonte] winning some of the biggest races in the world.
“What the late Prince Khalid Abdullah has done for racing is amazing, I couldn’t believe I was going to be training the horse for that farm and in those colours. And now to win one of the world’s great races for them is unbelievable.”
Just over two hours earlier, O’Shea and Seemar were celebrating Tuz’s win in the Dubai Golden Shaheen, adding a second success in the race after Switzerland had given them their first triumph in a Group 1 thoroughbred race in 2022.
Switzerland was denied of a back-to-back success in the race when edged out in a photo by Japanese raider Sibelius last year.
“Tuz got so much natural speed; his weapon is his speed,” Seemar said of the seven year old Oxbow gelding.
“He’s always been a fast horse and it’s like Switzerland. He ran poorly in Saudi and then won the Shaheen. Sprinters mature and they know what to do. I had some confidence.”
Godolphin wasn’t going to go without a prize on the night as Rebel’s Romance delivered in the Dubai Sheema Classic with a clear-cut victory to maintain an excellent run for the royal blues in the race.
His success was the fourth for Godolphin since 2017, with Jack Hobbs, Hawkbill and Old Persian striking in consecutive years.
It was a record fifth success in the race for jockey William Buick, who was able to keep the 2021 UAE Derby and multiple Group 1 winner behind the early pacesetter Point Lonsdale before going past him on the home stretch to win by two lengths from Japanese pair Shahryar and Liberty Island.
“He showed in Qatar what a versatile horse he is,” Buick said of the six year old Dubawi gelding.
“His best form has usually been when he’s held up but in Qatar, I tried something new. I was keen today to adopt a similar tactic and I got a lovely slipstream from the leader.
“He’s a very good horse on his day and he showed that today. I’m absolutely delighted; he’s a great horse and I’m so glad he’s back to his best.”
Reflecting on the importance of Godolphin registering a win on the biggest night of the year in Dubai racing, Buick added: “You know His Highness [Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai] wants to see the best horses come to Dubai and the best horses are here. These races are incredibly hard to win so of course I’m incredibly happy.”
Godolphin trainer Charlie Appleby had been out of luck with three earlier runners, with Star Of Mystery finishing second behind California Spangle in the Group 1 Al Quoz Sprint while Measure Time coming home fourth in the Group 1 Dubai Turf which was won by Facteur Cheval.
“It was our last roll of the dice for today,” Appleby said of Rebel’s Romance. “We went into the race as a long shot which shows the depth of the race. We had a bumpy road last year, went to Kempton to bring up his confidence and then Qatar to bring him back to where we wanted him to be.
“Full credit to the team, especially the logistical team as he went back to the UK from Qatar and then out here. The plan was to go forward and William knows the track and horse very well. Most importantly, delighted for His Highness Sheikh Mohammed and the entire team at Godolphin.”
In the rest of the card, the day began with Tilal Al Khalediah’s victory in the Dubai Kahayla Classic for the Purebred Arabians. It was the second success in the race for Saudi Arabian trainer Nasser Mutlaq Alkahtani after Tallaab Al Khalediah won the prize in 2018.
Two Rivers Over, under Edwin Maldonado, bagged the Godolphin Mile for the US and Aidan O’Brien-trained Tower Of London with Ryan Moore sealing the Dubai Gold Cup for Ireland.
Ryusei Sakai completed a Derby double with Forever Young, adding the UAE prize to last month’s Saudi Derby win in the bag. Maxim Guyon on Facteur Cheval edged out Japanese raider Namur by a short head in the Group 1 Dubai Turf.
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AI traffic lights to ease congestion at seven points to Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Street
The seven points are:
Shakhbout bin Sultan Street
Dhafeer Street
Hadbat Al Ghubainah Street (outbound)
Salama bint Butti Street
Al Dhafra Street
Rabdan Street
Umm Yifina Street exit (inbound)
How to get there
Emirates (www.emirates.com) flies directly to Hanoi, Vietnam, with fares starting from around Dh2,725 return, while Etihad (www.etihad.com) fares cost about Dh2,213 return with a stop. Chuong is 25 kilometres south of Hanoi.
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Company name: baraka
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Founders: Feras Jalbout and Kunal Taneja
Based: Dubai and Bahrain
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Initial investment: $150,000
Current staff: 12
Stage: Pre-seed capital raising of $1 million
Investors: Class 5 Global, FJ Labs, IMO Ventures, The Community Fund, VentureSouq, Fox Ventures, Dr Abdulla Elyas (private investment)
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Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, established Edge in 2019.
It brought together 25 state-owned and independent companies specialising in weapons systems, cyber protection and electronic warfare.
Edge has an annual revenue of $5 billion and employs more than 12,000 people.
Some of the companies include Nimr, a maker of armoured vehicles, Caracal, which manufactures guns and ammunitions company, Lahab
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Started: October 2023
Founder: Namrata Raina
Based: Dubai
Sector: E-commerce
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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.”
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