Trainer Bhupat Seemar and jockey Tadhg O'Shea celebrate with the trophy after Laurel River won the $12 million Dubai World Cup at Meydan on Saturday, March 30, 2024. Reuters
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, attends the Dubai World Cup at Meydan Racecourse. Getty Images
Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of Dubai Executive Council, hands the trophy to jockey Tadhg O'Shea, left, after he won the Dubai World Cup on Laurel River. EPA
Trainer Bhupat Seemar, left, and Tadhg O'Shea celebrate with the trophy. Reuters
UAE champion jockey Tadhg O'Shea celebrates with the trophy after winning the Dubai World Cup on Laurel River. Reuters
Tadhg O'Shea celebrates with the trophy. Reuters
Laurel River, under Tadhg O'Shea, is led in after winning the Group 1 Dubai World Cup at Meydan Racecourse. Getty Images
Laurel River, ridden by Tadhg O'Shea, wins the Dubai World Cup. AP
Tadhg O'Shea celebrates winning the Dubai World Cup on Laurel River. Reuters
Laurel River ridden by Tadgh O'Shea wins the Dubai World Cup. Reuters
Tadhg O’Shea dedicated his Dubai World Cup triumph – “my biggest career win” – to his late mother, Ann.
The Irishman scooped the $12 million Group 1 prize on the Bhupat Seemar-trained Laurel River to claim the biggest race of his career at Meydan Racecourse on Saturday.
He completed a Group 1 double on the night after steering another Seemar-trained runner, Tuz, to victory in the Dubai Golden Shaheen.
Saturday's Dubai World Cup win was the crowning glory on what is already a standout career for O'Shea. He’s out on his own as the all-time leading jockey in the UAE with 779 winners and counting, and the UAE champion jockey-elect for a record-extending 12th time this season.
“My mother passed away on February 17 last year. She was my biggest fan and supporter and she definitely was on my shoulder on the night,” O’Shea told The National a day after his triumph.
“These things normally don’t happen. Some of the other jockeys have their big days every week. I’m sure she was pushing me or keeping the rest back from above.”
O’Shea has twice rode in the big race, riding Remorse to sixth in 2022 and finishing ninth on the same horse the following year.
“This obviously was my biggest win and to win two Group 1 prizes on the same night was amazing. I rode twice in the World Cup in the last two years and thankfully third time lucky,” he said.
O’Shea broke well from the widest draw of 12 runners and settled Laurel River in front after the first furlong. He was 10 lengths ahead of the chasing pack when turning for home and eventually came out eight and-a-half lengths ahead of last year’s winner Ushba Tesoro and the $20 million Saudi Cup winner Senor Buscador.
“He’s a very straightforward horse,” O’Shea said of the six-year-old son of Into Mischief.
“He jumped out of the gate very well. The plan was to go forward and if someone wanted to go up, we could sit second or third. He was within his comfort zone in the front.
“Then I started picking up and letting him stretch from 800 metres into the turn and then he really straightened up. I still had a lot of horse left. Then I said to myself Ít's gonna take a monster effort for something to get to me'.”
O’Shea revealed he and Seemar were left to devise their tactics unimpeded ahead of the race.
“Bhupat was training the horse and I was riding the horse,” O’Shea said. “The connections of the horse never interfered with the riding instructions. They left it to us even though they had many champions over the years. It shows the class of these people.
They left it to us even though they had many champions over the years. It shows the class of these people
Tadhg O'Shea on the conversations he had with the owners
“I was just privileged to be left on him because they could've used any jockey from anywhere in the world. So, I’m thankful they let me on him.”
Laurel River came into the race following a lengthy lay-off for his three runs for the Zabeel Stables in Dubai and O’Shea believes it’s too early to speak about future plans.
“Perhaps keep him in training for next season and maybe give him a race before having a crack [at the] Saudi Cup, as his owners are from the kingdom. And then obviously have another go in retaining the Dubai World Cup.”
Obviously on a high following his Dubai World Cup success, O’Shea, with more than 20 years of riding experience, is already planning for his next assignments as he closes in on another domestic jockey championsship.
He is aiming for the last two domestic meetings in Abu Dhabi and Al Ain on Thursday and Friday.
O’Shea, chasing an unprecedented 12th UAE jockey crown, is on 49 winners for the season, seven ahead of his closest challenge Connor Beasley.
“It’s been a great season for both Bhupat and me,” O’Shea said. “The way I look at it, the season isn't finished yet. We’ll enjoy this Dubai World Cup meeting, obviously.”
Seemar is level with the Jebel Ali Stables trainer Michael Costa on 36 winners apiece but if it finishes in a tie, the Zabeel Stables boss will win his second trainers' title by virtue of more second and third place finishes.
“We have three thoroughbred races left in the last two meetings, which are predominantly for the Purebred Arabians,” O’Shea added. “If Bhupat and I can win the championship crowns, it would be the icing on the cake to a great season.”
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.”
MATCH INFO
Europa League semi-final, second leg
Atletico Madrid (1) v Arsenal (1) Where: Wanda Metropolitano When: Thursday, kick-off 10.45pm Live: On BeIN Sports HD
Tips for taking the metro
- set out well ahead of time
- make sure you have at least Dh15 on you Nol card, as there could be big queues for top-up machines
- enter the right cabin. The train may be too busy to move between carriages once you're on
- don't carry too much luggage and tuck it under a seat to make room for fellow passengers
England World Cup squad
Eoin Morgan (capt), Moeen Ali, Jofra Archer, Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler (wkt), Tom Curran, Liam Dawson, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, James Vince, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood
Housed on the same site as the original Africa Hall, which first hosted an Arab-African Symposium in 1976, the newly renovated building will be home to a think tank and postgraduate studies hub (it will offer master’s and PhD programmes). The centre will focus on both the historical and contemporary links between Africa and the Gulf, and will serve as a meeting place for conferences, symposia, lectures, film screenings, plays, musical performances and more. In fact, today it is hosting a symposium – 5-plus-1: Rethinking Abstraction that will look at the six decades of Frank Bowling’s career, as well as those of his contemporaries that invested social, cultural and personal meaning into abstraction.
The President's Cake
Director: Hasan Hadi
Starring: Baneen Ahmad Nayyef, Waheed Thabet Khreibat, Sajad Mohamad Qasem
