Silvestre De Sousa celebrated his first full season in the UAE with a maiden jockey’s championship title.
The Brazilian, who has ridden over 4,000 winners around the world, topped the chart with 54 winners, seven ahead of the 12-time UAE champion jockey Tadhg O’Shea.
The two men had been neck and neck, but De Sousa increased his lead to five after steering the Saeed bin Suroor-trained Dubai Future home in the Group 2 Dubai Gold Cup at the Dubai World Cup meeting, and had the championship virtually in the bag with the last two meetings to go in Al Ain and Abu Dhabi.
De Sousa’s success was achieved through fantastic partnerships with Emirati trainer Musabbeh Al Mheiri and the Purebred Arabian powerhouse of Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed’s Yas Racing, the champion trainer and owners, respectively, of the 2024/25 season.
De Sousa rounded off the season by riding the Majid Al Jaoori-trained So’ud to victory in the Group 3 Arabian Triple Crown Round 3 in the silks of Yas Racing at the Abu Dhabi Turf Club on Saturday.
“I'm just delighted with the kind of season I've had, especially to be the leading rider in my first full season in the UAE,” De Sousa told The National.
“It's not easy and that too in my first time in a full season in the UAE. I’m grateful for the support I received from trainer Musabbeh and the owners this season.”
De Sousa, 44, is a three-time British champion jockey (2015, 2017 and 2018) and winner of the 2014 Dubai World Cup on the Bin Suroor-trained African Story, also in the royal blue silks.
He was champion apprentice in Brazil before leaving for Ireland in 2010 and England the following year, establishing himself as one of the leading jockeys in the world.
“I've been around the world. And yeah, I think when you put everything in your career, it's nice to see it pay off,” he said.
“Obviously, I have many people to thank for the successful season I had in the UAE. It was great riding for trainer Musabbeh and Sheikh Mansour’s Yas Racing. I have been to the UAE for a long time but never thought I would ride a full season until this time.
“It was a really nice feeling to win the championship title and also winning the Dubai Gold Cup for Godolphin at the Dubai World Cup meeting. Yeah, I’m taking back a lot of good memories from the UAE this time.
“I go everywhere trying to ride winners and ride some nice horses. It's nice to have a win on the final night in the silks of Sheikh Mansour’s Yas Racing.”
De Sousa made his first visit to the UAE to ride in a few meetings in the 2004/05 season and returned in 2012 to ride his first winner on Bin Suroor’s Songcraft in the Godolphin silks.
He won the 2014 Dubai World Cup on African Story for Bin Suroor and Godolphin and counts 166 winners overall in the UAE.
For Al Mheiri, one of the longest serving trainers in the country, it was his second trainer’s title after previously saddling 49 winners in the 2014/15 season.
“I’m grateful to the owners who had faith in me, and yes, it’s my best ever season and a really tough one to finish on top of the charts,” the Emirati trainer said.
“It was really nice to have had Silvestre on many of my horses. He was brilliant and he’s a three-time British champion jockey.
“To saddle winners nowadays is so tough with so many trainers and good horses at every stable. So, winning the trainer’s title this time around definitely is a better season for me, personally."
Farage on Muslim Brotherhood
Nigel Farage told Reform's annual conference that the party will proscribe the Muslim Brotherhood if he becomes Prime Minister.
"We will stop dangerous organisations with links to terrorism operating in our country," he said. "Quite why we've been so gutless about this – both Labour and Conservative – I don't know.
“All across the Middle East, countries have banned and proscribed the Muslim Brotherhood as a dangerous organisation. We will do the very same.”
It is 10 years since a ground-breaking report into the Muslim Brotherhood by Sir John Jenkins.
Among the former diplomat's findings was an assessment that “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” has “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
The prime minister at the time, David Cameron, who commissioned the report, said membership or association with the Muslim Brotherhood was a "possible indicator of extremism" but it would not be banned.
A Cat, A Man, and Two Women
Junichiro Tamizaki
Translated by Paul McCarthy
Daunt Books
Who's who in Yemen conflict
Houthis: Iran-backed rebels who occupy Sanaa and run unrecognised government
Yemeni government: Exiled government in Aden led by eight-member Presidential Leadership Council
Southern Transitional Council: Faction in Yemeni government that seeks autonomy for the south
Habrish 'rebels': Tribal-backed forces feuding with STC over control of oil in government territory
The National Archives, Abu Dhabi
Founded over 50 years ago, the National Archives collects valuable historical material relating to the UAE, and is the oldest and richest archive relating to the Arabian Gulf.
Much of the material can be viewed on line at the Arabian Gulf Digital Archive - https://www.agda.ae/en
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The alternatives
• Founded in 2014, Telr is a payment aggregator and gateway with an office in Silicon Oasis. It’s e-commerce entry plan costs Dh349 monthly (plus VAT). QR codes direct customers to an online payment page and merchants can generate payments through messaging apps.
• Business Bay’s Pallapay claims 40,000-plus active merchants who can invoice customers and receive payment by card. Fees range from 1.99 per cent plus Dh1 per transaction depending on payment method and location, such as online or via UAE mobile.
• Tap started in May 2013 in Kuwait, allowing Middle East businesses to bill, accept, receive and make payments online “easier, faster and smoother” via goSell and goCollect. It supports more than 10,000 merchants. Monthly fees range from US$65-100, plus card charges of 2.75-3.75 per cent and Dh1.2 per sale.
• 2checkout’s “all-in-one payment gateway and merchant account” accepts payments in 200-plus markets for 2.4-3.9 per cent, plus a Dh1.2-Dh1.8 currency conversion charge. The US provider processes online shop and mobile transactions and has 17,000-plus active digital commerce users.
• PayPal is probably the best-known online goods payment method - usually used for eBay purchases - but can be used to receive funds, providing everyone’s signed up. Costs from 2.9 per cent plus Dh1.2 per transaction.
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.”
Results:
Women:
1. Rhiannan Iffland (AUS) 322.95 points
2. Lysanne Richard (CAN) 285.75
3. Ellie Smart (USA) 277.70
Men:
1. Gary Hunt (GBR) 431.55
2. Constantin Popovici (ROU) 424.65
3. Oleksiy Prygorov (UKR) 392.30
Our legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
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The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh117,059
Islamophobia definition
A widely accepted definition was made by the All Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims in 2019: “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.” It further defines it as “inciting hatred or violence against Muslims”.
Conservative MPs who have publicly revealed sending letters of no confidence
- Steve Baker
- Peter Bone
- Ben Bradley
- Andrew Bridgen
- Maria Caulfield
- Simon Clarke
- Philip Davies
- Nadine Dorries
- James Duddridge
- Mark Francois
- Chris Green
- Adam Holloway
- Andrea Jenkyns
- Anne-Marie Morris
- Sheryll Murray
- Jacob Rees-Mogg
- Laurence Robertson
- Lee Rowley
- Henry Smith
- Martin Vickers
- John Whittingdale
