Doug Watson and Ernst Oertel's battle for UAE trainer's crown goes down to the wire

Results

5.30pm: Maiden (TB) Dh82,500 (Turf) 1,400m; Winner: Mcmanaman, Sam Hitchcock (jockey), Doug Watson (trainer)

6.05pm: Handicap (TB) Dh87,500 (T) 1,400m; Winner: Bawaasil, Sam Hitchcott, Doug Watson

6.40pm: Handicap (TB) Dh105,000 (Dirt) 1,400m; Winner: Bochart, Fabrice Veron, Satish Seemar

7.15pm: Handicap (TB) Dh105,000 (T) 1,200m; Winner: Mutaraffa, Antonio Fresu, Musabah Al Muhairi

7.50pm: Longines Stakes – Conditions (TB) Dh120,00 (D) 1,900m; Winner: Rare Ninja, Royston Ffrench, Salem bin Ghadayer

8.25pm: Zabeel Trophy – Rated Conditions (TB) Dh120,000 (T) 1,600m; Winner: Alfareeq, Antonio Fresu, Musabah Al Muhairi

9pm: Handicap (TB) Dh105,000 (T) 2,410m; Winner: Good Tidings, Antonio Fresu, Musabah Al Muhairi

9.35pm: Handicap (TB) Dh92,500 (T) 2,000m; Winner: Zorion, Abdul Aziz Al Balushi, Helal Al Alawi

Tadhg O’Shea and Khalid Khalifa Al Naboodah picked up their UAE championship trophies for jockeys and owners respectively, but Doug Watson and Ernst Oertel must wait another day to know who is crowned the champion trainer.

Watson saddled a double in the all-thoroughbred card at Meydan on Thursday to take his tally to 40 winners, two more than his challenger Oertel who mainly trains Purebred Arabians.

Oertel will have his opportunity on Friday’s season-ending meeting at Al Ain, in which he has 19 runners across six races for Arabians while Watson has two runners in the solitary race for the thoroughbreds.

Mcmanaman made a perfect start on his debut in the UAE and Bawaasil took the next, both under Sam Hitchcock, to give Watson a quick double.

“He’s a nice young horse and we’ll put him away for the summer and he can be a find for Abu Dhabi next season,” the Red Stables trainer said of Mcmanaman after his victory on the Meydan turf.

Bawaasil was an impressive winner of the second race, also on the 1,400m distance on turf. He made smooth progress from the 400m mark to win by two and a-quarter lengths from Expressionist.

“The horse has been doing great all year but we haven’t been able to get him in when we need to, and it was a super ride from Sammy,” Watson said of the Oasis Dream gelding.

Musabah Al Muhairi and his stable jockey Antonio Fresu were on a treble on the night.

They took the fourth and sixth races with Mutaraffa and Alfareeq in the Shadwell silks while Good Tidings battled to the line to edge Al Qaqaa to deny Watson/Hitchcott in the second last race.

Salem bin Ghadayer’s Rare Ninja finally had his head in front in nine starts. The stable jockey Royston Ffrench made all on the Distorted Humor colt to win from Grand Dubai by four and-a-quarter lengths.

“This horse showed a lot of promise and finally he’s got one across the board,” the Emirati trainer said.

“He’s a young horse and I would like to think he can take a lot of confidence from this win and come back stronger next season.”

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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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