Poetic Flare edged out Godolphin’s Master Of The Seas in a thriller to clinch the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket on Saturday.
The Jim Bolger-trained Dawn Approach colt, under veteran jockey Kevin Manning, had his head in front after a ding-dong battle to the line to deny William Buick the first English classic prize of the season.
Jessica Harrington’s Lucky Vega was a further neck down in third and Godolphin’s Naval Crown, who led most of the way, stayed on to take fourth spot.
The success also provided the Irish pair Manning, 54, and Bolger, 79, with a second 2000 Guineas success, following Poetic Flare's sire Dawn Approach's victory in the race in 2013.
“It's a great training performance, he's done nothing wrong all along this horse and was impressive in the Guineas trial at Leopardstown,” Manning said.
“I knew he'd come forward from then and I made no secret that I fancied him. He's just a proper horse, I really thought that he would win today. The plan was always to have this guy come here and thankfully it's worked out.”
Dawn Approach made an unsuccessful bid in the Derby after his success in the 2000 Guineas, and Manning is not certain that Poetic Flare could follow in his footsteps.
“I'm not sure, he was a little bit keen with me today for the first furlong or two,” Manning said when asked if Poetic Flare would stay the one and-a-half mile Derby trip.
“I'll sit down with Jim and have a chat but I can't see why he won't stay a mile and a quarter.”
Buick held Master Of The Seas in the rear before making steady headway from the halfway mark. He briefly led over a furlong out but the Charlie Appleby-trained runner just failed at the line.
Appleby and Buick completed a double earlier with Creative Force taking the opener, a Class 2 handicap, and Lazuli landing the Group 3 Palace House Stakes.
Lazuli, who broke the course record over the same five-furlong distance in the Group 3 World Trophy at Newbury in September, raced in third before quickened a furlong out to win from Came From The Dark by a neck.
“Lazuli came into this race fresh and well,” Appleby said of the four-year-old son of Dubai.
“We were due to run him again in Dubai but he unfortunately had a stone bruise on the eve of the race, so we were forced to miss that engagement.
“It took him a while to come right but we maintained his training again just before he flew back to the UK. He had a penalty today and I felt it was a good performance. William feels that Lazuli is likely to come forward for the race in terms of fitness.
“I haven’t really thought beyond today’s race. He is probably a Group 2 horse and, if he got the rub of the green, he might just pull something out in Group 1 company. He is a handy little horse to have around.”
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
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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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'The Sky is Everywhere'
Director:Josephine Decker
Stars:Grace Kaufman, Pico Alexander, Jacques Colimon
Rating:2/5
MATCH INFO
Norwich 0
Watford 2 (Deulofeu 2', Gray 52')
Red card: Christian Kabasele (WatforD)
