Trainer Art Sherman has launched a broadside at owner Steve Coburn after it was announced America’s Horse of the Year, California Chrome, would continue his racing career next year.
Coburn was a minority shareholder to Perry Martin as owners of the big chestnut, who last raced when second in the Dubai World Cup at Meydan in March.
Coburn’s 30 per cent share was bought out by Taylor Made Stallions last week and last season’s Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes winner is convalescing from a bruised cannon bone at Taylor Made’s farm in Kentucky.
Read more:
– In California Chrome’s absence, Spielberg and Criterion will add lustre to Prince Of Wales’s Stakes
– Steve Coburn and ‘travel agent’ California Chrome target Royal Ascot after recent disappointments
He will remain there for about 80 days before returning to Sherman’s Los Alamitos base in California ahead of a campaign as a five year old.
“I think it will be the best for the horse and for everybody concerned that we are finally with a group of people that have had horses and have been in the game for such a long time,” Sherman said. “Things happen for the best.”
California Chrome was to run in the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot last month before he sustained a stone bruise on the gallops at Newmarket when he was being looked after by trainer Rae Guest.
He was being prepared for a tilt at next month’s Arlington Million, a race in which Sherman has said the chestnut colt was in no condition to run before the discovery of his injury.
“I was getting ready to talk them out of it,” Sherman said. “There was no way that horse was tight enough to go a mile and a quarter to go on the grass. He needed building up and it is the best thing that could have happened.
“He lost a lot of weight, he needs to put on 100 to 150 pounds (48-68 kilograms).
“I think there would have been disappointment. They had plans and I can understand that – owner Perry Martin is from Chicago (where the race is held). It would have been very difficult for Chrome to even make that race.
“I would not have run him. It makes everybody look like they don’t know what they are doing.
“It [the injury] was probably a blessing in disguise right now. It will finally give this horse a chance at R&R and will let him be a horse.”
Sherman will make racing plans with Duncan Taylor, chief executive of Taylor Made Stallions where California Chrome is expected to stand at stud at the end of his racing career.
Coburn’s departure from the scene brings to an end a colourful association with California Chrome. Coburn bred the horse in tandem with Martin and notoriously branded his rival owners as cowardly when California Chrome failed to land the Triple Crown last year in the Belmont Stakes.
Although there were rumours of disharmony between Martin and Coburn, a schism appeared when Sherman and Coburn persuaded Martin that it was the right thing to do to run against Shared Belief in the San Antonio Stakes in February.
After the announcement to run at Royal Ascot, Martin delivered a statement revealing the reasons why California Chrome was set to run at Royal Ascot and that, “this time I’ve got Chrome’s back”.
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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 specs
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Transmission: Single-speed automatic
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