Six horse races and six rides for jockey Paul Hanagan at Jebel Ali

Paul Hanagan, the retained jockey for Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid, makes his first appearance of the Emirates racing season and looks to have a busy afternoon with rides in all six races on Friday at Jebel Ali racecourse. The two-time British champion will be onboard some fancied runners and could get off the mark straightaway.

He partners Dairam in the opener, a handicap for horses rated 60-85 run over 1,400m. The three-year-old bay son of Jazil, the 2006 Belmont Stakes winner in the United States, is making his UAE debut for his new handler Musabah Al Muhairi.

Dairam, formerly trained by Charles Hills in Britain, comes with some useful European form. He was runner-up four times before winning his first race, a maiden, in his second to last start, and was a close third in the next. It will be his first start in more than five months as well as first time on dirt. If he can handle these two concerns, he will be hard to beat in the field that has drawn the maximum 16 runners.

The main challenge to Dairam is set to come from a quartet that has won over the course and distance — Momaris, trained on the track by Dhruba Selvaratnam and ridden by James Doyle, Baransky (Satish Seemar-Richard Mullen), Journalistic (Mohammed Ibrahim-Jesus Rosales), and First Knight (Doug Watson-Noel Garbutt).

Hanagan’s next ride is also on a newcomer The Taj, formerly trained by Richard Hannon and now under the care of Doug Watson in Dubai, before he guides Al Muhairi’s Kanaf later on in the most valuable race on the card.

The six-year-old gelding has a win on the course over the 1,200m distance and reappearing for the first time in the season finished fourth to stable companion Muarrab.

“He will have the benefit of a run but it has been nearly two years since he won a race. So this will again be a very tough ask but we are hopeful,” Al Muhairi said.

Selvaratnam’s Yaa Wayl and Otaared head the seven-runner field with the latter seeking a seventh course win.

“Yaa Wayl has not been with us all that long but is a nice horse,” said Selvaratnam of the former Godolphin runner. “He should run well.”

Hanagan’s other rides are the Watson trained trio Moodhill, Mushreq, and Maqaraat.

apassela@thenational.ae

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World record transfers

1. Kylian Mbappe - to Real Madrid in 2017/18 - €180 million (Dh770.4m - if a deal goes through)
2. Paul Pogba - to Manchester United in 2016/17 - €105m
3. Gareth Bale - to Real Madrid in 2013/14 - €101m
4. Cristiano Ronaldo - to Real Madrid in 2009/10 - €94m
5. Gonzalo Higuain - to Juventus in 2016/17 - €90m
6. Neymar - to Barcelona in 2013/14 - €88.2m
7. Romelu Lukaku - to Manchester United in 2017/18 - €84.7m
8. Luis Suarez - to Barcelona in 2014/15 - €81.72m
9. Angel di Maria - to Manchester United in 2014/15 - €75m
10. James Rodriguez - to Real Madrid in 2014/15 - €75m

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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.”

Six horse races and six rides for jockey Paul Hanagan at Jebel Ali

British champion to make Emirates season debut onboard The Taj and a Watson-trained trio, but could also win opener with Dairam at Jebel Ali Racecourse, writes Amith Passela.

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World record transfers

Killing of Qassem Suleimani