Value on Purebred Arabian horse racing is on the rise

The UAE ambassador to Britain has pronounced Dubai International Arabian day a complete success as a cultural exchange between Britain and the UAE.

For the second year running 5,000 racegoers turned up to Newbury Racecourse to watch some of the best Purebred Arabian horses compete for £158,000 (Dh908,150) across the eight races on Thursday.

When the European showcase of Arabian racing took place on a Sunday in its regular July slot three years ago more than three times that number turned up.

Among the numerous prizes given away, 1,500 yellow-and-black Jebel Ali baseball caps were handed out along with 1,000 umbrellas emblazoned with the same colours of Sheikh Ahmed bin Rashid's racecourse.

"The effort that has been put into this type of event here has created stronger cultural links with the UAE and Britain," Abdulrahman Ghanem Al Mutaiwee told The National. "No doubt these type of events create a greater friendship between people from the UAE and Britain.

"One event will not get that much exposure but if you are persistent and if these events are sustainable and can take place every year and throughout all the seasons of the year it can have a big effect."

Nayaz Qazi, chairman of the National Association of Indian Payroll who sponsored the final race of the day, won by Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid's Aljawaaher, agreed.

He believes the proliferation of merchandise in similar events in India had created a similar effect.

"Thoroughbred racing does not go far enough with PR," he said. "Everybody knows that Meydan Racecourse represents Dubai, so this has helped raise the profile of Jebel Ali. I've seen people walking around in Bombay and Gujarat with such hats."

As an illustration of the effect of this PR campaign, at some point in the next 12 months Nigel Jones and Georgina Roberts will be jetting to Dubai with their two children, Rebecca, 13, and Adam, 9.

Their youngest son died two years ago when he stepped off the pavement and was struck by a bus just metres away from them.

Nigel had a job as a factory manager but the stress and strain of getting over the devastation robbed him of his work. Speaking as the winner of a five-star family holiday to the UAE, Jones was moved.

"This won't help us much but perhaps it will be the start of us turning the corner," he said. "The nearest I have come to Dubai is Turkey, where we are going on holiday in a few weeks. I've seen Dubai on the telly, and I'm looking forward to it."

Djet Taouy was a surprise winner of the Group 1 Dubai International Stakes, sponsored by Sheikh Hamdan's Shadwell operation.

Djet Taouy won the Group 1 President Of The UAE Cup at Newmarket on his first visit to Britain last month and trainer Diana Dorenberg is aiming for a third win at the highest level in England next month, the Harwood International Stakes at Doncaster.

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One in four Americans don't plan to retire

Nearly a quarter of Americans say they never plan to retire, according to a poll that suggests a disconnection between individuals' retirement plans and the realities of ageing in the workforce.

Experts say illness, injury, layoffs and caregiving responsibilities often force older workers to leave their jobs sooner than they'd like.

According to the poll from The Associated Press-NORC Centre for Public Affairs Research, 23 per cent of workers, including nearly two in 10 of those over 50, don't expect to stop working. Roughly another quarter of Americans say they will continue working beyond their 65th birthday.

According to government data, about one in five people 65 and older was working or actively looking for a job in June. The study surveyed 1,423 adults in February this year.

For many, money has a lot to do with the decision to keep working.

"The average retirement age that we see in the data has gone up a little bit, but it hasn't gone up that much," says Anqi Chen, assistant director of savings research at the Centre for Retirement Research at Boston College. "So people have to live in retirement much longer, and they may not have enough assets to support themselves in retirement."

When asked how financially comfortable they feel about retirement, 14 per cent of Americans under the age of 50 and 29 per cent over 50 say they feel extremely or very prepared, according to the poll. About another four in 10 older adults say they do feel somewhat prepared, while just about one-third feel unprepared.

"One of the things about thinking about never retiring is that you didn't save a whole lot of money," says Ronni Bennett, 78, who was pushed out of her job as a New York City-based website editor at 63.

She searched for work in the immediate aftermath of her layoff, a process she describes as akin to "banging my head against a wall." Finding Manhattan too expensive without a steady stream of income, she eventually moved to Portland, Maine. A few years later, she moved again, to Lake Oswego, Oregon. "Sometimes I fantasise that if I win the lottery, I'd go back to New York," says Ms Bennett.

Value on Purebred Arabian horse racing is on the rise

To ignite PR campaign, merchandise given away to 5,000 fans who showed up to purebred Arabian horse races at Newbury racecourse, writes Geoffrey Riddle.

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One in four Americans don't plan to retire