DUBAI // Doug Watson suggested before the start of this season that several of his horses that had not settled into desert life last year could come good this time.
Many of Watson's early-season winners did just that. And as far as horses finding form on their second UAE campaign goes, Barbecue Eddie in today's feature, the Dh120,000 Shadwell Stables Conditions race over six furlongs, could well prove to be the icing on the cake for Watson.
As the sport of kings returns to Jebel Ali after the Eid break, Watson, who, along with owner Malih al Basti, claimed four winners at the last meeting, finds that his runners once again dominate the card.
The Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid-owned five-year-old Barbecue Eddie did nothing wrong when coming fourth to Bennie the Bull in the 2008 Group One Dubai Golden Shaheen on World Cup night, but did not live up to his own high standards when a full-time Dubai resident in the 2008/09 season.
Sheikh Hamdan's jockey, Tadhg O'Shea, has opted for the son of Stormy Atlantic over the owner's other entrant, the Erwan Charpy-trained Tawaassol. That runner is no forlorn hope either, having come third on his own seasonal debut over a furlong shorter at the final Jebel Ali meet before Eid. Pat Smullen takes that ride.
Watson also saddles last season's Godolphin Mile runner, Green Coast, under Daragh O'Donohoe.
Ted Durcan is back for his first meeting of the season. His successful summer in the United Kingdom was crowned by his victory aboard Godolphin's Mastery in the Group One St Leger, and he rides Terrific Challenge in the feature today.
Trained by Satish Seemar and owned by Zabeel Racing International, the seven-year-old won a Group Three over the race distance at Nad al Sheba in 2007 and a handicap back in December 2008, but his form in between has been intermittent.
In demand young jockey, William Buick, in his second winter with Jebel Ali-based Dhruba Selvaratnam, trainer to Sheikh Ahmed bin Rashid, rides Borehan.
The pair, who scored with Otaared a fortnight ago, are giving the horse his second start of the season.
He was second last time out over a furlong shorter, but Buick believes his ride, who is coming back from a lengthy lay-off this season, may have a little to find.
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UFC Fight Night 2
1am – Early prelims
2am – Prelims
4am-7am – Main card
7:30am-9am – press cons
THE SIXTH SENSE
Starring: Bruce Willis, Toni Collette, Hayley Joel Osment
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Rating: 5/5
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
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Arabian Gulf League fixtures:
Friday:
- Emirates v Hatta, 5.15pm
- Al Wahda v Al Dhafra, 5.25pm
- Al Ain v Shabab Al Ahli Dubai, 8.15pm
Saturday:
- Dibba v Ajman, 5.15pm
- Sharjah v Al Wasl, 5.20pm
- Al Jazira v Al Nasr, 8.15pm
The Word for Woman is Wilderness
Abi Andrews, Serpent’s Tail
