Godolphin's Blue Bunting spearheads a large entry of UAE-owned horses for the St Leger at Doncaster on September 10.
The Godolphin filly heads a bumper list of six representing the region as 17 horses stood their ground at the latest declaration stage for the world's oldest Classic.
Blue Bunting, trained by Mahmood Al Zarooni, could be joined in the race by stablemate Genius Beast. The Dubai Royal family could also be represented by Dordogne and Namibian, trained by Mark Johnston and owned by Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, while Princess Haya of Jordan has left in Buthelezi, trained by John Gosden, who also has Thimaar in the race, which is owned by Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid.
Other notable runners are Sea Moon, owned by Prince Khalid Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, Seville, from the Aidan O'Brien stable, Masked Marvel, owned by Bjorn Nielsen of ABBA, and Brown Panther, owned by Michael Owen.
Blue Bunting has picked up three Group 1 races this season, including the 1,000 Guineas at Newmarket in May and the Irish Oaks at the Curragh in July. She also won the Yorkshire Oaks earlier this month, defeating Vita Nova, owned by Sheikh Sultan bin Khalifa.
Blue Bunting will have to improve if she is to beat Sea Moon despite the 1.5kgs she will enjoy in weight allowance. Sea Moon put in a deeply impressive performance winning a Group 2 contest by eight lengths at York the day before Blue Bunting's victory.
Godolphin have won the St Leger five times, all through horses trained by Saeed bin Suroor, who will not have a runner.
Yesterday was also the scratching stage to the Park Stakes, a Group 2 contest run on the same card in which Godolphin's Delegator stood his ground. The five year old, who has had a luckless campaign this season by continually encountering soft conditions that are not in his favour, will be joined by Balthazaar's Gift, owned by Sheikh Sultan bin Khalifa.
sports@thenational.ae
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
Brief scoreline:
Liverpool 2
Mane 51', Salah 53'
Chelsea 0
Man of the Match: Mohamed Salah (Liverpool)
Race card
5pm: Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 (Turf) 1,600m
5.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 1,600m
6pm: Arabian Triple Crown Round-1 Listed (PA) Dh230,000 (T) 1,600m
6.30pm: Wathba Stallions Cup Handicap (PA) Dh70,000 (T) 1,400m
7pm: Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 1,200m
7.30pm: Handicap (TB) Dh100,000 (T) 2,400m
In-demand jobs and monthly salaries
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- Field engineer: Dh6,500 to Dh7,500
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- Field operator: Dh5,000 to Dh7,000
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Indika
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The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
Vidaamuyarchi
Director: Magizh Thirumeni
Stars: Ajith Kumar, Arjun Sarja, Trisha Krishnan, Regina Cassandra
Rating: 4/5
Joker: Folie a Deux
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Brendan Gleeson
Director: Todd Phillips
Rating: 2/5
DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE
Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, Emma Corrin
Director: Shawn Levy
Rating: 3/5
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