Chengdu plan on hold for UAE’s horses

Meydan Group's vision to bring a world–class race meeting to China has been postponed due to a lack of quarantine protocol.

A fixture featuring horses trained in the UAE and ridden by jockeys who ply their trade throughout the UAE season was outlined at the Meydan Racecourse in March by Saeed Al Tayer, chairman of the board.

The race meeting was set to be staged at Chengdu in Sichuan province, and it was understood to be taking place on Saturday.

In a statement yesterday, Meydan said it is working with the UAE Ministry of Environment & Water, along with “their partners in China”, in talks with China’s quarantine body “to develop import and export conditions which would enable the participation of the UAE international horses for the one-day race event to be held at Jinma Lake Racecourse in the Wenjiang District located in Chengdu”.

A five-race card had been proposed at Chengdu, which has a turf track and temporary grandstands.

Around 75 horses are in quarantine in Dubai awaiting shipping to China, and they could remain there until a resolution of the deadlock can be found.

According to a source who requested anonymity, the horses are primed to race.

“Meydan are doing all they can and the officials trying to get us over there,” he said.

“They have done everything humanly possible to get us to China.

“I am sure the meeting will take place but when, we do not know. Nobody seems to know.”

Horses in the keeping of prominent trainers like Satish Seemar, Erwan Charpy, Doug Watson, Mubarak bin Shafya, Abdulla bin Huzaim, Musbah Al Muhairi and Ali Rashid Al Raihe are among those in quarantine.

The fixture would have been the first of its kind to be staged at a racecourse in China, although an eight-race meeting was held at Hohhot in Inner Mongolia last month. Four races contained imported horses and four were run with local horses. The imported horses were to be sold on to Chinese ownership.

The centrepiece to the meeting was the China National Cup, a race worth one million Chinese yuan (Dh604.000) and was won by Beat Of The Drum, a horse formerly with Richard Hannon.

Chengdu, a city of nearly eight million in south-west China, has been positioning itself as a centre for thoroughbred racing and equestrian sports in the country.

sports@thenational.ae

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A MINECRAFT MOVIE

Director: Jared Hess

Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa

Rating: 3/5

Key facilities

Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
Premier League-standard football pitch
400m Olympic running track
NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
600-seat auditorium
Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
Specialist robotics and science laboratories
AR and VR-enabled learning centres
Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills

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

How the UAE gratuity payment is calculated now

Employees leaving an organisation are entitled to an end-of-service gratuity after completing at least one year of service.

The tenure is calculated on the number of days worked and does not include lengthy leave periods, such as a sabbatical. If you have worked for a company between one and five years, you are paid 21 days of pay based on your final basic salary. After five years, however, you are entitled to 30 days of pay. The total lump sum you receive is based on the duration of your employment.

1. For those who have worked between one and five years, on a basic salary of Dh10,000 (calculation based on 30 days):

a. Dh10,000 ÷ 30 = Dh333.33. Your daily wage is Dh333.33

b. Dh333.33 x 21 = Dh7,000. So 21 days salary equates to Dh7,000 in gratuity entitlement for each year of service. Multiply this figure for every year of service up to five years.

2. For those who have worked more than five years

c. 333.33 x 30 = Dh10,000. So 30 days’ salary is Dh10,000 in gratuity entitlement for each year of service.

Note: The maximum figure cannot exceed two years total salary figure.