There was a definite sense of joie de vivre in the refreshingly cool air around the Abu Dhabi Equestrian Club last night as France's visiting contingent left an indelible impression on the first meeting of the UAE capital's race season.
A delegation of eight jockeys and four trainers had been invited from France to attend the final race of the Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Global Arabian Flat Racing Festival.
And they had plenty to celebrate as four of the night's six races were won by their compatriots.
The opening event, a 1,300m race for purebred Arabian colts and geldings, was won by Burkan al Asayl, the three-year-old colt trained by Frenchman Philippe Barbe and ridden by countryman David Badel.
The duo then secured a memorable double moments later when Noor Einy, the three-year-old filly, triumphed in the second race of the night. Both horses are owned by Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed, President of the UAE.
More than 3,000 spectators turned out for the opening meeting of the new season.
The three main stands of the capital's Equestrian Club were filled predominantly with Sudanese men wearing coloured robes and matching taqiyahs, while the grounds surrounding the track were dominated by Emiratis.
The French appeared to mingle happily among the two groups.
Tarek Zidal, an Arabic-speaking Moroccan race fan from Tangiers casually dressed in a blue T-shirt and white Chinos and sitting with his fellow Africans in the stands, said he had been visiting the Equestrian Club regularly for the past two months.
"I have a love for horses," he said. "For me it is not so much about the jockeys or the races or the other people who come, for me it is just the opportunity to watch the beautiful animals."
Zidal added he had, however, enjoyed watching the final instalment of the three-race Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Cup series.
Muqatil al Khalidiah, having already triumphed in Holland and Poland, had secured enough points to hold an unassailable lead in the race for the trophy and thus did not compete in the capital - although trainer Jean-Francois Bernard was among the French travelling party.
With the prize's final destination already decided, there were murmurings that the race may unravel to be true to its name: flat.
However, Shadiyda, the seven-year-old trained by Frenchman Eric Lemartinel, impressed to win by more than five lengths.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Mansour, the young son of Sheikh Mansour, was on hand to present the trophy and pose for photographs with the beaming winners.
Meanwhile, Bernard also smiled and shook hands as he was congratulated by race enthusiasts. The Frenchman, who won four races in the Sheikh Mansour-backed festival for Arabian purebreds, said he was enjoying his time in the UAE.
"Everything has been perfect," he said. "It is very refreshing to see people who buy horses simply for the pleasure and for the sport. It is not the same in Europe where it is more to do with business. This is very important and I think the fans appreciate that."
Bernard added: "The festival has been great for me, because I won the cup with my horse in Poland. It has been an exciting affair and its objective is clear; it wants to promote Arabian horses around the world, and it is doing a good job. Many small breeders now are looking to buy Arabian thoroughbreds."
Bernard said he hopes to return to the Emirates in late March to compete in the Kahayla Classic at the Dubai World Cup at Meydan Racecourse.
gmeenaghan@thenational.ae
Race winners
23-04-2010
Toulouse Racecourse (France)
Winner: Scoubidou de Carrere
11-07-2010
Duindigt Racecourse (Holland)
Winner: Muqatil al Khalidiah
17-07-2010
Delaware Park (USA)
Winner: Sand Witchh
08-08-2010
Frankfurt Racecourse (Germany)
Winner: Saher
22-08-2010
Warszawa Sluzewiec (Poland)
Winner: Muqatil al Khalidiah
04-09-2010
Craon Racecourse (France)
Winner: Kiss de Ghazal
07-11-2010
Abu Dhabi Equestrian Club (UAE)
Winner: Shadiyda
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SPD: "Border closures and blanket rejections at internal borders contradict the spirit of a common area of freedom"
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Sceptre
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Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
TEST SQUADS
Bangladesh: Mushfiqur Rahim (captain), Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Imrul Kayes, Liton Das, Shakib Al Hasan, Mominul Haque, Nasir Hossain, Sabbir Rahman, Mehedi Hasan, Shafiul Islam, Taijul Islam, Mustafizur Rahman and Taskin Ahmed.
Australia: Steve Smith (captain), David Warner, Ashton Agar, Hilton Cartwright, Pat Cummins, Peter Handscomb, Matthew Wade, Josh Hazlewood, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Glenn Maxwell, Matt Renshaw, Mitchell Swepson and Jackson Bird.
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.”
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