Eric Lemartinel-trained Ellal will be aiming to build on his impressive race debut when the three-year-old Purebred Arabian takes his place in the first of Sunday’s six-race card at Abu Dhabi Equestrian Club.
Ellal produced a remarkable performance in the Yas Island Purebred Arabian Maiden on November 3, obliterating the 16-horse field to win by more than six lengths over the 1,400-metre distance.
Ellal, who is one of four horses trained by Lemartinel in the race, will now aim to make it two wins from two in the Dh80,000 Baynounah for Purebred Arabians, and Lemartinel's stable jockey Pat Cosgrave has high hopes for the horse.
____________
Read more:
ES Ajeeb clinches biggest win for trainer Ibrahim Aseel at Meydan
Joori's win sets up Eric Lemartinel hat-trick at Al Ain Racecourse
Godolphin have Melbourne Cup defence in mind for Cross Counter
____________
“He’s a good horse with a lot of potential,” Cosgrave said after Ellal’s win three weeks ago. “He’s got a lot of good qualities in him. He’s big and possesses a good cruising speed.
“Coming in to a racecourse for the first time was a good education run for him as well and hopefully he can keep improving.”
Abu Dhabi’s six-race card consists of five races for Arabians and one for thoroughbreds, which has drawn the maximum 14 entries.
Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid will have three entries in the thoroughbred handicap race, run over 1,400m, with Fawaareq, Azmaam, and Tafaakhor all competing. Tafaakhor is the choice of the owner’s retained jockey Dane O’Neill.
Tafaakhor, a four-year-old gelding, was twice a winner when trained by Richard Hannon in England, but hasn’t won in eight local starts. Trainer Ali Rashid Al Raihe is hopeful a first run on Abu Dhabi’s turf track can bring about change.
“He’s arriving with a run under his belt and we think he can improve, especially over the shorter 1,400m distance and returning to turf,” the Emirati trainer said.
Carrying the most weight – 60-kilograms – is local debutant Fawaareq, one of two horses in the thoroughbred race to be saddled by UAE champion trainer Doug Watson.
Fawaareq, who has been draw in Gate 14, won three times in Britain when trained by Owen Burrows, but is returning for his first run since October 2017.
“Fawaareq has some very good form in Europe and is a nice new horse in the yard, one we are very much looking forward to running,” Watson said. “We have actually had him about a year but were unable to get him to the races last season, but with a summer on his back, we hope is going to do well. He has an awful draw, though.”
The concluding race, the Dh90,000 Al Reem Purebred Arabian Handicap, is the most valuable prize of the Arabian races and looks a wide open contest.
Narjes, ridden by Richard Mullen, heads the weights as Emirati trainer Helal Al Alawi bids for to achieve 100 career winners.
Lemartinel has three horses entered – Bainoona, Ras Sena and RB Brick House – while MH Tawag, trained by Elise Jeane, and Ernst Oertel’s AF Sheham are also set to challenge.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
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.”
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
$1,000 award for 1,000 days on madrasa portal
Daily cash awards of $1,000 dollars will sweeten the Madrasa e-learning project by tempting more pupils to an education portal to deepen their understanding of math and sciences.
School children are required to watch an educational video each day and answer a question related to it. They then enter into a raffle draw for the $1,000 prize.
“We are targeting everyone who wants to learn. This will be $1,000 for 1,000 days so there will be a winner every day for 1,000 days,” said Sara Al Nuaimi, project manager of the Madrasa e-learning platform that was launched on Tuesday by the Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, to reach Arab pupils from kindergarten to grade 12 with educational videos.
“The objective of the Madrasa is to become the number one reference for all Arab students in the world. The 5,000 videos we have online is just the beginning, we have big ambitions. Today in the Arab world there are 50 million students. We want to reach everyone who is willing to learn.”
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3A%20ASI%20(formerly%20DigestAI)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202017%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Quddus%20Pativada%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dubai%2C%20UAE%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EIndustry%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Artificial%20intelligence%2C%20education%20technology%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunding%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%243%20million-plus%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20GSV%20Ventures%2C%20Character%2C%20Mark%20Cuban%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
