Julian Smart has gone all out in an effort to defend his title in the Qatar Arabian World Cup by declaring seven horses for the Longchamp Purebred Arabian showpiece tomorrow.
Last season Smart scooped the Arabian World Cup with Areej, who lines up once more, and the mount of Stephane Pasquier will be joined in the Group 1 contest by four others who will carry the silks of Sheikh Mohammed Bin Khalifa.
Recent Newbury winners Rathowan and Mkeefa, Mu'azzaz, and Aziz all take to the turf alongside Smart's others of Asraa Min Albarq and Jaafer, the 2010 Dubai Kahayla Classic winner.
"I ran four in it last year so I figured I should try a bit harder. To be honest with you, all of them have claims. If they weren't good enough they wouldn't be there," Smart told The National.
Smart's cohort helps to swell the bumper field, which includes TM Fred Texas, this year's Dubai Kahayla Classic winner, and all 20 runners have been entered for the opportunity to obtain a slice of the impressive purse.
Although there are seven Group 1 thoroughbred races on the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe card, the Qatar Arabian World Cup is the second most valuable race of the day behind the Arc with €700,000 (Dh3.29 million) up for grabs.
Trainers often find it difficult to relate which horse they fancy out of their string, either hiding behind a screen of pretence or are simply too close to their charges to be able to make an objective judgement call.
In private Smart felt that Areej had the better chance than Mkeefa when the two clashed in the Group 1 Hatta International at Newbury last month, but it was the latter who came with a supercharged run to push Areej into third.
Areej has not won in the 12 months since her triumph in Paris and although Smart still has faith in the seven year old it was Neil Callan's decision to ride Mkeefa, who was supplemented, that was the obvious indicator as to which horse is the likeliest winner of the septet.
"Mkeefa is very talented but very young," Smart, who teamed up with Pasquier to win the Qatar Arabian Trophy at Saint Cloud with Djainka Des Forges yesterday, said.
"I feel that Areej is a stronger mare but Mkeefa has been proving me wrong every step of the way so far."I can't put my finger on it why Areej has not been performing.
"She's an older Arabian mare and they are very temperamental.
"Neil has ridden both horses although he feels there is nothing wrong with Areej he thinks that Mkeefa is simply better."
Yesterday also saw the final declarations for the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, and Mickael Barzalona is to partner Masterstroke, owned by Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid, Vice President of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.
Masterstroke was handed a horror of a draw in stall 17, one in from the widest starting stall from which Orfevre, the Japanese raider, will emerge. A wide draw is naturally a significant drawback over the course of 1m 4f although Dalakhani won from stall 14 in 2003 and Godolphin's Sakhee emerged from stall 15 to win in 2001.
Barzalona has ridden Masterstroke twice, the latest when the pair teamed up to win the Grand Prix de Deauville in August.
Masterstroke, trained by Andre Fabre, will run in the silks of Godolphin SNC, the French arm of the worldwide operation in the event.
sports@thenational.ae
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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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