Twilight Payment produces 'incredible' race to win Melbourne Cup


Amith Passela
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Jye McNeil was left feeling "overwhelmed" after guiding Twilight Payment to  victory in the Melbourne Cup on his debut appearance at the prestigious Australian horse race on Tuesday.

Twilight Payment's triumph at Flemington racecourse landed trainer Joseph O’Brien his second Melbourne Cup in four years, while presenting a seventh success in the race for owner Lloyd Williams.

Joseph’s father Aidan had to once again settle for a runner-up finish behind his son after Irish Derby victor, and pre-race favourite Tiger Moth failed to reel in the winner. It followed a similar pattern as the 2017 Melbourne Cup when Joseph’s Rekindling beat Aidan's Johannes Vermeer.

Prince Of Arran, trained in the UK by Charlie Fellowes and with Jamie Kah atop, ran another superb race to take third in the silks of Emirati businessman Saeed bel Obaida.

But the race belonged to Twilight Payment and McNeil, who went to the front soon after the start, trailed by Tiger Moth and closely followed by Vow And Declare, last year’s winner, and Oceanix.

Tiger Moth dropped down the order and then picked up towards the end, but Twilight Payment stayed the stronger for a half-a-length victory.

Prince Of Arran, who was third in 2018 and runner-up last year, was a further head behind in third.

“I’m absolutely stoked I could pull it off,” an ecstatic McNeil said. “There’s too many emotions, it’s a very big moment.

“I’m not worried about the [empty] grandstands at all. To get the opportunity to partner Twilight Payment, it’s very overwhelming.

“It was the plan to always be forward. Obviously with where he was in the market I wasn’t feeling a lot of pressure, but when you have got to go forward there is some pressure to get it right. Thankfully, it all came together.

“I was trying to use my voice to encourage him as much as possible to hang on, and he was very tough.”

O'Brien, who was watching from home in Ireland, said it was “incredibly special”, adding he would have loved to have been at the racecourse to witness the win.

“Jye gave the horse an incredible ride and credit has to go to Lloyd and Nick Williams, they really felt this horse had a big chance in the race this year," O'Brien, 27, said.

“Mark Power, Sean Corby and my team of lads that have been down in Melbourne for the last number of weeks have done an incredible job with not only him but all the horses that we have there. They presented them in fantastic condition and credit has to go with them.”

The race was sadly tarnished by the death of Aidan O’Brien’s Anthony Van Dyck after the 2019 English Derby winner suffered a fractured fetlock. It is the seventh death in the race from the past eight years.

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Results
Match 1 – UAE won by 4 wickets
Match 2 – UAE won by 5 wickets
Match 3 – UAE won by 25 runs
Match 4 – UAE won by 77 runs

Fixture
Match 5, Saturday, 9.30am start, ICC Academy, Dubai

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Company profile

Date started: January, 2014

Founders: Mike Dawson, Varuna Singh, and Benita Rowe

Based: Dubai

Sector: Education technology

Size: Five employees

Investment: $100,000 from the ExpoLive Innovation Grant programme in 2018 and an initial $30,000 pre-seed investment from the Turn8 Accelerator in 2014. Most of the projects are government funded.

Partners/incubators: Turn8 Accelerator; In5 Innovation Centre; Expo Live Innovation Impact Grant Programme; Dubai Future Accelerators; FHI 360; VSO and Consult and Coach for a Cause (C3)

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The flights
Emirates and Etihad fly direct from the UAE to Los Angeles, from Dh4,975 return, including taxes. The flight time is 16 hours. Alaska Airlines, United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Aeromexico and Southwest all fly direct from Los Angeles to San Jose del Cabo from Dh1,243 return, including taxes. The flight time is two-and-a-half hours.

The trip
Lindblad Expeditions National Geographic’s eight-day Whales Wilderness itinerary costs from US$6,190 (Dh22,736) per person, twin share, including meals, accommodation and excursions, with departures in March and April 2018.

 

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About Karol Nawrocki

• Supports military aid for Ukraine, unlike other eurosceptic leaders, but he will oppose its membership in western alliances.

• A nationalist, his campaign slogan was Poland First. "Let's help others, but let's take care of our own citizens first," he said on social media in April.

• Cultivates tough-guy image, posting videos of himself at shooting ranges and in boxing rings.

• Met Donald Trump at the White House and received his backing.

Sole survivors
  • Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
  • George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
  • Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
  • Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
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Rating: 3/5

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Joseph E. Stiglitz
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Engine: 2.9-litre, V6 twin-turbo

Transmission: seven-speed PDK dual clutch automatic

Power: 375bhp

Torque: 520Nm

Price: Dh332,800

On sale: now

Final results:

Open men
Australia 94 (4) beat New Zealand 48 (0)

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England 85 (3) beat India 81 (1)

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Under 22 men
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Australia 92 (3) beat New Zealand 54 (1)

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COMPANY PROFILE

Name: Xpanceo

Started: 2018

Founders: Roman Axelrod, Valentyn Volkov

Based: Dubai, UAE

Industry: Smart contact lenses, augmented/virtual reality

Funding: $40 million

Investor: Opportunity Venture (Asia)

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Company Fact Box

Company name/date started: Abwaab Technologies / September 2019

Founders: Hamdi Tabbaa, co-founder and CEO. Hussein Alsarabi, co-founder and CTO

Based: Amman, Jordan

Sector: Education Technology

Size (employees/revenue): Total team size: 65. Full-time employees: 25. Revenue undisclosed

Stage: early-stage startup 

Investors: Adam Tech Ventures, Endure Capital, Equitrust, the World Bank-backed Innovative Startups SMEs Fund, a London investment fund, a number of former and current executives from Uber and Netflix, among others.

THE BIG THREE

NOVAK DJOKOVIC
19 grand slam singles titles
Wimbledon: 5 (2011, 14, 15, 18, 19)
French Open: 2 (2016, 21)
US Open: 3 (2011, 15, 18)
Australian Open: 9 (2008, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 19, 20, 21)
Prize money: $150m

ROGER FEDERER
20 grand slam singles titles
Wimbledon: 8 (2003, 04, 05, 06, 07, 09, 12, 17)
French Open: 1 (2009)
US Open: 5 (2004, 05, 06, 07, 08)
Australian Open: 6 (2004, 06, 07, 10, 17, 18)
Prize money: $130m

RAFAEL NADAL
20 grand slam singles titles
Wimbledon: 2 (2008, 10)
French Open: 13 (2005, 06, 07, 08, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 17, 18, 19, 20)
US Open: 4 (2010, 13, 17, 19)
Australian Open: 1 (2009)
Prize money: $125m

Profile of Tarabut Gateway

Founder: Abdulla Almoayed

Based: UAE

Founded: 2017

Number of employees: 35

Sector: FinTech

Raised: $13 million

Backers: Berlin-based venture capital company Target Global, Kingsway, CE Ventures, Entrée Capital, Zamil Investment Group, Global Ventures, Almoayed Technologies and Mad’a Investment.