DUBAI // The champion trainer Doug Watson reported Nirwan, winner of Sunday's HH The President's Cup at Abu Dhabi, in great shape yesterday.
Ridden by Richard Hills, the seven-year-old - sixth in the race last year - reacted positively to the application of a visor and delighted his trainer who was winning the million dirham-race for the first time.
"It was a great effort and Richard [Hills] rode a great race. Nirwan is bouncing this morning and in great shape. We will have to think hard about his next race - there is the Maktoum Challenge III over the same course and distance as the Kahayla Classic on World Cup night. Or we could go straight for that race with him as he is a serious racehorse," he said.
"And there is always the Emirates Championship over the same course and distance as HH The President's Cup but that is the week before the World Cup meeting."
The same races are being considered for fast finishing runner-up Abu Alemarat.
Winner of the UAE Triple Crown last year, he was having only his second run of the season and the trainer Rod Simpson was very pleased.
"We may have been a bit unlucky and he was finishing very fast but this is a young horse with a big future in front of him. I may go to Nad Al Sheba [Maktoum Challenge] and try him on the dirt but we have Fryvolous as our main hope on World Cup night," he said.
"We could leave Abu Alemarat on the turf and try and win the Emirates Championship the week before the World Cup but we have a few weeks to decide. However, with luck, he will be a proper racehorse next year as he is still strengthening."
Speaking of Fryvolous, who won the main support race on Sunday over five furlongs, he too is in great shape and it is 'all systems go, perhaps via Maktoum Challenge III', towards the Kahayla Classic, according to Simpson.
jsullivan@thenational.ae
If you go
The flights
There are direct flights from Dubai to Sofia with FlyDubai (www.flydubai.com) and Wizz Air (www.wizzair.com), from Dh1,164 and Dh822 return including taxes, respectively.
The trip
Plovdiv is 150km from Sofia, with an hourly bus service taking around 2 hours and costing $16 (Dh58). The Rhodopes can be reached from Sofia in between 2-4hours.
The trip was organised by Bulguides (www.bulguides.com), which organises guided trips throughout Bulgaria. Guiding, accommodation, food and transfers from Plovdiv to the mountains and back costs around 170 USD for a four-day, three-night trip.
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
ULTRA PROCESSED FOODS
- Carbonated drinks, sweet or savoury packaged snacks, confectionery, mass-produced packaged breads and buns
- margarines and spreads; cookies, biscuits, pastries, cakes, and cake mixes, breakfast cereals, cereal and energy bars;
- energy drinks, milk drinks, fruit yoghurts and fruit drinks, cocoa drinks, meat and chicken extracts and instant sauces
- infant formulas and follow-on milks, health and slimming products such as powdered or fortified meal and dish substitutes,
- many ready-to-heat products including pre-prepared pies and pasta and pizza dishes, poultry and fish nuggets and sticks, sausages, burgers, hot dogs, and other reconstituted meat products, powdered and packaged instant soups, noodles and desserts.
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