Yeats, ridden by Johnny Murtagh, romps home to win a record fourth Gold Cup at Royal Ascot today.
Yeats, ridden by Johnny Murtagh, romps home to win a record fourth Gold Cup at Royal Ascot today.

Pure gold Yeats rides into history



ASCOT // Yeats made history yesterday by becoming the first horse to win the coveted Gold Cup four years in a row. Aidan O'Brien's eight-year-old was favourite to cross the line first once again in the highlight of the annual Royal Ascot festival and the old campaigner did not disappoint. Yeats, displaying the spirit that won him his previous record of three Gold Cups during the festival, was never caught, finishing ahead of Sir Michael Stoute's Patkai, ridden by Ryan Moore, by three-and-a-half lengths. "You dream and dream and dream, we were in this position and we never would be again - great things can happen," said O'Brien. The jockey Johnny Murtagh said it was one of the best days of his career. "He's the greatest. Muhammed Ali said he was the greatest and he was and Yeats has shown everybody that he is the ultimate heavyweight champion," he said. The Godolphin horse Veracity, ridden by Frankie Dettori, led the pack for the opening part of the race but faded and pulled up lame before the final straight. But Dettori had provided better news for the Dubai stables earlier in the day as he rode the filly Flying Cloud to success in the Group Two Eibblesdale Stakes. "It couldn't have gone better, she did everything right," said Dettori, who celebrated with his traditional flying dismount.

stregoning@thenational.ae

The rules on fostering in the UAE

A foster couple or family must:

  • be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
  • not be younger than 25 years old
  • not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
  • be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
  • have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
  • undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
  • A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
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 

COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Company profile

Name: Dukkantek 

Started: January 2021 

Founders: Sanad Yaghi, Ali Al Sayegh and Shadi Joulani 

Based: UAE 

Number of employees: 140 

Sector: B2B Vertical SaaS(software as a service) 

Investment: $5.2 million 

Funding stage: Seed round 

Investors: Global Founders Capital, Colle Capital Partners, Wamda Capital, Plug and Play, Comma Capital, Nowais Capital, Annex Investments and AMK Investment Office