Richard Mullen, riding Akeed Champion, took first place in the HHPresident Cup race on February 13, 2017. Delores Johnson / The National
Richard Mullen, riding Akeed Champion, took first place in the HHPresident Cup race on February 13, 2017. Delores Johnson / The National

Horse Racing

Champion jockey Richard Mullen returns for another six races at Abu Dhabi Equestrian Club

Englishman rode to four victories in a six-race card two weeks ago

Amith Passela
Amith Passela

February 25, 2017

ABU DHABI // Richard Mullen returns to the Abu Dhabi Equestrian Club where he rode to four victories in a six-race card two weeks ago.

Mullen won atop Satish Seemar-trained Akeed Champion in the Listed race for the thoroughbreds. He also bagged the Group 1 prize for the Arabians aboard Jean de Roualle’s Loraa to become the first jockey to clinch a President Cup double.

The Englishman has been booked for all six races on Sunday.

He will steer Ernst Oertel’s AF Al Sajanjle at the feature event – the Dh 110,000 Emirates Colts Classic – a race with Prestige status for four-year-old locally-bred colts and geldings, which is run over 1,600 metres.

Mullen’s mount, the grey son of AF Al Buraq, made a winning debut before going down by 10 lengths to high-class Maisoor – undefeated in eight career starts – in the Listed Abu Dhabi Championship.

AF Al Sajanjle was unplaced behind the same horse in the Listed Arabian Triple Crown Round 1 three weeks ago but looks good to rebound against competition of the same level.

“Conditions obviously suit him and he is a nice colt,” Mullen said. “We would have to be hopeful of a big run and the stable look to have three decent chances.”

AF Al Sajanjle will, however, be up against some of Oertel’s other entries, including AF Maher and AF Yatroq, as well as the Eric Lemartinel-trained trio of Mahfouz, Hawafez and Ameed.

It will be a busy night for Mullen, who has been charged with guiding Noof KB in the opening race. He then switches to AF Al Sajanjle for the second race, AF La’Asae for the third and AF Ashras for the fifth, all trained by Oertel.

That is not all.

He will team up with Elise Jeanne’s MH Areeb and Town’s History, trained by Seemar, in the fourth and concluding events, respectively.

The 40-year-old former Godolphin rider is in a close race for the UAE jockey’s championship title with Tadhg O’Shea.

Going into Sunday night’s meeting, Mullen trails O’Shea – who rode two winners at Meydan Racecourse on Saturday – by one win. O’Shea has 42 and Mullen 41.

O’Shea is a four-time UAE champion jockey himself, and his best chances tonight appear to be on the Lemartinel’s horses Zahee and Bainoona.

apassela@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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