DUBAI // The final meeting of the 2011 Dubai International Racing Carnival gets underway tonight and it looks like the battle to be named the top trainer will go right down to the wire.
Saeed bin Suroor, Godolphin's long-time handler, claimed the trainers' championship by a wide margin last season, saddling an incredible 24 winners in just 10 meetings.
This year the fight for top Carnival trainer is a much tighter affair with bin Suroor lagging two behind his old foe Mike de Kock's total of 15.
Bin Suroor is this year sharing Godolphin training duties with Mahmoud al Zarooni and the new handler has posted eight Carnival victories in his first international season to share third place with Ali Rashid al Raihe.
Doug Watson experienced a recent surge in form to roar into fifth with three winners while Herman Brown has two.
Godolphin saddles 23 horses, including reserves, with bin Suroor accounting for 16 of those, and it would be a major surprise if the Emirati did not pay a visit to the winner's enclosure tonight. The evening boasts two feature races - the Group 2 Zabeel Mile and the Group 3 DRC Gold Cup.
Bin Suroor saddles two in the Zabeel Mile: the Royal Hunt Cup winner Invisible Man and Australian Group 2 winner Caymans. Invisible Man is the choice of Frankie Dettori, bin Suroor's jockey.
Invisible Man is yet to win in Dubai but is said to be working well.
"He has been training well and improving," said bin Suroor, who will not face De Kock's Group 1-winning filly Here to Win as she will miss the Group 2 outing and will instead contest a handicap over a slightly longer distance.
De Kock, who decided to opt for a handicap to avoid a Group 1 penalty for his charge, said the step up in trip would suit her.
Another bidding to stop the Godolphin juggernaut is Herman Brown who claimed a Group 3 last week with Duty Free contender Bankable. His Mikhail Glinka, a Royal Ascot winner, contests the Group 3 Gold Cup over 3,200m, and takes on six trained by Godolphin handlers as well as Gary Moore's versatile stayer Bergo and Luca Cumani's Drunken Sailor.
"He's won over the trip before and he went very well when coming second to Godolphin's Calvados Blues," said Brown, who also saddles Carnival winner Bronze Cannon in the 2,200m race and Chocolicious and Paulinho in the opening 1,400m conditions outing. "I would say he was my best chance.
"I thought Bronze Cannon went out a little too fast last time but he seems well and we are expecting him to run well."
JJ The Jet Plane, the crack South African sprinter trained by Lucky Houdalakis, makes a return to turf over 1,200m.
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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
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AUSTRALIA SQUAD
Steve Smith (capt), David Warner, Cameron Bancroft, Jackson Bird, Pat Cummins, Peter Handscomb, Josh Hazlewood, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Shaun Marsh, Tim Paine, Chadd Sayers, Mitchell Starc.
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Essentials
The flights
Emirates flies direct from Dubai to Seattle from Dh6,755 return in economy and Dh24,775 in business class.
The cruise
UnCruise Adventures offers a variety of small-ship cruises in Alaska and around the world. A 14-day Alaska’s Inside Passage and San Juans Cruise from Seattle to Juneau or reverse costs from $4,695 (Dh17,246), including accommodation, food and most activities. Trips in 2019 start in April and run until September.
LA LIGA FIXTURES
Friday (UAE kick-off times)
Real Sociedad v Leganes (midnight)
Saturday
Alaves v Real Valladolid (4pm)
Valencia v Granada (7pm)
Eibar v Real Madrid (9.30pm)
Barcelona v Celta Vigo (midnight)
Sunday
Real Mallorca v Villarreal (3pm)
Athletic Bilbao v Levante (5pm)
Atletico Madrid v Espanyol (7pm)
Getafe v Osasuna (9.30pm)
Real Betis v Sevilla (midnight)
U19 World Cup in South Africa
Group A: India, Japan, New Zealand, Sri Lanka
Group B: Australia, England, Nigeria, West Indies
Group C: Bangladesh, Pakistan, Scotland, Zimbabwe
Group D: Afghanistan, Canada, South Africa, UAE
UAE fixtures
Saturday, January 18, v Canada
Wednesday, January 22, v Afghanistan
Saturday, January 25, v South Africa
UAE squad
Aryan Lakra (captain), Vriitya Aravind, Deshan Chethyia, Mohammed Farazuddin, Jonathan Figy, Osama Hassan, Karthik Meiyappan, Rishabh Mukherjee, Ali Naseer, Wasi Shah, Alishan Sharafu, Sanchit Sharma, Kai Smith, Akasha Tahir, Ansh Tandon
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A Cat, A Man, and Two Women
Junichiro Tamizaki
Translated by Paul McCarthy
Daunt Books
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
Zakat definitions
Zakat: an Arabic word meaning ‘to cleanse’ or ‘purification’.
Nisab: the minimum amount that a Muslim must have before being obliged to pay zakat. Traditionally, the nisab threshold was 87.48 grams of gold, or 612.36 grams of silver. The monetary value of the nisab therefore varies by current prices and currencies.
Zakat Al Mal: the ‘cleansing’ of wealth, as one of the five pillars of Islam; a spiritual duty for all Muslims meeting the ‘nisab’ wealth criteria in a lunar year, to pay 2.5 per cent of their wealth in alms to the deserving and needy.
Zakat Al Fitr: a donation to charity given during Ramadan, before Eid Al Fitr, in the form of food. Every adult Muslim who possesses food in excess of the needs of themselves and their family must pay two qadahs (an old measure just over 2 kilograms) of flour, wheat, barley or rice from each person in a household, as a minimum.
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
A State of Passion
Directors: Carol Mansour and Muna Khalidi
Stars: Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah
Rating: 4/5
