Meydan. What an amazing, incredible place. What an equine paradise.
I’m currently looking out over Meydan from the media centre, which is located on the fifth floor right on the finish line, and I’m still amazed by the sight before me.
The last two days Dubai has been shrouded in dust, and today is no different – it is difficult to see into the distance. However, it has begun to clear now I’m still stunned by the stark nature of Dubai, with the city literally rising from nothing in the middle of the desert. It is exactly how I envisaged an exotic city like this. On the other side of the stand, the city is like a silhouette in the distance – a series of tall buildings and the Burj Khalifa, which is almost a monstrosity. There can be no exaggeration there, it is simply massive.
I haven’t been to many racecourses around the world. I’m yet to see the tight confines of Happy Valley or the cityscape of Sha Tin. I have not seen the incredible crowd scenes at Nakayama or the twin spires at Churchill Downs. And I am yet to experience the jewels of international racing – Ascot and Newmarket in England – although this will change in the coming months.
In fact, Meydan is only the fourth international racecourse I’ve been to around the world: the other three are Kranji in Singapore, The Curragh in Ireland and Cheltenham in England. They are obviously very different beasts – one is an old-style jumps course, another is an extraordinarily plain flat course, while the third is a representation of the modern brand of Asian racing.
But Meydan is something else entirely, unlike anything I’ve seen in Australia or abroad. I was asked yesterday, how does it compare to a racecourse like Flemington? Well, Flemington holds a soft spot in my heart. Melbourne Cup day is like my Christmas and birthday rolled into one neat package, and no matter what, I will always love Flemington. But in no way does Flemington compare with Meydan.
I hate saying this, but Flemington would be the equivalent of a provincial racecourse when compared with Meydan. Dubai’s racecourse is opulence in racing at its finest. The grandstand is long, very long, and it is beautiful. From the hotel situated past the winning post, to the immense indoor seating in the centre, to the conference rooms dotted among the stand, the grandstand is immense. And the track! Despite the heat and the wind, the turf track looks perfect. It is watered fairly often but by all reports it is a genuine good track. I’m amazed by how good it looks. And the inside Tapeta track provides a great contrast to the luscious turf. I’m still awestruck by the racecourse. I’m in heaven.
The only test left for the racecourse is the atmosphere of World Cup night. For me, more than its external beauty, it is the atmosphere which makes a racecourse. It is atmosphere which really gives tracks like Flemington and Moonee Valley a discernible character. Given it is so expansive, it is hard to imagine there could be the same buzz here at Meydan as you’d experience, say, at a Melbourne Cup or a Cox Plate. But nothing can surprise me here anymore. It will be interesting to see.
It’s been an amazing day and a bit since I arrived in the city.
The Breakfast with the Stars this morning was a great event, something that should be modelled by racecourses all over the world. The breakfast was held at The Apron at Meydan, which is effectively the area in front of the grandstand at the 200m mark.
For just 300 dirhams – a mere AUD$78 – punters were treated to a sight of some of the best racehorses in the world, an extravagant buffet breakfast, a chance to rub shoulders with some of the most renowned trainers and jockeys internationally and an insight into Saturday’s races.
It was surreal. In the shadow of the beautiful Meydan grandstand, I got the chance to chat to the boys in blue – Godolphin’s five jockeys. The exuberant showman Frankie Dettori, the laid back Kerrin McEvoy and the local Ahmed Ajtebi were joined by two new recruits – Brazilian-born talent Silvestre de Sousa and the youthful Mickael Barzalona. It is hard to express how young the Epsom Derby-winning jockey looked – it was commented on Twitter that he hardly appeared a day older than 11. I’d agree with that. Furthermore, he hardly spoke a word of English. Nevertheless, he’s talented and you will be hearing plenty more about the Frenchman in the coming years. I had a Dubai World Cup hat signed by Frankie Dettori, although the signature doesn’t look like it would belong to him!
Chantal Sutherland attracted a lot of attention as she will be the first female jockey to ride in the Dubai World Cup. She is one of a new breed of jockeys, in that she speaks of the importance of marketing one’s self. She has brought a new generation of fans to racing through her down to earth manner and is a great asset to horse racing. She said at a press conference today that she plans to ride in Australia sometime in the future and that she hopes to ride in the Melbourne Cup one day, if it didn’t interfere with the Breeders’ Cup. Let’s hope it happens, as her publicity skills combined with her good ability as a jockey makes for a potent package.
Peter Snowden was mobbed this morning. It was quite incredible. I met him quickly after he’d been chatting for close to 90 minutes. He is a journalist’s dream as he will talk to you politely even if he would prefer to leave. He waited until almost every journalist present had spoken to him before he left quietly. This included a funny interview with the Hong Kong Jockey Club where the presenter spoke for close to five minutes in Cantonese before turning to talk to Snowden in English. I have a greater admiration for Darley Australia’s head trainer after this morning.
In fact, all of the Ballydoyle horses looked outstanding. I’ve been a St Nicholas Abbey fan for years, and he looked very well. On form, he should be going very close in the Sheema Classic. But all of them – those two, Await The Dawn, Daddy Long Legs, Treasure Beach and Wrote – all looked in very good order. This is the first time in many a year that Coolmore have firepower at this meeting. Expect a big showing.
Ortensia looked good, although I thought she looked a little bit above herself in condition. I heard one of her owners say yesterday that she is likely to have one more start after this, at Royal Ascot, but if she didn’t fire here she was likely to be retired. At least she got the deserved Group 1 last time out!
I didn’t see Unusual Suspect, Sepoy or Helmet this morning. However, much has been made of the fact Sepoy doesn’t seem to handle the Tapeta track as well as was hoped. This is in direct contrast to Helmet, who seems to relish the ground. It will be interesting to see how they both go on Saturday night.
Other horses that looked ready to run well on Saturday included the Hong Kong Cup winner California Memory, the William Haggas-trained Beaten Up and Singapore’s Rocket Man, who literally flew.
I’ve met some great journalists so far – I had the pleasure of spending yesterday morning with Simon Holt, who is the lead racecaller for Britain’s Channel 4. He will be calling the races for the United Kingdom, while the rest of the world will take the call of Terry Spargo. I had a good chat this morning with Michael Cox, who works for the South China Morning Post. He formerly worked for the Illawarra Mercury and I gained some great advice from him.
Others I’ve chatted to include Racing and Sports’ Gail Tregear and Gavelhouse’s Khider Messaoud. I also chatted with a lovely Japanese photographer, although I didn’t catch her name. As a matter of fact, there are many Japanese journalists here – the win of Victoire Pisa last year and a strong representation in this year’s feature seems to have spurred interest there. I’ve seen Bruce Clark, Tony Bourke and Steve Moran here – but I haven’t had the opportunity to chat with these turf doyens. Hopefully the opportunity arises at some point.
And so that is Dubai so far – and that’s in only a tad over 24 hours. Imagine how much lies ahead in the 48 hours before the meeting commences! Make sure you tune in on Saturday night for one of the great meetings of the world.
