Over-Hyped Racing, Noisy Punters and Sanitiseds Channel 4

Apparently there has been some race meeting taking place in California for the past couple of days and judging by my Twitter timeline many, including people who I would normally describe as sensible racing journalists, seem to have fallen hook, line and sinker for the organisers hyperbole that the meeting is the “Worlds Championships” of racing.

It needs to be remembered that Americans have a strange view of the world – everything outside their borders is considered alien. Think that’s an exaggeration, have a look at US immigration, the queues are quite clearly labelled “US Citizens” and “Aliens”.

To them the USA is the world, ergo anything which happens in the United States is, by default, a World Championship.

Even in sports like rounders, sorry baseball, they call their domestic championships the World Series.

I recall watching the main TV news bulletin when I was in the States and after 25 minutes of frankly irrelevant “local” news there was a summary of world news led by a major earthquake in China which had killed tens of thousands. It barely warranted 20 seconds of coverage but the caption over the VT said it all, it read “CHINA (The World)” – I suppose that was for the benefit of any viewers who though China was part of the US.    

Get real, the Breeders Cup isn’t the Worlds Championship of racing, it’s a jumped up artificial surface meeting with a couple of races on wholly unsuitable turf going thrown in for good measure.

You can call a turd anything you like but at the end of the day it is still a turd.

Ah, it’s supporters will argue, if it is an over-hyped meeting then why do the top European trainers keep sending their horses over there?

The simple answer to that is greed. Make the prize money high enough and, like vultures round a carcase, the owners and trainers will send their horses to the races. Even if they are held on dirt or unsuitable turf conditions. More so when the meeting is held in California, where the Europeans don’t usually fare particularly well.

It’s the same greed that attracts owners and trainers to the racing in Dubai …. again the lure of big money but in the case of Dubai it’s worse than the Breeders Cup.

Owners, trainers, journalists, broadcasters all kowtow to the Dubai racing elite, happy to accept the lavish entertainment and vast prize money, conveniently forgetting these self-same people pay lip service to  human rights.

They are proud to show off their gleaming tower blocks, six star hotels, tax free shopping centres but are not so keen to show the shanty towns and slum conditions the labourers who build these great buildings live in. The foreign workers whose passports are held so they cannot return home until their employers / Dubai Government decide they can. Whose wages are frequently withheld and who, if they dare to protest, are imprisoned.

UK journalists are more than happy to go Dubai and extol the virtues of their generous hosts, yet turn a blind eye to the conditions local journalists have to work under. It’s true that journalists can no longer be jailed for publishing anything the government disapproves of but they can be excluded and banned from publishing anything in the country, which still amounts to state censorship.

None of that matters though because Sheikh Mo, his family and cronies are all good eggs, they give a huge amount of money to UK racing, so we can ignore their little foibles. Plus, of course, our Government don’t want to upset these chappies because we need their oil.

It’s all so nauseating.

One recurrent theme on the Twitter timeline these past two days is how much of a punters graveyard the Breeders Cup has been this year. It often is, especially when it’s at Santa Anita. If it is such a graveyard then why bet?

If you want to watch the racing why does it have to be with a financial investment?  

I actually do wonder how many people follow racing because of the sport and competition or just because it is a betting medium.

How many “followers” of the sport are able to enjoy or watch a race in which they have no financial interest? I have a feeling it may be a minority.

Yes I do bet but not in every race I watch, I may even go weeks without having a bet, yet I still generally enjoy watching the racing, even without having a financial investment.

Yes there are some races that are so bad it is impossible to enjoy, with or without an investment, the opening maiden at Newmarket on Friday being a recent prime example.

Of course betting also clouds the judgement of those watching the races, isn’t it amazing how many times a horse loses because the jockey is bad / useless / bent or the trainer has told the jockey not to try today etc. etc..

In other words I really hate the pocket talking whingers who will look for every excuse under the sun as to why their selected horse failed to win – of course they rarely ever come up with the correct answer, namely they just backed the wrong donkey.

Even more irritating though, are those who shout from the rooftops when they have backed a winner. Perhaps it is because it’s such a rare occurrence they feel the need to tell the world. Perhaps it is a form of narcissism. Who knows?

The majority of my betting is just for fun with a few “serious” bets each year. However if you were standing next to me watching a race in which I have had a “serious” bet you would be absolutely none the wiser as to whether I had won or lost. I also take a view that a bet is going to be a loser and if it wins it’s a bonus.

For me punting is a very private matter, I’m surprised the number of people who ask me how much I bet, it’s a question I never answer, not even my close family or friends know how much I bet, how much I win (or lose).  The only person who knows how much I bet with my serious betting is my commissioning agent.

Finally I hope Channel Four Racing yesterday isn’t an example of how things will be when they have all terrestrial racing from January.

Yesterday was meant to be Michael Hills final day as a jockey yet they announced he would not be riding at Newmarket because he was “feeling unwell.”

The truth was he had failed a pre-racing breath test and was suspended from racing by the Stewards.

Why did Channel Four decide to mislead their viewers in not revealing the true reason for Hills not riding? 

The Last World Cup?

This time last year a wrote an article which was critical of the, then new, Meydan racecourse. (See http://www.ors-racing.co.uk/Beast/DesertMirage.html)

A year later we again have the sight of the “great and good” of the British racing media flocking to Dubai, filing positive glowing reports as racing once again prostitutes itself at the altar of ostentation and bling. How many of them will also be filing reports about the reality of life in Dubai?

As I stated last year, Meydan racecourse is the Dubai equivalent of the Essex chav building an ostentatious mock Tudor mansion to basically say “look at me I’m rich” to which should be added “but I have no class”.

Meydan racecourse is basically a plaything for Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, ruler of Dubai. Of course it goes without saying he is the unelected leader – a country which has lived beyond its means and teetered on the verge of national bankruptcy a few months ago, no mean achievement for a state sitting on an oil well.

Yet whilst the country teetered on the brink of bankruptcy Sheikh Mohammed was still ploughing millions into his hobby. Apologists make the point that he is spending his own money. That does not hold water as his personal wealth is intrinsically linked to the financial fortune of Dubai itself.

It is interesting when Sheikh Mohammed is in the UK he has all the trappings of a head of state. At Royal Ascot he has the No 1 box with all the appropriate security which goes with it. I suspect he dines on only the best food and he lives a pretty good life. Well good luck to him.

Isn’t it a shame the underclass of workers who built his Meydan racetrack or who build all the plush hotels and buildings in Dubai do not have the same good life? Indeed they have very few freedoms at all, in many cases not even the freedom to return to their own country as they are held a, virtual slaves, paid a pittance and working in conditions where not even lip service is paid to health and safety.

If their conditions are so bad they feel the urge to strike there is the little matter of imprisonment and beatings from the police to be faced.

These modern day slaves are ignored by the locals and ex-pats who live in Dubai – after all it must be uncomfortable for them if they stop and think of the reality.

Sheikh Mohammed and his apologists would have you believe he and his family have built this wonderful metropolis, a Disneyland for adults. Like Disneyland it is all an illusion, unlike Disneyland Dubai has been built by slave labour and that includes Meydan.

There is no freedom of the press in Dubai. If I wrote and published this article in Dubai I would end up in prison. Sheikh Mohammed and his Government are paranoid about negative press. Foreign correspondents based in Dubai can be fined and deported for writing anything critical of the state or its leaders.

A journalist working for Bloomberg was detained on arrival at Dubai airport and after a two-hour grilling about his work was warned to “be careful”.

Fines up to about £100,000 can be imposed for “carrying misleading news that harms the national economy.” There are fines of up to £1m for “insulting” members of the government and the ruling family. 

Throughout the middle-east there are rebellions against these unelected dictators. Will there be a rebellion in Dubai, well as long as the money flows in there probably will not be. After all the state of Dubai looks after its own.

To quote one Emirati "This is the best place in the world to be young! The government pays for your education up to PhD level. You get given a free house when you get married. You get free healthcare, and if it's not good enough here, they pay for you to go abroad. You don't even have to pay for your phone calls. Almost everyone has a maid, a nanny, and a driver. And we never pay any taxes. Don't you wish you were Emirati?"

Most Emiratis work for the Government, their employment is secure, indeed there is even legislation in place which makes it almost impossible to sack an Emirati.

So they are not likely to revolt. Well they will not revolt as long as the gravy train trundles along.

Continuing the Disney theme, Dubai is the never-never land. A nation built on debt. It’s national debt is 107% of its GDP. Dubai had to be bailed out by neighbouring Abu-Dhabi, a nation even more conservative and repressive than Dubai.

It is also interesting to note that bankruptcy is not recognised in Dubai. If you get into debt you are thrown into prison. Unless, of course, you are the running class in which case you can put the country into as much debt as you wish with absolute impunity.

At some point the bubble is going to burst and when it does Dubai will go the same way as the other oppressive states in the area.

Much as I love my racing I have no interest in the Dubai World Cup or in any racing staged in Dubai.

Last year I asked both the Government of Dubai and the Dubai Racing Club how many workers died during the construction of Meydan. It goes without saying neither had even the common courtesy to acknowledge the question, yet alone reply.

Sheikh Mohammed reminds me of Nero but instead of fiddling when Rome burns he is playing with horses as Dubai goes bust.

In my mind the prize money on offer at these race meetings  is tainted with blood. The blood of the “workers” who have given their lives to build this mirage in the desert. Like a mirage it will disappear, leaving nothing.

Dubai is already an ecological disaster. There is no fresh water, all the water is produced from massive desalination plants. It costs more money to produce a gallon of water in Dubai than it does to produce a gallon of petrol. Move away from the plush six star resorts and you will find the sea awash with raw sewage because the infrastructure cannot cope with the amount being produced.

It is amazing what they don’t tell you in the tourist brochures.

So if you are following this year’s Dubai World Cup enjoy it. It may be the last and if it is I, for one, will be shedding no tears.   

A Mirage In The Desert

Am I the only one to feel really uneasy at the coverage given to the opening of Meydan racecourse in Dubai, especially some of the near sycophantic coverage being given to the course by certain members of the racing media?

Last weekend the new racecourse at Meydan staged the $10m Dubai World Cup – yes $10m for a single horserace.

To quote the official website the course is, “The brainchild of HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, the Dubai World Cup is a fitting tribute to his love of horses and of horseracing.”

A fitting tribute?

There has been no official confirmation of the costs of building the racecourse but the most conservative estimates suggest there would be no change out of £1.6 billion, yes that is billion.

Yet the course has been built in Dubai, a state teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, having to be bailed out by its neighbours.

A state where the head of state, despite the perilous state of the economy, still spends millions of dollars each year following his passion for horse racing.

He spokesmen, by means of justification, say the money spent on racing is from his own personal fortune.

Where does that fortune actually come from though? Is it not inextricably linked to the economy of the country itself?

I have no problem with individuals spending their money how they see fit but the continued lavish expenditure following a hobby whilst the country is in near financial ruin, makes me think of Nero when Rome was burning.

Even putting aside the financial morality of the situation in Dubai, what sort of racecourse have they built?

Does a racecourse really need a grandstand that is 1.6 Km in length?

Does the car park, indeed the entire site, really need to be built in the shape of a falcon?

The design of the racecourse reminds me of the sort of ostentatious residence that would be built by a footballer or lottery winner to show off how wealthy they are.

Yet for all the outward signs of wealth and the facade which attracts the wealthy and tourists alike, the facilities which make Dubai a prime tourist destination and attracts the “beautiful people” like bees round a honey pot. There is a darker underbelly to Dubai and that underbelly alone should make any decent person think twice before lavishing unfettered praise on Meydan.

Are the fawning journalists and apologists for Meydan and Dubai Racing, most of whom will happily lap up the generous hospitality on offer, really unaware of the reality life in Dubai?

Or are they aware but conveniently choose to turn a blind eye to the realities?

Do they think the course was built in the same way as, for example, the new stand at Ascot? Where workers were paid a decent wage and had to work in compliance with strict health and safety legislation.

Of course it wasn’t, it was built (as is most of Dubai) by, arguably, the 21st century equivalent of slave labour.

Workers, mainly from the Indian sub-continent, attracted by what to them would be a good wage. Only to find the reality is pittance pay (and frequently withheld) as well as having to work 12 hours a day, 6 days a week.

In a large number of cases these workers are accommodated in what are effectively shanty towns, cramped with (by any standards) unacceptable hygiene conditions.

If the workers want to protest about their conditions there is actually nothing they can do as membership of a trade union or even striking is illegal.

Should the worker want to return home early (assuming he can afford the fare) they are prevented from doing so as employers frequently “look after” their passports and “sponsorship” rules mean the workers have to work in Dubai for a minimum period of time.

The BBC Panorama program had a very good exposé on working conditions for migrant workers in Dubai. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7985361.stm).

Perhaps those who are kow-towing to the Dubai Racing Club and Dubai rulers ought to look at their consciences before heaping lavish praise on Meydan (or indeed anything in Dubai).

Of course it could be they are too afraid to say anything, after all any journalist who writes a story that is negative about the country or insults the government is liable to face a huge fine or imprisonment.

A report from Human Rights Watch stated, “Hundreds of migrant construction workers die each year in the UAE under unexplained circumstances. The government can account only for a few of these deaths, primarily because it appears not to enforce its own laws requiring employers to report worksite deaths and injuries. In 2004 alone, the embassies of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh returned the bodies of 880 construction workers back to their home countries. Yet the Dubai emirate, the only emirate to keep a count of migrant worker deaths, recorded only 34 construction deaths that year, based on reports from only six companies.”

Needless to say there are no official figures as to how many workers were killed or injured during the construction of Meydan.

The Government of Dubai say they are “clamping down” on unscrupulous builders and they have minimum standards laid down. Yet it seems construction companies are allowed to flaunt these laws with impunity.

This strikes me as being somewhat odd as, elsewhere, the law seems to be enforced with a rod of steel.

There seems to be an irreconcilable inconsistency where the law seems not to care a jot about the working conditions of migrant workers, yet an innocent peck on the cheek in public is rigorously enforced with one month in prison.

It isn’t just building workers who are badly treated in the country. Women are bought into the country to work as domestics. However there are many reports of these women being badly treated, not paid and even raped and sexually assaulted.

Yet according to Human Rights Watch there have been no cases of the prosecution in the UAE, of employers accused of raping domestic servants.

“This provides a culture of impunity that perpetuates sexual crimes against domestic workers. Our research indicates that all rape cases of domestic servants that are brought to the attention of the authorities, are settled out of court and no one has been prosecuted,”

Yes Meydan may well be the most impressive racecourse in the world, the top horses and trainers may be attracted with massive prize money but to me it is severely tainted.

No matter how good the racing may be in Meydan, I cannot bring myself to support it or shout from the rooftops how great Meydan is – I am afraid my conscience will not allow it, to me the place is obscene.

Both the Office of the Prime Minister of Dubai and the Dubai Racing Club were invited to comment on the issues raised – both declined to comment. The offer to respond is still open.