Have Camera Will Travel

There are some weeks when very little happens in the world of racing which makes writing a blog a little bit difficult.

So this week I have taken a look through some of the photographs I have taken on racecourses over the past year and I thought I would share a few of my favourites.

Obviously I'm not a professional snapper but I hope I have captured some of the atmosphere of the sport we love.

Festivals

I took this photograph of Derby winning rider Mikael Barzalona at Royal Ascot. He had not ridden a winner but he still seemed pretty content with himself and life in general.

This was taken after the final race of the Cheltenham Festival. It just seemed to be the perfect end to a great week.

The near empty betting ring and the moon rising over Cleeve hill.

The Queen loves her racing and she rarely misses Derby Day.

2011 was all the more special as she had a runner with a lively chance, also it was not to be.

Here she is holding tight onto her hat as she listens to the National Anthem for the zillionth time during her reign.













Courses

This one was taken at Warwick, looking down the home straight and showing how close the course is to the town centre.

A view most do not get to see looking across to the stands from the 2½ mile start at Huntingdon.

 

Many of our courses have stunning rural settings and Ludlow is no exception. The low sun really shows the spectacular hills in the distance.

Another shot of Ludlow basking in the autumnal sun.

Equine Stars

The Queen unveiled a magnificent statue of Yeats at Royal Ascot this season, the detail is amazing.

We have seen plenty of close finishes in 2011 but this one at Ascot in July was pretty tight.

However if we are going to be looking at equine stars there was only one in 2011, the mighty Frankel . . . .

This was taken after he crossed the like at Ascot on British Champions Day

I hope you enjoyed the photographs!!

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.