It’s just a week to the Dubai World Cup, the horse race that is a highlight of the social calendar.
While the event only dates back to 1996, as this photograph shows, horse racing has been popular for many more years.
This photograph shows a closely contested race in Abu Dhabi in the early 1960s. The riders are a little on the large size for today’s jockeys and the horses are Arabians rather than the thoroughbreds at the Meydan. But if these riders cannot expect anything close to the $10 million purse on offer next Saturday, they are also competing for something just as important - the pride and honour of coming first.
* James Langton
