Mirage of a race

The Dubai World Cup is the richest horse race in the world. But the event is no mere equine competition - it is a mega social soiree

We are at a standstill on a highway under the shadow of the Burj Khalifa. The world's tallest building shimmers in Dubai's desert haze as the traffic inches forward. A preposterous ostrich feather peeps out of a golden Rolls-Royce beside us; behind us, a queue of Ferraris, Bugattis, Lamborghinis and more stretch down the road. It is, after all, the final day of the 19th Dubai World Cup (DWC) - the world's richest horse racing event with a combined purse of $27.25 million. Even in the Emirates where everything has to be the tallest, fastest and richest in the world, this is a mega event.

To think that a mere 30 years ago, when UAE Vice-President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, organised the first Arabian thoroughbred horse race in 1981, it was run on a dusty camel track! In 1993, the fledgling Dubai Racing Club hosted the inaugural Dubai International Jockeys' Challenge, which paved the way for the Dubai World Cup in 1996. It was when the spectacular Meydan racecourse was inaugurated in 2010 that horse racing in Dubai really came on the world centrestage.

With the world's first five-star luxury hotel on a racecourse and cutting-edge facilities for racehorses and jockeys, Meydan is an experience in itself. Sprawled over 1.5 km under a crescent-shaped roof, its central atrium is abuzz with beautiful people dressed to the nines. Everywhere you see towering hats of dangerous proportions, flowing frocks in summery hues and shoes with skyscraper heels. No wonder then that many of the 80,000-odd spectators at DWC watch people rather than horses! I spot cricketer Sunil Gavaskar and tennis player Mahesh Bhupathi in the crowd, but our crowning moment comes when I find ourselves face to face with football legend Diego Maradona.

People-watching aside, it's time for the races. Three of these are among the most valuable in the world: the $5-million Dubai Sheema Classic, the $5-million Dubai Duty Free, and the grand finale, the $10-million Dubai World Cup. We hurry to the elegant seventh-floor Nad al Sheba lounge, where invitees sip wine and champagne while watching the races from the terrace.The gigantic screen on the racetrack provides ample close-up views of the horses and the horseshoe-shaped presentation arena.

The crowd roars when the first race, the 2000-metre all-weather race for purebred Arabians, starts. The huge screens in front of the track offer a ringside view of the race. Unlike race meetings in other parts of the world, there's no public betting on horses in Dubai, which is a bit frustrating when underdogs win. This is what happens in the second race, the Godolphin Mile, when South African Horse of the Year, Variety Club, comfortably outruns last year's winner, Soft Falling Rain.

By now, the crowd is murmuring in anticipation of the opening ceremony, which, like everything else about the DWC, is slated to be a show of shattering proportions. In the centre of the arena are three massive screens stretching almost half a kilometer. Images celebrating the three Emirati traditions - horses riding, pearl diving and falconry - appear on the screen as dancers parade on the track. Synchronised fireworks explode at eye level around the terrace where we stand. Yet, somehow, it isn't as grand a spectacle as I'd expected, for although it is spectacular, it somehow lacks a narrative thread. With the smoke clouding the skies, the show ends. As the horses prepare for their races, it's time for the clotheshorses to vie for the Style Stakes - as extravagant as they can only be in Dubai (the best dressed lady receives a 42-diamond Longines Conquest Classic watch and a year-long loan of a new Jaguar F-Type Convertible). I descend to the chaos of Apron Views, venue of the Style Stakes. With the Moet and Chandon marquee and Irish Village side by side, it's a riot of partygoers, outrageous hats and half-drunk bottles of fizz. Soon, however, it's all eyes on the racetrack as the final three races commence.

The World Cup Final Race, with a purse of $10 million, is a thrilling show of horseflesh. The best horses from stables across the world vie for the booty. Although seven countries are represented in the race, Dubai's ruling Al Maktoum family makes a clean sweep. Sheikh Mohammed, who owns Godolphin, rings in his seventh DWC win when his horse, African Story, pips Mukhadram and his other horse, Cat O'Mountain, to the post. The winning jockey, Silvestre de Sousa, receives the purse as the normally solemn Sheikh breaks into a jig.

There's more dancing in store as Jennifer Lopez takes the stage in skimpy denim and silver. Midnight nears; the elegant hats come unpinned, neckties shoved into pockets and gallants carry their escorts' stilettos around their necks. Meydan glitters, mirage-like, as I overhear one of the revellers wonder what next year's DWC will be like. Knowing Dubai, I've no doubt it will be bigger, better and fancier. For Meydan is much more than a track for a horse race - it is the stage from which United Arab Emirates can shout out to the world that their time has finally come.