Dubai World Cup is one of the most expensive and prestigious races in the world. The World Cup at the giant Nad Al Sheba racetrack at the end of March each year has already become traditional, but this year the prize pool of the competition exceeded all conceivable and unimaginable limits and amounted to 25 million US dollars.
On the final day of the races, the most expensive prizes, the most exciting shows and the most interesting events took place. The program of the day included seven races. In one of them, Arabian horses took part, and the remaining six were conducted for thoroughbred horse breeds. This year, over 200 horses from 19 countries competed in Dubai.
The five-year-old horse named Maiskaya Rosa, run by jockey John Velaskvez, came first in the final 2000m jump on the sandy track and won the main prize - $ 6 million.
But the World Cup in horse racing is not only a sporting event, it is also a grandiose show, and a social event, and a general party.
A month before the final stage of the competition, amazing metamorphoses begin to occur in the world of high fashion. Not a single self-respecting agency is left aside: all efforts are aimed at ensuring that the models of each of them take part in the evening costumes and hats show at the Dubai World Cup. The Dubai Ladies Club hosted the presentation of exclusive models of evening dresses, hats, model shoes and underwear under the general name British Fashion in the Gulf from well-known European designers Bellvill Sasson, Lorcan Mullany, Jean Muir, Tristan Webber, J Valas Couture, Courtezan. Fashion models in evening dresses, supplemented by designer hats, smiling, posed for photojournalists of the local press and representatives of foreign print media.
To fully enjoy the couturier’s craftsmanship and fantasies, one could only visit the Nad Al Sheba Racecourse on March 27th. A stripped-down audience on luxury cars began to flock to the venue of the final stage of the race by two in the afternoon. It was not possible to buy tickets for the stands and in the halls of restaurants, arriving directly to the place of events: they had to be taken care of in advance. The hippodrome was filled with spectators to failure. The organizers of the races presented a colorful theatrical performance and a bright laser show to the public. A traditional competition for the most original hat and the best one-piece outfit took place. The lucky winner of the competition received a miniature handbag strewn with semiprecious stones, a huge bottle of champagne and a check for 1000 dirhams as a gift.
The holiday lasted until late in the evening. The vast territory of the hippodrome was completely dotted with stalls from various companies, firms, restaurants and bars. Ladies in evening dresses and hats of such shapes and sizes that can be seen only once a year were walking along grassy lawns, removing high-heeled shoes, during the Cup final races.
In an impromptu “tent camp” one could take pictures against the backdrop of popular local prints, drink coffee with cakes while sitting at tables in a cafe, or have beer with chips, sitting right on the grass, refresh their makeup on the stand of a popular cosmetics company, meet many friends and meet new people, face nose to nose with the sheikh and his wife, do not get into a restaurant where only one place at the table needed to put as much as 1000 dirhams, try a stunning cocktail from a test tube a belt cheerful waitresses in short yubchonke and cowboy hat ... And do not forget the noisy cheer for the winner of the race!
Here he is - the World Cup finals, sporting and social at the same time.
