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Jay Trotter
12-03-2009, 01:34 PM
Looks like an Amazing Dream Track - check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLdGj4hn5SE

The opening of Meydan Racecourse in 2010 will be a defining moment in the sport's global history. Unparalleled levels of luxury, customer comfort and racing technology will combine to create the ultimate horseracing experience. And when the 60,000 capacity crowd have finished cheering on the world's finest thoroughbreds there's a 5 star hotel, international restaurants and an IMAX cinema to capture the imagination. In 2010 it will become the new home of the Dubai World Cup, and as such, the new global home for elite horseracing. It will attract the best thoroughbreds, owners and racing nobility from around the world.

Track Link:

http://www.meydan.ae/racecourse/

http://www.dubaichronicle.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/dubaioverall.jpg

johnhannibalsmith
12-03-2009, 01:49 PM
Pretty extravagant... I couldn't figure out where the heck the casino is though... :p

Robert Goren
12-03-2009, 02:37 PM
All of this and no gambling, not even a win bet. Someone else's oil money.

LottaKash
12-03-2009, 03:25 PM
And, all the profits go to the "sheiks" and "al-quaeda".......nice :cool:

best,

Stillriledup
12-03-2009, 03:53 PM
I don't get why people would go there if they couldnt' bet.

andymays
12-03-2009, 03:58 PM
I don't get why people would go there if they couldnt' bet.


To roll around in the tapeta. What else? :D

Judge Gallivan
12-03-2009, 06:05 PM
I don't get why people would go there if they couldnt' bet.

I would assume people bet over the phone/internet with British bookmakers/exchanges.

nearco
12-03-2009, 07:36 PM
I don't get why people would go there if they couldnt' bet.

Probably the same reason that Hunt meets in Virginia, Maryland etc often get crowds of 20-30k people... to socialize and watch horses race.
Weird concept, eh?

cj
12-03-2009, 07:41 PM
Dubai is going down the tubes slowly but surely. I wouldn't hold out a lot of long term hope for the track.

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/the-dark-side-of-dubai-1664368.html

macdiarmida
12-04-2009, 02:56 AM
Huh? Japan's debt is 180% of GDP and nobody's that worried about them. It's not a good measure of economic viability except in the long term. And half-completed buildings and empty lots cleared for building (Bay Meadows, for one) abound here.

WinterTriangle
12-04-2009, 04:16 AM
Dubai is going down the tubes slowly but surely. I wouldn't hold out a lot of long term hope for the track.

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/the-dark-side-of-dubai-1664368.html


Dubai, as everyone knows, is the essence of turbo-charged free-market capitalism.

I guess it depends on your political persuasion whether or not Meydan Racecourse is in trouble.

gm10
12-04-2009, 04:55 AM
The years of building extravangaza are probably over but imo there is little doubt that Dubai will still be a very rich place in the next decades.

I think it's admirable that so many people go there just for the racing and the social aspect of it. Compare with the racino's that people visit just to slot coins into machines.

cj
12-04-2009, 09:35 AM
Huh? Japan's debt is 180% of GDP and nobody's that worried about them. It's not a good measure of economic viability except in the long term. And half-completed buildings and empty lots cleared for building (Bay Meadows, for one) abound here.

Does Japan use foreigners to build and not let them leave?

I wasn't trying to say it would be gone in five years or anything, but supporting the place with the way they treat the workers seems a bit much to me. I guess if you think that part of the story isn't true, why not?

Robert Goren
12-04-2009, 09:56 AM
Dubai (who has a vary small income from oil) is attempting to become a banking and tourist center. The racetrack is small part of that. It also has the world's tallest building, a 40 story water fountain and an indoor ski slope. Most of the money to build this has come from a sister United Emirate Abu Dhabi (who has a large oil income) and European Investors. American Investors from what I have been able to determine have shied away because of Dubai's ties to Iran. It went through a credit crunch over the Thanksgiving weekend which caused some ripples in the several stock markets around the world including the American. Pace Advantage had a thread on it. CNBC sent a reporter over there. In the end Abu Dhabi ponied up a few more billions of dollars and it went away at least for a while. It does have the feel of a house of cards, but as long Abu Dhabi has the will and the money to keep them afloat the dream goes on.

Bochall
12-04-2009, 10:02 AM
My family was almost transferred to Abu Dhabi when I was a child (dad's an oil man)....thank goodness he said 'nobo thabanks to Abu Dhabi'.

Moyers Pond
12-04-2009, 03:19 PM
Does Japan use foreigners to build and not let them leave?

I wasn't trying to say it would be gone in five years or anything, but supporting the place with the way they treat the workers seems a bit much to me. I guess if you think that part of the story isn't true, why not?

Yes, because here in America we treat the people that work in fields picking produce so much better. :D

In Florida and California half the people working in the fields are debtor slaves. They have coyotes that work with farm owners to make sure they never leave before paying off the thousands of dollars they owe.

This type of thing goes on all over the world.

Dubai will be fine. They will always be financed be the oil money that makes up the UAE.

WinterTriangle
12-05-2009, 03:22 AM
Does Japan use foreigners to build and not let them leave?


I just saw an interesting documentary on this, on Link TV. Much more devastation happened in america and it is protrayed as normal recession :rolleyes: These articles are sensationalist. Dubai is no different than the bubble we had here.

But, Ex-pats have racked up a TON of debt, mortgages, investments, living in disneyland of free market consumerism and frivolous consumer lifestyle. (Do you think people should be able to come to the US and do that then leave the country?) Foreigners made up about 80% of Dubai's 1.7 million residents, then they lose their jobs, their work visas are rescinded and they generally have 30 days to pay their debts and leave. Some leave on planes, taping their maxed out credit cards to the windshields of cars left at the airport.

Most of the workers who "can't leave" are actually laborers from South Asia (you know, the ones who would be otherwise be working in sweat shops to make NIKE sneakers and GAP clothing. :) ) So, basically, they are locked in labor disputes, and are now penniless, no job. They probably can't buy a ticket on a plane, either.

The weathly, of course, with connections can find a way to leave. They weren't complaining when they were getting huge paychecks and making real estate deals, like the ex-pat couple featured in the article who were bragging about not paying taxes and having servants...they said they LOVED the city.....then, their money dried up. They became free-marketer whiners. The dynamic of rich get richer, poor get poorer--- but in major recessions, when the rich get poor they really turn sour and make a whiney racket.:lol:

Anyway, Dubai was VERY GOOD to a lot of expatriates for many years, great place to live, low crime rate, high security, no taxes, great infrastructure, super-heated cheap capital. (Like some here, they thought the party wouldn't end, and that they'd keep getting richer. ) Boo hoo.

It was like being overseas and reading about the American meltdown, with banks closing-----sounded bad, didn't it? But, people were still shopping in the malls, travelling, and life didn't really look real different out there......media reports are exaggerated.

I know people who live in Dubai. Teachers and such. They say life goes on, just like after the financial meltdowns in America. They are raising families, working, shopping, living life. Dubai will be absolutely fine. Visionary, and unique.

I don't know why such negative stuff has to be said about Dubai, maybe people are jealous

WinterTriangle
12-05-2009, 03:28 AM
Bloggers who live there tell a different story and The Independent's article has been vociferously contested by people from all over the world who live there. :)

Dubai the city similar to early days of the Internet industry in the US... investments, risks, crazed expansion, which crashed in late 90's. Corporations failed, people lost their jobs and those who made greedy choices paid the price.

But "Dubai did something critical to it’s survival----they created an infrastructure. Roads, airports, residential, and commercial space, attractions and entertainment venues, trade zones, and some of the best city planning I’ve ever seen. They upgraded the communications, electric, water, and way-of-live for thousands of people and inspired others with things that had never been done before."

That investment will carry them into the future.