Stars of sport turn out for Dubai Duty Free finale
Colm McLoughlin, DDF Executive Vice Chairman & CEO, along with Sinead El Sibai, SVP, Marketing, and Bernard Aquino presenting the trophies to Tabarrak’s winning connections (from left) Jim Crowley, H.H Sheikh Hamdan’s representative Richard Hills, trainer Richard Hannon and groom Tahzid Allam, winner of the Listed Dubai Duty Free Cup
Warm weather greeted guests of Dubai Duty Free at Newbury Racecourse on Friday, September 20 and Saturday, September 21, when the leading international airport retailer’s season of European horseracing sponsorships reached its finale.
The Dubai Duty Free International Weekend attracted a large crowd who witnessed some spectacular performances on the track and guests of Dubai Duty Free enjoyed panoramic views of the Berkshire course from the comfort of the Fred Winter Suite hosted by Colm McLoughlin, Executive Vice-Chairman & CEO, Sinead El Sibai, Senior Vice-President, Marketing, and Bernard Aquino, Marketing Assistant.
McLoughlin said:, “This is our 23rd year of our sponsorship at Newbury Racecourse and we are delighted to see the improvements that have been made to the facilities during that time, and particularly in recent years. Sports sponsorship has played a significant role in our marketing strategy in the 35 years since Dubai Duty Free opened its doors and Newbury Racecourse has become a very special place for us.”
Among the guests representing travel retail and horseracing media, the British racing industry and racehorse trainers were ITV racing editor, Richard Willoughby, Racecourses Media Group CEO, Richard FitzGerald, former trainers, Barry and Penny Hills, Chief Executives of Ascot and Newbury Racecourses, Guy Henderson and Julian Thick, Lady Lloyd Webber, former tennis star turned broadcaster, Annabel Croft and husband Mel Coleman, and broadcaster, Fred Dinenage, accompanied by wife Beverly.
Winning owners at the meeting included His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum with the six-year-old gelding Tabarrak who won Friday’s Listed Dubai Duty Free Cup and Raeeq winner of Saturday’s Novice Stakes, Sheikh Mohammed Obaid Al Maktoum owner of Dubai Duty Free Mill Reef Stakes winner, Pierre Lapin, Abdulla Al Mansoori whose Desert Encounter won the Group 3 Dubai Duty Free Legacy Cup and Prince Khalid Abdullah whose smart filly Quadrilateral was installed as the favorite for next year’s 1,000 Guineas after an emphatic victory in the Dubai Duty Free Full of Surprises British EBF Conditions Stakes.
All racegoers attending the event were offered the chance to win free entry into the Dubai Duty Free Millennium Millionaire and Finest Surprise prize draws in the Dubai Duty Free Marquee where complimentary Arabic coffee and dates were also served.
Dubai Duty Free will return to Newbury for the Dubai Duty Free Spring Trials meeting next April, heralding the start of the 2020 Flat racing season at Newbury, before heading to The Curragh for the Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby in June, Ascot for the Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup and once again concluding with the Dubai Duty Free International Weekend at Newbury.
