Dubai World Cup -Racing and...you guessed it...boozing!

The Dubai World Cup is an annual extravaganza showcasing the best of the best, the fastest and sleekest horses in the world, flown in to Dubai super duber first class in order to compete for the richest purse in the world. It is a world famous race and one of the most important events on Dubai's events calendar, although I am pretty sure everyone I know just went to show off a new dress and booze it up in style!!

The whole thing is quite hilarious as the expat ladies with their big hats and party frocks stumble about drunk as skunk with their stilettos getting stuck in the grass while their equally pissed date for the night valiently tries to hold them up and rescue them from the soft giving grass without ruining their new Armani suit they've purchased for this show-off occasion... talk about physical comedy! The whole event is a huge irony as you can see from the picture below.

Crazy!


The horse races showcase Sheikh Mohammed's amazing arabian horses while Sheikh Mo looks on from the VIP section far removed from the bar stands on the grassy fields surrounding the race course. The first time I attended I have to admit that I was not entirely sober when I arrived. I had enjoyed the hospitality of a friend's pre-races party and it really just went downhill from there. Everyone around me was absolutely piss drunk and as a recent immigrant to this conservative Muslim country I was surprised at my surroundings, especially considering this is Sheikh Mo's big horse show!! As I looked around at the end of the evening slightly pissed I realized that I was all dressed up drinking overpriced wine in the equivalent of a beer garden having not even seen one race...I went home minus quite a bit of my hard earned dirhams and sorely disappointed with my supposed glamorous high flying dubai expat lifestyle.


This year I attended in high style as I was a guest of one of the major race sponsors and enjoyed their pink champagne, lavish buffet and even got to smoke a lovely Cuban cigar (don't tell my parents!!) What a difference that was, this is how the races are meant to be seen!! The horses thundered right past us as we were right by the track and this time I finally I suggest you do whatever you can to get your greedy little hands on one of those VIP tickets for next year as that was truly amazing, go big or go home, that's my motto ladies and gents :)