Dubai: The only downside about today’s Dubai World Cup for Dubai Racing Channel’s effervescent anchor Laura King is that it has to end.
“I love the racing and the only thing I don’t enjoy is the week after the Dubai World Cup as it’s a massive anticlimax,” she tells me during a break from broadcasting at Dubai’s Jebel Ali Racecourse last week. “I hate that and try and go away as quick as I can.”
Thankfully, though, what precedes this inevitable comedown for the 32-year-old fanatic is unalloyed joy as she savours the pomp and pageantry of “my favourite week of the year”.
“It’s also my most stressful week of the year, but it’s great to be in a racing environment and have everyone come to you,” the English broadcaster adds, peppering her sentences with the word ‘love’ to convey her unconfined enthusiasm. “We’ve got the best horses, trainers, the richest owners, the best journalists; everyone who’s anyone in horse racing is here this week.
“In any profession where there’s going to be a meeting of the top people, it’s going to be pretty exciting. I love seeing the horses every morning.
“I love live broadcasting. It’s the only race meeting in the world that really attracts the Americans and the Europeans to run on dirt outside of America. It’s quite unique in that respect.
“It’s all happening 10 minutes from my house and I absolutely love it and if I didn’t love it, I’d need to leave.”
This will be the 11th World Cup King — whose lifelong passion for horse racing was kindled by her father and who says she can “ride fine, but wouldn’t win any prizes” — has covered since arriving in Dubai in late 2005.
With a degree and postgraduate diploma in newspaper journalism secured in the UK, King cut her teeth on two UAE racing magazines before moving into television with Dubai Racing eight years ago.
Dubai World Cup week is a strenuous affair for the bubbly blonde, beginning with track work from 6.30am or before last Sunday at the event venue, Meydan Racecourse, and “upwards of 10 or 11 live broadcasts”.
‘Long days’
“In between, I’ll be in the office, arranging guests, interviewees,” she says. “These are very long days, so I get by on a lot of Red Bull. People just see you on TV and assume that you turn up twice a day for just an hour, but unfortunately that’s not the case.”
A consummate professional, King says nerves do not afflict her on the big day given the amount of time on air she will already have spent; she will also be presenting for seven hours today without commercial breaks.
She begins her meticulous preparations for the showpiece “months in advance” and says that she and her team go through “every horse’s form at every race meeting”, poring over minutiae in a bid to unearth notable human interest stories.
King cites Invasor’s 2007 victory — “the first real American superstar to come here and win” — for Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, as her outstanding DWC memory. “I was in the winner’s enclosure very near to him working for Dubai Eye doing a bit of radio,” she recalls. “It was my first experience of being on the inside, or close to the inside. For similar reasons, Animal Kingdom’s win three years ago was very special.
“He was owned by a syndicate and that gives hope to everyone in the game that they maybe one day can own a hundredth of a World Cup winner.”
King’s ardour for horse racing and the World Cup is something she attributes to the vision of His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, the architect of the stunning growth of the event since it was first held at Nad Al Sheba in 1996.
“I’ve been lucky enough to interview him on quite a few occasions here and in the UK,” King reveals. “He’s always been fantastic to deal with and it’s great to be there when he has a big winner, because the genuine enjoyment is obvious to see and then that filters down to everyone else. Everyone that we work with is very happy and everyone in Dubai is very happy, which is great.”
‘Loves his horses’
Can she provide an insight into Shaikh Mohammad’s character?
“He really loves his horses and his team will tell you that he spots traits in them as youngsters and things like that. I’ve particularly noticed it with some of the very good fillies and mares he’s had.
“He’ll make a special effort to come to Meydan to watch them and the fact that he really is a horseman is one of the things I respect him for.”
How crucial has he been to UAE racing’s development?
“He’s been instrumental. It wouldn’t have happened without him; he’s been the big driving force behind it. Meydan was obviously all his vision.”
Shaikh Mohammad’s unrelenting pursuit of improvement in racing is a microcosm of his unyielding efforts to enhance Dubai, King adds.
‘Few more changes’
“It never really stops. I think they’re constantly looking at World Cup night and how they can develop the programme.
“I think there will be a fair few more changes to the World Cup and the structure of racing here in the coming years that Shaikh Mohammad will be behind.”
King believes there’s scope for more races and even for a two-day World Cup.
“The more the merrier,” she smiles. “I think there’s scope for an enhanced Carnival to some extent, although I wouldn’t want to lose quality.
“I certainly think the UAE racing season should be longer. When I first arrived in 2005, the UAE racing season extended on into April and there are a lot of people that would like to see that happen.”
King has met other luminaries including the legendary ex-Manchester United manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, and the former world number one golfer, Lee Westwood, at race meetings here.
Such eminent figures have helped burnish the UAE racing scene’s reputation.
But with her vivacity and unswerving dedication, so too has King, who plays an important role in the Dubai World Cup every year.
