Letter from the Gulf: A (boring) day at the races

Racing season in the Persian Gulf has all but come to an end with the Formula One Grand Prix in Bahrain. Prior to Bahrain there was the annual Dubai World Cup, the richest horse race in the world; the Formula One power boat race in Sharjah; the Red Bull Air Race in Abu Dhabi; the Dubai off-road desert rally; a number of sailing regattas and oh yes, let us not forget the weekly camel races (though they have lost a lot of their pizzazz after child welfare groups forced the Emeratis to replace pre teen Indian and Pakistani boys with robotic jockeys). The end of racing usually means the end of winter. From now on each day becomes hotter than the previous and the only thing to look forward to is an early exodus before the onslaught of summer. This year I was fortunate to have covered two of the