Dubai World Cup 1996 memories: Derek Thompson, commentator at Nad Al Sheba racecourse

Derek Thompson, commentator at Nad Al Sheba racecourse that night, recounts his memories to Geoffrey Riddle of the first running of the Dubai World Cup in 1996.

Ahead of the 20th running of the Dubai World Cup on Saturday, Geoffrey Riddle gathers the recollections of the men who figured prominently on the night the world's richest horse race was launched.

The gantry position was situated next to the Royal Box at Nad Al Sheba. About a year beforehand I came down the stairs and there was Sheikh Mohammed in the front row, sat all on his own. So I said, “Hello, what are you doing?” He said, “I’m trying to organise the world’s richest horse race.” He showed me a study that he had commissioned and he just showed me the figure of how much it might cost that looked to have an awful lot of noughts on the end.

We all stayed in the Le Royal Meridien at Jumeirah, which was the only hotel on the beach then. I was there last Saturday and I could count 57 skyscrapers within a mile. Amazingly, Bo Derek, the Hollywood actress, was in the suite next to mine. I thought to myself, I can’t miss this trick, and knocked on her door. She did not look too pleased to see me, and after some small talk I realized things were not going too well so I said that we shared the same name. She grunted and just shut the door. In one of the press conferences Sheikh Mohammed said that a billion people were going to watch the race. I was slightly terrified and rang my mother to tell her. She reminded me that only one or two people would be watching each individual TV set, not a billion, so that made it a lot easier for me.

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Before the race there were eight of us crowded around my little television in the commentary position. Ahmed Abdullah Al Shaikh, who is now the managing director of Dubai Media, was doing the call in Arabic next to me. I always thought Cigar was going to win. Jerry Bailey said ‘go’, and the race was over. Simple as that for me. The race certainly put Dubai on the map to an international audience.

I loved Nad Al Sheba. When you go to Meydan on any night other than World Cup, there’s pretty much nobody there. If it’s full it’s wonderful, but I prefer a racecourse to be full of atmosphere and electric as often as possible. I will not be there on Saturday as I have to be in America next week to present the Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak Darley Awards in Hollywood, which is patronised by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed. As it is Bill Mott will be there with a realistic challenger in Lea. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if they won?

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