Nothing like a night at the track

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KAI RYSSDAL: Dubai’s not a sportsman’s paradise just yet, but it’s trying. You might have heard Andy Roddick won the Tennis Championships here this past weekend. Tiger Woods was in town for the Desert Classic last month. And on the 29th of March the world’s richest horse race, the Dubai World Cup, is going to be run at the Nad al Sheba racetrack just outside town.

HORSE TRACK ANNOUNCER: Horse number 12 in race 4 is a non runner.

But when the millionaires aren’t here the track’s a great place for a family night out. No booze, remember, we’re in an Islamic country. And no betting. Well, not exactly. There are racing forms.

AHMED: This is a selection for horse…

And there is money to be won.

FORM: This ticket is free if your selection comes first and wait for your name. If it comes in draw then you can be the lucky person.

Lucky to the tune of four or five hundred dirhams, a hundred or two U.S. Maybe a couple thousand dirhams, God willing.

RATTEM: Ya, if we have luck, I win. Maybe “inshallah,” I win.

Playing the ponies “inshallah.” That is Dubai and that is Marketplace.