3 days to go!

It's that time of year again - the world's richest horse race kicks off on 29th March, here in Dubai.

It's an event not to be missed - and, in my opinion, one of the 'most fun' on the city's social calendar.

Here is a post I wrote pre-races last year, and one post-event... My overall sentiments were echoed in letters to 7Days, the local paper, reflecting racegoers' experiences of the event. Here are extracts of responses to these letters:

Louis Cypher..."I would not be able to stand seeing this place turning into the kebab strewn streets of some down market area in the UK, this is Dubai and it needs to be protected from lo life chavs who give myself and every other law abiding Britsish expat a bad name, even if this means getting tough and kicking out offenders and making sure people know about it & closing down bars and clubs that repeat offenses such as under age drinking, discriminatation etc. You see there are people here who are just waiting for this kind of letter so they can launch an all out attack and turn it into something political instead of just focusing on the facts here,which is, drunken unsightly chavs causing trouble as they have no respect for themselves or others. Bad behaviour at home is one thing, being disrespectful in public ref points made in this letter is undefendable, such as the couple by the entrance fondling each other, this is a Muslim country for gods sake,look around you, understand the culture, take an interest, talk to people, talk to local people and get an idea of how your antics affect them and conversly us!. I am not sure how many people at the races came over especially and therefore had been tourists as I cannot imagine for one minute that they could have all been residents like myself and others on here as they surely would have known that this behaviour is greatly forbidden, if they did then this is again very disrespectful. Ladies dressing up and making the effort however should not be attacked just because they are not all size zeros and catwalk models. Respect the people & they will respect you - respect their culture and they will respect yours - Respect their country and they will in turn respect yours."

Homer Simpson..."I have a very low regard for chavness, as do most people, and it's sad to see them lowering the image of an entire country with their slobbish behaviour. Wasn't so long ago that Britishness was synonymous with impeccable manners and discretion after all. I just hope Dubai doesn't sell its dignity down the drain for the sake of high occupacy rates"

Reportedly, tickets for the public enclosure are sold out, as of yesterday.