It is three hours before the start of the 2009 Dubai World Cup, the richest race meeting in the world (total prize money $21.5m (£14.2m)) and climax of the Arab emirate’s annual two-month racing carnival. At the Nad Al Sheba racetrack, thousands of spectators are already installed, and in the free public enclosures people are shedding their shoes and spreading carpets on any spare patch of terrace or grass.