It’s been a strange week in the build-up to this year’s big day. With work riding and media commitments; there has been plenty to keep me occupied.

Most of the international press arrived in Dubai on Monday, many looking forward to their free "jolly", and having to be reminded about the small matter of the world’s richest race meeting taking place on Saturday!

It’s been good to get a view from the other side of the fence, so to speak, this week as I’ve been involved in providing some of the racecourse commentary to onlookers as the big day contenders limber up past the hive of journalistic activity.

While most of the action on the track revolves around those of the equine variety, there is still plenty going on behind the scenes as the countdown to the richest race meeting in the world gets closer and closer.

The 16 cranes rising above the Nad Al Sheba grandstand may offer work riders a different outlook each morning, however, slowly but surely, several marquees, temporary grandstands and entrance gates have resurrected themselves around the lawns at the UAE’s flagship racecourse.

As many of us canter around the track every day it is important to have your wits about you as horses are prone to duck and dive away from anything they are not accustomed to, and never has the riders’ favourite piece of kit, the neck strap, come in so handy.

There’s only one welcome interruption during the build up to the world’s richest race meeting and the words, Cheltenham and Festival fit the bill perfectly.

Since I first started out in this game 12 or so years ago, those three days in March were the days everyone anticipated the most. Now a four-day racing extravaganza (excluding abandonments for high winds!), you cannot say it is getting bigger and better every year, because, quite simply, you would struggle to find a fixture that attracts the best in equine athleticism, trainers of the highest caliber, and owners that are in the game for the fun of it, and not too busy thinking about the money side of the business, as opposed to several of our flat racing counterparts.

Yes, Royal Ascot is THE place to be in June, but while it’s great to have a laugh at the lady with the Siamese cat perched on top of her head, does she actually have any idea where she is, and what a horse really does look like?

As the sun set behind Nad Al Sheba’s silhouetted Maktoum Grandstand, a small but select few attended the inaugural Dubai Carnival horse sale on Tuesday.

Of the 40-odd thoroughbreds, a few went into the ring with perhaps over-ambitious reserve tags, and as a result, left the auction unsold.

Quite why there were such high asking prices I do not know. Several of the animals up for grabs were "old has- beens" while a lot have clearly had training problems and will do well to scale the heights they once did.