All due respect to the other dozen in the field, but the race for $20 million probably comes down to just two. Knicks Go and Charlatan, Charlatan and Knicks Go: They’ve never met, and the $20 million Saudi Cup is just one year old, but that’s the compelling faceoff at, shall we say, center sand Saturday night at King Abdulaziz Racecourse outside Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. “We’re ready for it, but it’s not going to be easy,” said Bob Baffert, trainer of Charlatan. “Charlatan and Knicks Go, they’re the most exciting older horses in American racing right now.” :: Click here to wager on the Saudi Cup Three other Americans – Max Player, Sleepy Eyes Todd, and Tacitus – have made the long journey, lured by the largest purse on offer anywhere in the world. The 14-horse field includes horses from Bahrain, Dubai, England, and Japan, as well as one local longshot in Great Scot, and will be decided over 1,800 meters, about 1 1/8 miles, around one turn. Post time is 12:40 p.m. Eastern. American runners dominated the 2020 Saudi Cup, finishing first, second, fourth, and fifth, and third-place Benbatl had stronger dirt credentials than any of the non-Americans in this year’s race. Benbatl came from Dubai with established Group 1 form, while the Dubai horse this year is Military Law, a 6-year-old who won his first group stakes race last month. Ever-dangerous English trainer John Gosden, who knows a dirt horse when he sees one, having trained in Southern California, has two entrants. Mishriff is the more accomplished, winner of the Group 1 Prix du Jockey Club last summer in France and a runner over this dirt track a year ago when a soundly beaten second behind Full Flat in the Saudi Derby. Frankie Dettori, Gosden’s right-hand jockey, pilots Gosden’s second runner Global Giant, while David Egan rides Mishriff. Six-year-old Global Giant joined the Gosden stable for his 2020 campaign, which began with an eye-catching win over the all-weather surface at Wolverhampton, albeit facing three foes in a handicap race. Global Giant is by Shamardal, whose offspring occasionally take to dirt, and he holds some hope for a high placing at long odds. :: Get past performances for the Saudi Cup Max Player joined the Steve Asmussen barn after finishing third in the Travers Stakes and went on to creditable fifth-place finishes in the Kentucky Derby and the Oct. 3 Preakness, his last start. Asmussen said a couple months ago that he wanted to bring Max Player fresh into Saudi Arabia. Umberto Rispoli rides for the first time, and Max Player should be running late. So should Tacitus, a closing fifth in this race last year. Trainer Bill Mott makes no bones about the fact the Saudi Cup is, as much as anything, a prep for the Dubai World Cup on March 27 over a more suitable 1 1/4-mile distance. “The horse is in good form,” Mott said. “I’d like to see him move forward a few notches.” Sleepy Eyes Todd wound up too far behind Knicks Go’s pace while rallying for fourth in the Pegasus World Cup. He should appreciate a one-turn 1 1/8-mile trip, but at his best has been a cut below what ought to be required to win here. Knicks Go has not been a cut below anyone in his last three starts. Coming back from a long injury layoff and making only his second start for trainer Brad Cox, Knicks Go set a wicked pace and a track record winning a Keeneland allowance race in October, a harbinger of his electric 3 1/2-length victory in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile. Knicks Go carried his speed 1 1/8 miles around two turns, controlling the Pegasus from start to finish, and comes into the Saudi Cup at the peak of his powers. “He’s awesome right now,” Brad Cox, 2020’s Eclipse Award-winning trainer, said shortly after Knicks Go returned to Fair Grounds from his trip to Gulfstream for the Pegasus. Cox waited for Knicks Go’s workout on Feb. 3 before confirming plans for the Saudi Cup, wanting to make sure the robust 5-year-old was up for a trip halfway around the world so soon after a peak performance. Charlatan comes into the race on a much different trajectory, with Baffert eschewing a start in the Pegasus – or any other race – and choosing to bring Charlatan to this start off a long string of Santa Anita workouts. Charlatan, who will be racing without Lasix for the first time (Knicks Go won without it in the Pegasus), stamped himself a leading member his crop during an abbreviated three-start early 2020 campaign. Charlatan crossed the wire first in all four of his races, but was disqualified from his win in a division of the Arkansas Derby after failing a post-race drug test and didn’t race again for more than seven months. :: Start earning weekly cashback on your wagering today. Click to learn more. Back in action in the seven-furlong Malibu, a race for 3-year-olds on Dec. 26, Charlatan kept favored pacesetter Nashville in range and inhaled him in upper stretch. Charlatan’s five post-Malibu works were solo drills before Baffert put him in company for his final Saudi Cup breeze on Feb. 7. Charlatan responded with a powerhouse move, going seven furlongs in 1:24.60, his competitive fire kindled. “He had to show me something like that,” said Baffert, who finished fourth with Mucho Gusto and seventh with McKinzie in the 2020 Saudi Cup. “He’s going to have to run hard. That track dries out, and its deep and slow. The pace is going to be on; I’m sure they’re going to go fast early.” Knicks Go and Joel Rosario drew post 5 and seem sure to go to the lead. Charlatan and Mike Smith break from post 9 and should race close to the front. So, let’s see what happens in a duel on the edge of the Arabian desert to determine the best dirt-route horse in America.