Mike Smith made a grand return to the Middle East and a bold statement about racing surfaces Friday night in Saudi Arabia. A day before his scheduled ride on Midnight Bisou in the $20 million Saudi Cup, Smith won with two of four mounts to capture a jockey competition and offered praise of the King Abdulaziz Racetrack surface that will resonate at his home track.
Crossfirehurricane, an undefeated Kentucky-bred colt by Kitten’s Joy, may start favored in Friday’s $82,500 Patton Stakes at a mile on the synthetic track at Dundalk Racecourse in Ireland, the first race of the year in the European qualifying series for the Kentucky Derby.
Glorious Spectrum was winless in four starts in the 2018-19 Hong Kong season with valid excuses – he never had a clean trip.
Declan Schuster's Hong Kong selections and analysis for Sunday, March 1, 2020 at Sha Tin.
Betting on the two cards held in Saudi Arabia on Friday and Saturday will be widely available through account-wagering operations and many brick-and-mortar sites in the U.S., along with countries in Europe, Scandinavia, and Africa, according to the host of the pool.
As the world gets smaller and international racing gets bigger, top horses increasingly compete at places that once seemed out of reach. That includes the Saudi desert city of Riyadh, on the Arabian Peninsula, where history is about to be made.
The undercard stakes program for the inaugural Saudi Cup attracted quality for two key reasons – high prize money and confidence in both surfaces at King Abdulaziz Racetrack. The eight-race card begins with three races on the new turf course at King Abdulaziz.
It is a long way to travel to restore a reputation – 7,500 miles from Florida to Saudia Arabia. The trip makes sense for premier sprinter Imperial Hint.
Through her 33-race winning streak, the mare Winx won the Group 1 Chipping Norton at Royal Randwick Racecourse in Australia in four consecutive seasons from 2016 to 2019 for the seventh, 15th, 23rd and 31st wins of the streak. Winx was retired last year. The new name on the Chipping Norton Stakes list of winners after Saturday’s race may be Happy Clapper, the gelding who finished behind Winx in 11 of her wins.
After the Wednesday evening post-draw ceremony for the $20 milllion Saudi Cup at King Abdulaziz, one can say the world's most valuable race attracted a proportionately valuable field. By chance, four top American runners drew side by side in the middle of the field of the one-turn, 1 1/8-mile race.
