Mishriff heads international cast for 2022 Saudi Cup

Mishriff, who won the 2021 Saudi Cup, heads a compelling international cast of likely runners for the $20 million Saudi Cup on Feb. 26 at King Abdualaziz Racecourse in Saudi Arabia.

Saudi racing authorities on Friday released a list of horses they expect to start in 16 races held Feb. 25-26, a two-day meeting highlighted by the Saudi Cup, which for the first time is a Group 1 this season. The Saudi Cup is contested around one turn at 1,800 meters, about 1 1/8 miles, on dirt.

Mishriff, trained in England by John and Thady Gosden, finished second in the 2020 Saudi Derby and a year ago defeated the American horses Charlatan and Knicks Go to win the world’s richest horse race. This year, he’ll face the American horses Art Collector, Country Grammer, Mandaloun, and Midnight Bourbon, a formidable quartet. Five-year-old Art Collector won the Grade 1 Woodward last year, while Mandaloun and Midnight Bourbon rated near the top of the 3-year-old dirt-route class of 2021. Mandaloun defeated Midnight Bourbon in their common Saudi Cup prep, the Louisiana Stakes on Jan. 22 at Fair Grounds, and looked good doing so.

Two capable Japanese dirt horses, Breeders’ Cup Distaff winner Marche Lorraine and T O Keynes, perhaps an even better horse than the mare, are expected to start, as is Sealiway, who won the Group 1 Champion Stakes, a race in which Mishriff finished fourth, in his most recent race. Sealiway was trained at the time by Cedric Rossi, whose family subsequently fell afoul of French racing and criminal-justice authorities; Francis-Henri Graffard now trains Sealiway.

Uruguay-based Aero Trem made the likely runner list, as did Saudi-based horses Emblem Road and Making Miracles.

Other possible American runners in the Saudi races include Pinehurst (Saudi Derby), Ginobili (Riyadh Dirt Sprint), Channel Cat (Neom Turf Cup), and Casa Creed (1351 Turf Sprint).