No Dubai World Cup for Maximum Security or Midnight Bisou

The rematch isn’t on – not in Dubai, at least.

Neither Maximum Security, who won the $20 million Saudi Cup, nor Midnight Bisou, who was beaten less than a length by him at King Abdulaziz Racecourse outside Riyadh on Saturday night, are going on to the $12 million Dubai World Cup on March 28.

Both horses fly back to America from Saudi Arabia on Friday. They will spend six days in a USDA quarantine facility in Chicago, after which they are free to go off to whatever destination their connections desire.

Trainer Jason Servis was flying back to the United States on Monday and couldn’t comment on what the near future holds for Maximum Security beyond confirming he would not go on to the Dubai World Cup.

Jeff Bloom, part owner of Midnight Bisou, arrived back in California on Monday morning from Saudi Arabia and said Midnight Bisou would join trainer Steve Asmussen’s string at Churchill Downs after getting out of quarantine.

“We had talked about if things went well over there we’d highly consider staying and going on to Dubai, but we went ahead and made the decision to come back home,” said Bloom. “We’ll focus and concentrate on having another stellar campaign here in the States. She came out of the race in excellent shape, but [the Dubai World Cup] comes back so quick. The right thing to do is bring her back her after that performance and we’ll map out a plan working back from the Breeders’ Cup like we did last year.”

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Maximum Security, proving himself the best dirt horse in the world right now, got a very high 130 Timeform rating for his Saudi Cup win. Jockey Luis Saez had to ride Maximum Security aggressively a long way from the finish in a one-turn 1,800-meter (about 1 1/8 miles) race that had a fast-early, slow-late race shape. Even considering the tempo, Midnight Bisou fell surprisingly far behind the early leaders and had to close considerable ground through the final three furlongs just to reach contention.

Mucho Gusto looked three-sixteenths of a mile from the finish like he might add the Saudi Cup to his late January triumph in the Pegasus World Cup, but he lost momentum and wound up being nipped for third by Dubai-based Benbatl. Trainer Bob Baffert said Monday morning that Mucho Gusto would ship to Dubai on Tuesday and race in the World Cup.

“He ran hard. He hooked those really fast horses and just got a little tired,” Baffert said.

The Baffert-trained McKinzie ran well below his best form and checked in 11th. Baffert said McKinzie is headed back to America on the March 6 flight. “He got jostled around back there and just lost interest. He came back fine.”

Tacitus, a solid fifth making his first start since a third-place finish Sept. 28 in the Jockey Club Gold Cup, ships to Dubai as planned for a run in the World Cup, trainer Bill Mott said. Tacitus could easily move forward in his second start off the shelf and is likely to prefer the two-turn 2,000-meter Dubai World Cup configuration to the shorter one-turn race in Saudi Arabia.

Benbatl, the Saudi Cup show horse, will be considered for the Dubai World Cup and the Dubai Turf, though Godolphin, his owner, could have Barney Roy for the Dubai Turf, which could push Benbatl into the World Cup.

Mike Smith suspended 11 days

Exactly how jockey Mike Smith will serve 11 days of suspensions handed to him by the stewards at King Abdulaziz was still being decided by Santa Anita stewards Monday morning. Smith incurred a two-day suspension for failing to weigh in after riding an unplaced horse on the Saudi Cup undercard. Saudi stewards suspended him eight days for excessive use of the whip while riding Midnight Bisou in the Saudi Cup and an additional day for “using his whip without regard to his horse’s stride.” The whip-infraction penalty also cost Smith 60 percent of his Saudi Cup earnings, a fine of $210,000.

$3.8M wagered on card

Total commingled wagering on the $20 million Saudi Cup and its undercard at King Abdulaziz Racetrack outside Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Saturday was approximately $3.8 million, according to an official representing the company that administered the global pool.

Sam Nati, the chief operating officer of Premier Gateway International, which hosted the pool, said that the “majority” of the bets were placed by North American customers. There were five U.S.-based runners in the field for the inaugural Saudi Cup, and the race was won by the U.S. runner Maximum Security, the favorite in the global pool.

North American customers had limited past-performance data for the races on the undercard. Past-performance information on the Saudi Cup field was available.

Nati said that the largest pool for the program on Saturday was the win pool, with approximately $1 million in bets. That was followed by the exacta pool at approximately $920,000, Nati said, while the trifecta pool attracted approximately $620,000.

Takeout on win, place, and show bets was 20 percent. All other bets were raked at 27 percent.

The global commingled pool included betting jurisdictions in North America, Europe, Scandinavia, and Africa, PGI had previously said.

– additional reporting by Steve Andersen and Matt Hegarty