Saudi Crown preps for BC Dirt Mile in Ack Ack

When Saudi Crown is good, he is very, very good. And when he is bad – that’s happened twice – it has been exceedingly so. Saudi Crown, with no obvious excuse, was all but eased as the heavy favorite in the Godolphin Mile this past spring. His other clunker came in the 2023 Breeders’ Cup Classic, though his 10th-place finish there came after setting a fast pace at a 1 1/4-mile distance beyond his best.

No Classic this year. Saudi Crown’s connections have targeted the BC Dirt Mile since early summer, with trainer Brad Cox setting up a two-race schedule to get the colt to Del Mar. Saudi Crown comfortably won his first race since Dubai, a listed stakes Aug. 11 at Ellis Park, and his Dirt Mile prep comes Saturday at Churchill Downs in the Grade 3, $400,000 Ack Ack Stakes. The race, in fact, is part of the Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series, linked to the Dirt Mile.

“The first part of the plan went well. He has a couple more steps to take, but so far, so good,” said Cox, who trains Saudi Crown for the FMQ Stables of Faisal Al Qahtani. “If he’s going to be a BC Dirt Mile horse, he probably needs to be an Ack Ack horse on Saturday.”

While the Dirt Mile at Del Mar comes as a two-turn contest, the Ack Ack comprises only one bend. Thus, Saudi Crown’s outside draw appears ideal for a horse who wants to show speed. Jockey Florent Geroux can ease his mount into the race without rushing, and while Saudi Crown shows a recent gap in his workout pattern, Cox said the colt hasn’t missed a weekly breeze.

Seven were entered in the Ack Ack, but not all will start. Mufasa has shipped to New York for the Vosburgh Stakes, trainer Ignacio Correas said Wednesday, while Big Blue Line is cross-entered in a California grass stakes.

That could leave Saudi Crown an odds-on favorite with just four foes, though two of them, Cagliostro and Tumbarumba, rate an upset chance. The pair ran one-two in the Hanshin Stakes, a one-turn mile June 30 at Churchill Downs, though Cagliostro, a one-length winner, looked the superior horse that day.

His connections, Wathnan Racing and trainer Cherie DeVaux, treated him as such, sending Cagliostro into his first Grade 1 test, the Forego at Saratoga. Whether Cagliostro has that kind of performance in him remains to be seen – the colt stumbled so badly at the start of the Forego that he lost all chance, running on well to finish a creditable fourth.

Cagliostro matured from age 3 to 4 and further benefitted this season from the addition of blinkers. DeVaux cut the colt back to one-turn racing after he finished second behind Highland Falls in the 1 1/8-mile Blame Stakes on June 1, a performance that gained luster when Highland Falls easily won the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup on Sept. 1.

Cagliostro, who first showed his talent as a one-run closer, has grown into a horse with positional one-turn pace. He can stick within a couple lengths of the lead, and he, too, could wind up in the Dirt Mile with a strong performance Saturday.

In a dozen starts on dry dirt tracks, Tumbarumba has never run below form, though his remarkable consistency also means the gelding has an established baseline. Tumbarumba, who breaks from the rail, also brings a measure of speed, but neither he nor Cagliostro can keep up in the early stages with a determined Saudi Crown. They won’t beat him, either, if he runs like the Dirt Mile favorite.

:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.