Saudi Crown returns to highlight strong Thursday card with $53K carryover

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Grade 1 winner Saudi Crown highlights a Thursday card at Oaklawn Park that also drew a Group 1 winner on turf in Argentina and a horse who owns the year’s second-highest Beyer Speed Figure.

The runners will make their appearances during a pick six sequence that has a carryover of $53,697. It runs on races 4-9.

Saudi Crown is entered in the seventh race, a ratings handicap for 4-year-olds and up over 1 1/16 miles. The field of 10 also includes the Group 1-placed Bendoog, Grade 3 winner Money Supply, and multiple stakes winner Cooke Creek. Gun Party, who is out of the Grade 1-winning mare Carina Mia, adds further depth to the field.

Saudi Crown became a Grade 1 winner in 2023 when he won the Pennsylvania Derby. Other highlights of a career in which he’s earned $3.4 million include a close third in the $20 million Saudi Cup in 2024 and a win over Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan in the Lake Ouachita in 2025 at Oaklawn. Saudi Crown is making his first start since June on Thursday.

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“He’s training really well,” said Brad Cox, who trains Saudi Crown for FMQ Stables. “He’s ready to run. We were looking for a race to get his year started.”

Saudi Crown closed his 5-year-old season in the Hanshin on June 29 at Churchill Downs. He raced with the pace and finished seventh behind Will Take It, who has since won a stakes this meet at Oaklawn. Banishing and Tumbarumba, who were a respective second and fourth in the Hanshin, both came back in their next starts to win stakes at Ellis Park.

Saudi Crown, meanwhile, has done much of his prep work for his return in South Florida. He is now settled at the Oaklawn division kept by Cox and worked over the local strip last Friday.

Luis Saez has the mount from the rail on Saudi Crown.

“He drew inside,” Cox said. “We’ll just let him kind of break running and see what happens.”

Bendoog also has come in from South Florida and enters off a runner-up finish in an Aqueduct allowance Nov. 20. The winner of that race, Full Screen, came back in his next start to win the track’s Queens County with a Beyer of 101.

Bendoog will break from post 5 for Arkansas businessman Frank Fletcher and trainer Bill Mott.

The eighth race is led by Stiglets, who won a first-level allowance sprint Jan. 3 at Oaklawn with a Beyer of 107. It ranked as the highest number this year up until Saturday, when Knightsbridge earned a 112 for his win in the Grade 3 Gulfstream Park Mile.

Stiglets is making his first start since the big Beyer in a second-level allowance over six furlongs. He will break from the rail, with Francisco Arrieta named to ride by trainer Phil D’Amato.

The race also drew El Que Sabe, who won a Group 1 race in Argentina in his last start, which came in December 2024. The race has produced three next-out winners, with the runner-up taking a two-other-than allowance at Colonial with a Beyer of 81 and the fifth-place finisher coming back to take a Group 2 stakes in Argentina. El Que Sabe has been working regularly at Oaklawn for Tristar Farm and trainer Ron Moquett.

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