Saudi Cup made a Group 1 race

The $20 million Saudi Cup will be a Group 1 race starting in 2022 after the International Grading and Race Planning Advisory Committee, a wing of the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities, elevated Saudi Arabia to a Part II racing country this past weekend.

Part III racing countries aren’t eligible for internationally graded races, but Part II countries are, and the Saudi Cup, which was inaugurated as the world’s richest race in February 2020, is going straight to Group 1 status.

Countries with longtime formal racing institutions have been categorized as Part I (major jurisdictions), Part II, and Part III in the International Cataloguing Standards Book, which came about as an effort to create global racing-quality standards.

Five other stakes races on the Saudi Cup card -- the Neom Turf Cup, the Saudi Derby, the Turf Sprint, the Riyadh Dirt Sprint, and the Red Sea Turf -- attained Group 3 status.