Straight No Chaser eyeing Riyadh Dirt Sprint, Golden Shaheen

Top American sprinter Straight No Chaser may be bound for the Middle East in early 2025.

Trainer Dan Blacker said Sunday that Straight No Chaser is an intended starter in the Group 2 Riyadh Dirt Sprint at six furlongs on Feb. 22 in Saudi Arabia. The $2 million race is part of the program that includes the $20 million Saudi Cup.

Blacker said the Group 1 Golden Shaheen, a $2 million race at six furlongs April 5 at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai, is another goal.

“I think both races are in play,” Blacker said. “Currently, we’re pointing for the Riyadh Sprint. We want to keep him at six furlongs.”

Straight No Chaser emerged as the leading American sprinter on dirt after consecutive wins in the Grade 2 Santa Anita Sprint Championship on Sept. 29 and the Breeders’ Cup Sprint on Nov. 2 at Del Mar.

A 5-year-old horse by Speightster, Straight No Chaser has not worked since the BC Sprint and is in light training with Blacker at Santa Anita.

“We backed off his training,” Blacker said. “We did light training after the Breeders’ Cup. He’ll get back on the work tab soon.”

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Straight No Chaser, who races for the MyRacehorse syndicate, is unlikely to have a prep race prior to the potential trip to Saudi Arabia.

“There’s no races that make sense,” Blacker said. “There’s nothing local, for starters. He doesn’t need a prep race. He runs well fresh.”

The first graded stakes for sprinters on dirt at the forthcoming Santa Anita winter-spring meeting is the Grade 3 Palos Verdes Stakes on Feb. 15, a six-furlong race worth $100,000.

Straight No Chaser won the Santa Anita Sprint Championship after a layoff of more than four months.

On the domestic schedule, the 2025 BC Sprint at six furlongs on Nov. 1 at Del Mar is a long-range goal for Straight No Chaser. By then, Straight No Chaser may have added substantially to his current race record of six wins in 10 starts and earnings of $1,416,300.

“He’s so good at six furlongs,” Blacker said. “We’ve got to two valuable races in the Middle East on dirt, and he probably could be the favorite in both. Those are really attractive targets for him.”

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