Taiba, Country Grammer form U.S. contingent for $20M Saudi Cup
Fourteen horses, including the one-two finishers from the 2022 renewal, are among the likely runners in the $20 million Saudi Cup
Saudi-based Emblem Road ran down the Bob Baffert-trained Country Grammer in the 2022 Saudi Cup and both are set to contest the one-turn, 1,800-meter race again Feb. 25 in Riyadh. Country Grammer is set for a return trip from California and will be joined by 4-year-old Taiba, trained by Baffert and owned, like Country Grammer, by Amr Zedan. Taiba won the Malibu Stakes in December in his most recent start and comes into 2023 as a leading dirt-route horse in North America. Country Grammer went from his tough beat in the Saudi Cup on to win the Dubai World Cup one month later.
Baffert’s two are the only likely starters from America in a race expected to include six horses from Japan: Café Pharoah, Crown Pride, Geoglyph, Jun Light Bolt, Panthalassa, and Vin de Garde.
American horses should feature prominently in the $1.5 million Riyadh Dirt Sprint, with Elite Power, champion sprinter of 2022, and Gunite, who might be his equal, among the dozen horses considered likely runners. The Japan-based Dancing Prince, winner of the 2022 edition, also is expected to start.
Two Baffert-trained horses, Havnameltdown and Speed Boat Beach, figure among 14 likely runners in the $1.5 million Saudi Derby, a one-turn dirt mile.
Casa Creed, Elite Power’s Bill Mott-trained stablemate, returns to Saudi Arabia for the $1.5 million 1351 Turf Sprint, which he narrowly lost a year ago to Songline, also expected to start. Cazadero, trained by Brendan Walsh, also was listed in the likely field.
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