White Abarrio draws rail, but is well suited to the Saudi Cup

A year ago, the fourth renewal of the world’s richest horse race, the Saudi Cup, was, frankly, blah. The unspectacular Japanese horse Panthalassa went wire to wire holding off a past-his-prime Country Grammer. Panthalassa five weeks later finished 10th in the Dubai World Cup, where Country Grammer was seventh.

This year? The race, as much as possible, lives up to its $20 million purse, with an excellent field of 14 set to go postward Saturday night at King Abdulaziz Racecourse.

Headed by Breeders’ Cup Classic winner White Abarrio, the Saudi Cup also drew Pegasus World Cup winner National Treasure and the horse he beat by a neck, Senor Buscador. Senor Buscador in December finished second to Saudi Cup runner Hoist the Gold in the Cigar Mile, while 4-year-old Grade 1 winner Saudi Crown rounds out a salty American contingent.

:: Bet the races with a $200 First Deposit Match + FREE All Access PPs! Join DRF Bets.

The horses from Japan are nearly as good. Derma Sotogake, second in the Nov. 4 Breeders’ Cup Classic, his first start since a sixth in the Kentucky Derby, is joined by Japanese dirt champion Lemon Pop as well as Ushba Tesoro, winner of the 2023 Dubai World Cup.

Power in Numbers and Defunded top the four local entrants. Power in Numbers last month captured the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Cup, while American expatriate Defunded races for the first time since Saudi owners purchased him.

The last of nine races, the Saudi Cup is scheduled to go at 12:40 p.m. Eastern and is contested over 1,800 meters, about 1 1/8 miles, around one turn. The King Abdulaziz dirt track is sand-based and typically produces slow times while often favoring horses racing well off the rail.

White Abarrio, the most likely winner if he holds the form that won him the Classic and before it the Grade 1 Whitney, drew post 1, a potentially challenging spot for a horse not quite fast enough to make the lead. If the draw concerns White Abarrio’s trainer, Rick Dutrow, he is not showing it.

Dutrow said thoughts of the Saudi Cup first entered his head when White Abarrio passed the quarter pole on the way to his Whitney win. That might be an exaggeration, but White Abbario has been kept fresh for this Middle East junket, with a start March 30 in the $12 million Dubai World Cup also on his agenda.

“It took him a day or two to get over the trip, but yesterday was his best day yet,” Dutrow said Wednesday. “I feel that if he’s on his game and runs his race, he’s going to be tough to beat. This race, this mile and an eighth, one turn, if he was to wake up in the morning and we were to ask him, ‘Hey, babe, what do you want to do in a $20 million race,’ he’d say, ‘Make it a mile and an eighth around one turn.’ ”

Dutrow only began training White Abarrio late last spring. He said a change in footwear, to glue-on shoes, propelled the horse to new heights, as has an unusual training schedule. Dutrow breezes White Abarrio 11 days before he races and gave him a blowout the morning of the Classic and the Whitney. He’ll do the same thing Saturday on a training track, then give a leg up that night to Irad Ortiz Jr. Khald bin Faisal, a member of the House of Saud, bought into White Abarrio last month.

:: Get the Inside Track with the FREE DRF Morning Line Email Newsletter. Subscribe now.

Neither the Pegasus World Cup nor trainer Bob Baffert has yet produced a Saudi Cup winner, though Baffert has three second-place finishes, two with Country Grammer, another with Charlatan in 2021. National Treasure and Flavien Prat drew well in post 7, and while the colt has grown comfortable racing near the lead, he’s probably not fast enough to get there Saturday.

Hoist the Gold could be the speed of the speed, though his breakthrough, front-running victory in the Cigar Mile came with a speed-biased asterisk. Isolate, a Dubai shipper, races from the front end, and Saudi Crown is a very fast colt. His trainer, Brad Cox, has his third Saudi Cup starter following subpar showings from Mandaloun (eighth in 2022) and Knicks Go (fourth in 2021). Saudi Crown fits snugly in a one-turn, 1 1/8-mile race and exits a perfect prep last month at Fair Grounds.

An enervating pace would suit Senor Buscador, whose peak performance probably comes around one turn. After racing against the bias in the Cigar Mile, Senor Buscador was compromised by the short Gulfstream Park homestretch in the Pegasus.

The capable Lemon Pop flopped last March in Dubai, his lone start outside Japan, while Ushba Tesoro requires 1 1/4 miles to find his best form. Derma Sotogake rates the best chance among the Japanese. He improved in Dubai last March after a third in the Saudi Derby, a pattern that could repeat this year. Derma Sotogake also suffered a relatively minor setback after the Classic and injured his eye on the flight from Japan to Saudi Arabia.

Nothing less than a horse’s peak will do in this rousing Saudi Cup.

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