The second running of the $20 million Saudi Cup has been scheduled for Feb. 20 of next year at King Abdulaziz Racetrack in Riyadh, the race organizers announced Tuesday.

Night Guy was dismissed at 20-1 at Geelong Racecourse in Australia on Sept. 6, the day he closed from last of 11 to win a seven-furlong handicap.

Night Guy won for the second time in his seven-race career that day. The victory has made the gelding the focus of a handicap at about six furlongs at Geelong on Thursday. In a field of 10, Night Guy may be a slight favorite over the equally-appealing gelding Abiding.

Only seven could be mustered for the Group 3 National Day Handicap on a special holiday Thursday afternoon card at Sha Tin in Hong Kong.

The 1,000-meter National Day is run over a straight 1,000 meters, a common distance at the city track, Happy Valley, but less frequently run at Sha Tin, and most of the entrants have only a start or two over the Sha Tin configuration.

SHA TIN SELECTIONS
(Thursday, October 1, 2020)

Supremacy wired the Group 1 Middle Park Stakes in a game performance, Alcohol Free desperately held off Miss Amulet and Umm Kulthum, and New Mandate punched his ticket to the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf on a card highlighted by 2-year-old racing Saturday at Newmarket in England.

Paul Lally:

R1: 10-13-7-9

R2: 6-3-11-9

R3: 5-2-11-1

R4: 7-9-1-10

R5: 7-3-4-8

R6: 6-2-1-3

R7: 9-5-4-7

R8: 6-3-1-2

R9: 8-14-9-7

R10: 2-6-5-10

Best Bet R5 N7 Galactic

Longshot R6 N6 Noble Birth ew

Play R6 qqp 1-2-6

Isabella Giles won the Group 2 Rockfel Stakes by two lengths on Friday at Newmarket, but while the race is part of the Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series, it’s runner-up Nazuna who might be the more likely runner in the BC Juvenile Fillies Turf in November at Keeneland.

Isabella Giles earned automatic fees-paid entry in the Juvenile Fillies Turf with her comfortable win over a straight seven furlongs on a course rated good Friday, but trainer Clive Cox suggested to overseas racing media that the Fillies Mile might be on Isabella Giles’ agenda with further focus on 2021 races.

The two-time champ meets the wannabe champ, and they are not fighting on a level playing field in the Group 3 Celebration Cup Handicap on Sunday at Sha Tin.

The handicap weights work strongly in favor of Golden Sixty when he faces Beauty Generation in the 1,400-meter Celebration Cup. Beauty Generation is rated 130, the highest rating in Hong Kong, and must carry 133 pounds in the Celebration Cup. Golden Sixty, rated 112, gets 18 pounds from a rival three years his senior.

Our Big Mike was a stakes winner in New Zealand in 2018 and raced unsuccessfully in group stakes in that country. Where he fits in Australian racing will be better known after Sunday’s $98,280 R.M. Ansett Classic at Mornington Racecourse near Melbourne.

Our Big Mike, an 8-year-old New Zealand-bred gelding, was second in a handicap at 1 5/16 miles at Te Rapa Racecourse in New Zealand on Sept. 5. A winner of 10 of 38 starts, Our Big Mike was recently transferred to trainer Brett Scott, who is based at Mornington. Scott had six winners from 50 starters from May 13 through Thursday.

Aidan O’Brien never has won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf, but he starts the favorite Friday at Newmarket for the Group 2 Rockfel Stakes, a Breeders’ Cup Challenge Win and You’re In for the Juvenile Fillies Turf in November at Keeneland.