RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – The undercard stakes program for the inaugural Saudi Cup attracted quality for two key reasons – high prize money and confidence in both surfaces at King Abdulaziz Racetrack.
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The eight-race card begins with three races on the new turf course at King Abdulaziz. The remainder of the card is on dirt, including the $1.5 million Saudia Sprint, race 7, and $20 million Saudi Cup, race 8.
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – It is a long way to travel to restore a reputation – 7,500 miles from Florida to Saudi Arabia. The trip makes sense for premier sprinter Imperial Hint.
Scratched from the Breeders’ Cup Sprint in fall at Santa Anita, third at even-money in his winter return at Gulfstream Park, Imperial Hint has a score to settle Saturday in Saudi Arabia where the multiple Grade 1 winner is favored in the $1.5 million Saudia Sprint at King Abdulaziz Racetrack.
Through her 33-race winning streak, the mare Winx won the Group 1 Chipping Norton at Royal Randwick Racecourse in Australia in four consecutive seasons from 2016 to 2019 for the seventh, 15th, 23rd and 31st wins of the streak.
Winx was retired last year. The new name on the Chipping Norton Stakes list of winners after Saturday’s race may be Happy Clapper, the gelding who finished behind Winx in 11 of her wins.
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RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – In a Saudi Arabian desert or an Iowa cornfield, there is plenty to chase.
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – It makes sense to believe the five American dirt horses in the $20 million Saudi Cup hold a built-in advantage. After all, the Saudi Cup is dirt, which is what American horses still do best.
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However, the main track at King Abdulaziz Racetrack is perhaps unlike any on which they have raced. The early speed produced by Maximum Security and McKinzie might be less advantageous in the Saudi desert compared to in California or New York.
It’s a quiet week of racing at Meydan in Dubai, especially considering the fireworks taking place this weekend about 600 miles nearly due west. There sits Riyadh, site of Saturday’s $20 million Saudi Cup and rich undercard, while Thursday at Meydan, the Thoroughbred feature is the Group 3, $300,000 Nad Al Sheba Trophy Stakes.
The Nad Al Sheba Trophy is carded at about 14 furlongs on turf, a stayers race, and is part of the local road to the $1.5 million Dubai Gold Cup, a two-mile race on the Dubai World Cup undercard March 28.
R1: 1-4-6-10
R2: 5-1-11-4
R3: 2-3-5-4
R4: 11-8-4-5
R5: 10-1-3-9
R6: 2-1-4-11
R7: 4-2-8-5
R8: 5-4-10-8
R9: 5-1-8-7
Best: R4 N11 Oversubscribed
Each/way: R6 N2 Winning Delight
Play: R4 Q/QP 4-8-11
Paul Lally:
R1 1-4-7-2
R2 4-5-1-11
R3 3-2-4-1
R4 11-4-5-7
R5 3-1-8-2
R6 6-1-4-8
R7 4-1-8-2
R8 10-5-4-2
R9 1-7-2-6
Best: R5 N3 Fast Most Furious
Long: R3 N3 Harrier Jet
Play: R5 QQP 1-3-8
Tom Wood:
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – The capital of Saudi Arabia felt like expected Tuesday. In the desert city of Riyadh, the wind was still, the weather warm and dry.
Yet at an isolated location on the outskirts of town 40 kilometers north of downtown Riyadh, the racetrack atmosphere Tuesday was not so still. Things were happening, and the preparation felt familiar, like the anticipation prior to a major race anywhere in the world.
Twice in the last four months, Encouraging has looked like a winner in the stretch in Hong Kong only to finish behind Golden Sixty. At least, Encouraging is keeping good company.
Golden Sixty won his second consecutive $1.28 million race in Sunday’s Hong Kong Classic Cup, a leading prep to the Hong Kong Derby on March 15.
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Horse racing maintains a relatively low profile in Saudi Arabia, and the only Thoroughbred track in the city of Riyadh was quiet during late training hours Monday morning.
That will change Saturday evening when many of the top male handicap horses from the United States, along with the top female, race for a $20 million purse in the inaugural Saudi Cup on the sweeping turns of King Abdulaziz Racetrack.
