Saudi Cup

Trainer Charlie Hills was very pleased with the recent performance of G1SP Equilateral (GB) (Equiano {Fr}) in the Listed Dubai Dash last Thursday, and the 6-year-old gelding will remain in Dubai for another tilt at the G2 Meydan Sprint on Feb. 18. In 2020, Equilateral ran second in the Sprint. "I was really delighted with him," said Hills. "Frankie [Dettori] gave him a great ride and it looked like he was always going to win the race. It's nice to have won the race twice now and he was 5lb...

The Week in Review, by Bill Finley After last year's GI Breeders' Cup Classic, it seemed that every horse that mattered had been retired and that 2021 was going to be a bleak year for the handicap ranks. But 23 days into the year, it is apparent that's not going to be the case. First, Charlatan (Speightstown) turned in a sizzling performance in his comeback race in the GI Runhappy Malibu S. and, exactly four weeks, later Knicks Go (Paynter) could not have won the GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational...

Scars Are Cool (Malibu Moon), a $175,000 purchase at Fasig-Tipton's 2020 July Horses of Racing Age Sale, won a US$27,000 open race for imported horses Friday at King Abdullaziz Racecourse in Riyadh, which moved him one step closer to a possible start in the $20-million Saudi Cup. It was the second start in Saudi Arabia for the 5-year-old, who was campaigned by Sagamore Farm when racing in the U.S. He was unplaced in a Dec. 26 race before winning Friday's 1,600-meter event by three-quarters of a length. He broke his...

Last year's G1 Prix du Jockey Club victor Mishriff (Ire) (Make Believe {GB}) is being prepared for next month's $20-million Saudi Cup, said Ted Voute, racing manager to the colt's owner/breeder Prince Faisal. Trained by John Gosden, Mishriff was second in last February's Saudi Derby on the same card before stringing together a hat trick of black-type victories over the summer, beginning with the Listed Newmarket S. prior to the French Derby and culminating in a 4 1/2-length score in the G2 Prix Guillaume d'Ornano. He was last seen beating...

After Charlatan (Speightstown) worked a half-mile Saturday in :49.80 at Santa Anita, trainer Bob Baffert reported that his Grade I winner will likely make his next start in the Feb. 20 Saudi Cup. Charlatan is coming off a dominant win against a quality field in the Dec. 26 GI Runhappy Malibu S., his first after being sidelined following the GI Arkansas Derby May 2. Charlatan has been invited to the GI Pegasus World Cup on Jan. 23 at Gulfstream, but will likely pass that race. Should Charlatan pass the Pegasus,...

Fresh off placing in his third consecutive G1 Melbourne Cup when third at Flemington on Nov. 3, Saeed bel Obaida's evergreen 8-year-old gelding Prince Of Arran (GB) (Shirocco {Ger}) is to race on the Saudi Cup card in late February before heading to Dubai. Prince Of Arran finished third behind Call The Wind (GB) (Frankel {GB}) in the Longines Turf Cup on the Saudi Cup card last year. First up, though, is likely to be a prep race at Kempton, according to trainer Charlie Fellowes. "He's going to Saudi Arabia,...

Coolmore's Ashford Stud welcomes a trio of new stallions to their program for the upcoming season. Maximum Security (New Year's Day) and Echo Town (Speightstown) will start off their stud career at the Versailles, Kentucky-based farm, while Caravaggio (Scat Daddy) will stand his first year in the States since relocating from Coolmore's headquarters in Ireland after spending two seasons there. Today we sat down with Adrian Wallace to discuss their two first-season sires. [tdn_vimeo_embed title="Echo Town and Maximum Security at Ashford Stud" admp4="https://player.vimeo.com/external/488087819.sd.mp4?s=902aa8d5fc7cddb1f9c4423d869f0f3bd1bc6402&profile_id=165" videomp4= "https://player.vimeo.com/external/488102033.sd.mp4?s=88e78676766612a22d9a36a5a2d5fd493be0cd34&profile_id=165" thumbnail= ""]   Maximum Security...

Group 1 winner Oxted (GB) (Mayson {GB}) could contest one of the races on the Feb. 20 $20-million Saudi Cup card. Under consideration for the 2020 G1 July Cup victor is a $1.5-million six-furlong race on the King Abdulaziz Racecourse's main track and the 1351 Turf Sprint. Oxted has never raced over a dirt surface. "The obvious one for us would be the Turf Sprint which is run over about six and three-quarter furlongs," said trainer Roger Teal. "I suppose his ideal trip would be six, but he has won...

The Pegasus World Cup Championship Invitational Series is returning to Gulfstream Park on Saturday, January 23, 2021. Launched in 2017 as part of 1/ST's mission to modernize the sport of Thoroughbred horse racing, the Pegasus World Cup has evolved into a Championship Invitational Series featuring two Grade I stakes races with a combined $4 million in purses. The GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational, run on the dirt at 1 1/8 miles, offers a $3-million total purse. The GI Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational, run on the turf at 1 3/16...

North American-based winners of this weekend's Breeders' Cup World Championships will be offered complimentary equine travel to Gulfstream Park to compete in the Pegasus World Cup Championship Invitational series. The $3-million GI Pegasus World Cup for 4-year-olds and up and the $1-million GI Pegasus World Cup Turf for 4-year-olds and up will be contested Saturday, Jan. 23. Winners of the Pegasus World Cup and Pegasus World Cup Turf will also have guaranteed spots in the starting gate for the Saudi Cup Feb 20. Pegasus World Cup Day will feature a...

Midnight Bisou (Midnight Lute--Diva Delite, by Repent), the reigning Eclipse Award-winning older female and five-time Grade I winner, has been retired from racing, according to Jeffrey Bloom, co-owner and managing partner or Bloom Racing Stable. "I cannot begin to tell you what this mare has meant to me, my family, and my partners," said Bloom. "The places she has taken us and the thrills she has given us are immeasurable. And just to be in her presence is to feel what greatness is all about. Her calm, inquisitive demeanor, her...

In a press briefing held Tuesday, The Jockey Club of Saudi Arabia (JCSA) announced that the 2021 running of the $20-million Saudi Cup will be held Feb. 20, one week earlier than the date for the inaugural edition of the world's richest race. The announcement was made by HRH Prince Bandar Bin Khalid Al Faisal, Chairman of the JCSA, who, during a question-and-answer session with the media, also addressed the unresolved situation concerning Maximum Security (New Year's Day) and his former trainer Jason Servis. Shortly after Maximum Security crossed the...