By Kelsey Riley
The international favourites may have been humbled by locally trained runners in the first two turf contests on the $29-million Saudi Cup card at King Abdulaziz Racecourse in Riyadh on Saturday, but European-trained runners powered back to fill the trifecta in the featured grass race, the $2.5-million Longines Turf Cup, with George Strawbridge's French-trained homebred Call The Wind (GB) (Frankel {GB}) leading home the British-based Mekong (GB) (Frankel {GB}) and Prince of Arran (GB) (Shirocco {Ger}) in the 3000 metre contest.
Call The Wind's trainer Freddy Head had earlier in the week lamented the Group 1 penalty that his 6-year-old gelding had had to haul around all of last year, when he was placed in an agonizing five group races, and indeed Call The Wind on Saturday was carrying less than top weight for the first time since winning the G1 Prix Royal-Oak in 2018. Not that he got off easy; his 133 pounds in Saudi was second only to the 136 lugged around by Cross Counter (GB) (Teofilo {Ire}) and Dee Ex Bee (GB) (Farhh {GB}). But Call The Wind nonetheless capitalized, diving through a seam when it opened at the top of the stretch and pulling clear inside the final furlong to win comfortably.
Call The Wind was permitted by Olivier Peslier to drop about six lengths off the pace set by Dee Ex Bee in first-time blinkers heading into the first of three bends with Dramatic Device (GB) (Dansili {GB}) keeping Dee Ex Bee honest on his outside. The heavy favourite and G1 Melbourne Cup winner Cross Counter sat about two lengths off the pace with Prince of Arran about the same margin further back, traveling just the better of Call The Wind.
Dee Ex Bee found himself suddenly alone on the lead as Dramatic Device bore out badly around the second bend and exited the race, but the 2018 G1 Investec Derby runner-up soon found himself in trouble of his own, coming under the whip with 800 metres still to run. The locally trained Contango (Ire) (Casamento {Ire}) took over the lead midway around the bend with Cross Counter looming large on his outside, while Call The Wind and Peslier all the while waited patiently for running room on the inside. That seam was granted at the top of the lane and the pair split runners, grabbing the lead at the furlong pole as Mekong and Prince of Arran rallied down the middle of the track while Cross Counter threw in the towel. The winning margin was 2 1/2 lengths on the line from Mekong, who had been fourth in a Meydan handicap last out on Jan. 30, with the same deficit back to Prince of Arran, who was making his first start since an unplaced finish in the G1 Hong Kong Vase in December.
“Call The Wind showed how good he is there,” said Head. “He was able to quicken on that ground, which I wasn't sure about. We had a lovely run, but I know that horse is not an easy horse to ride as he goes in snatches in the race. He goes well, then he has nothing and he can be a bit of a lazy sort but Olivier gave him a great, great ride. He stays and has a lot of stamina so Olivier chose to stay on the rail and do his race like that.
“It's funny because this horse is six now but I think he has improved. In his mind he is a much better and nicer horse to train. He was very difficult to train early on and wouldn't go into the stalls and that was why he didn't run much at three. I think he's still improving.”
Peslier added, “I'm very happy with the horse. He's a Group 1 horse and you need a Group 1 horse to come to this race in Saudi Arabia, and if you are not Group 1 you cannot win.
“I'm very happy with the ground on the turf track. After three months when you see what the team has done here, they've worked very hard and done a fantastic job. I have ridden here for a very, very long time and at the other track and I see the construction here and it's very good.”
Pedigree Notes
Even in the wildly successful program of breeder George Strawbridge, a mare like In Clover (GB) (Inchinor {GB}) is a rare gem. The winner of the 2005 G3 Prix de Flore for Strawbridge and Head, five of her first six foals are stakes winners, and three of those Group 1 winners. The sequence kicked off with her second foal, the dual listed winner Dream Clover (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}), after which followed We Are (Ire) (Dansili {GB}), who was in fact stripped of her first Group 1 win in the Prix Saint-Alary due to elevated testosterone levels resulting from a tumor, only to gain redemption two starts later in the G1 Prix de l'Opera. The listed-winning Incahoots (GB) came the next year followed by Call The Wind, and With You (GB) (Dansili {GB}) added her name to the list with a win in the G1 Prix Rothschild in 2018. All five of the aforementioned were trained by Head, as was their dam. The second dam, the G3 Prix de Royaumont victress Bellarida (Fr) (Bellypha {GB}), was trained by Head's sister Criquette for Wertheimer et Frere. The 18-year-old In Clover has an as-yet unraced 3-year-old colt by Dansili named Westward (GB), a 2-year-old colt by Dubawi (Ire) named In Crowd (GB) and a yearling son of Invincible Spirit (Ire).
LONGINES TURF H., $2,500,000, King Abdulaziz, 2-29, 4yo/up, 3000mT, .
1–CALL THE WIND (GB), 133, g, 6, Frankel%20(GB)&log=#tot">Frankel (GB)–In Clover (GB) (GSW-Fr, $222,716), by Inchinor (GB). O/B-George Strawbridge; T-Freddie Head; J-Olivier Peslier; $1,500,000. Lifetime Record: G1SW-Fr, GSP-UAE, 15-4-4-4, $2,120,610. *1/2 to Dream Clover (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}), MSW & GSP-Fr, $163,406; We Are (Ire) (Dansili {GB}), G1SW-Fr, $437,651; and With You (GB) (Dansili {GB}), G1SW-Fr, $640,753.
2–Mekong (GB), 128, g, 5, Frankel (GB)–Ship's Biscuit (GB), by Tiger Hill (GB). (425,000gns RNA HIT '19 TATAUT). O-Khalid bin Mishref; B-Philip Newton; T-Jamie Osborne. $500,000.
3–Prince of Arran (GB), 131, g, 7, Shirocco (Ger)–Storming Sioux (GB), by Storming Home (GB). O-Saeed bel Obaida; B-Rabbah Bloodstock Limited; T-Charlie Fellowes. $250,000.
Margins: 2HF, 2HF, 1 3/4.
Also Ran: Contango (Ire), Cross Counter (GB), True Self (Ire), Hibou (GB), Mafaaheem (Ire), Dramatic Device (GB), King's Advice (GB), Called to the Bar (Ire), Twilight Payment (Ire), Dee Ex Bee, Downdraft (Ire).
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