By Alan Carasso
After fielding a team of four for last year's $20-million G1 Saudi Cup, a maximum of three horses and as few as just one horse already on the ground in Riyadh, could make up the American challenge for the 2025 renewal to be contested Saturday, Feb. 22 at King Abdulaziz Racetrack on the outskirts of the Saudi capital.
Three of the four horses that took part in last year's running were each possible for a return trip, but none will ultimately travel. Last year's winner Senor Buscador (Mineshaft) was to have his final career start in defense of his title, but a minor setback while training towards the GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes led to his retirement and subsequent stud deal at Lane's End. FMQ Stables' Saudi Crown (Always Dreaming), a game third last season, had his Saudi Cup dreams dashed when fading out of the picture in the Pegasus, and that race's winner White Abarrio (Race Day) was earlier this week ruled out of an attempt to improve on last year's 10th-place effort in favor of a domestic campaign. 'TDN Rising Star' Sierra Leone (Gun Runner) also misses the Saudi Cup via injury.
Rattle N Roll (Connect) made the trip across to the desert last month and ran out an impressive winner of the G3 Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Cup (King's Cup) to earn an automatic berth into the world's richest horserace. The Ken McPeek trainee is owned by Lucky Seven Stable and carried the colors of Sharaf Mohammed Alhairi, who leased Senor Buscador and has done so again with the 6-year-old Rattle N Roll.
'TDN Rising Star' Locked (Gun Runner) was beaten 6 1/4 lengths into second in the Pegasus and has been officially invited to the Saudi Cup, but his participation remains in some doubt. The GII Cigar Mile Handicap hero breezed a half-mile in :49.20 (15/31) for trainer Todd Pletcher at Palm Beach Downs Friday morning, but Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners' Aron Wellman said via text that a decision on the colt's next start will be “assessed through the weekend.”
According to the prospective fields issued by the Jockey Club of Saudi Arabia Friday afternoon, champion female sprinter Soul of an Angel (Atreides) is the second reserve for the Saudi Cup, but is effectively the next horse to gain a run, as White Abarrio remains listed amongst the likely runners. The 6-year-old mare races for a partnership including White Abarrio co-owner C2 Racing.
Four other American-bred runners are listed among the likely starters on the Saudi Cup undercard. Getaway Car (Curlin), a last-out second in the GII Los Alamitos Futurity, could make the trip from the West Coast to make his seasonal debut in the G3 Saudi Derby, while the Chad Summers-trained Jerome Stakes winner Cyclone State (McKinzie) is also engaged. Al Gold's Gold Square LLC, who races Cyclone State in partnership, also looks to be represented in the G2 1351 Turf Sprint by Grade I winner Howard Wolowitz (Munnings), who was ninth in the GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint before proving an impressive winner of the Holiday Cheer Stakes at Turfway in mid-December. Two-time Eclipse Award winner Elite Power (Curlin) won consecutive runnings of the Riyadh Dirt Sprint in 2022 and 2023, and fellow champion Straight No Chaser (Speightster) will try to follow suit in the 1200-meter contest, newly promoted to Group 2 status.
Click here for the full list of likely runners.
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