King Abdulaziz Racetrack

TOWER OF LONDON (IRE) (c, 4, Galileo {Ire}-Dialafara {Fr}, by Anabaa) gave the Coolmore partners a dramatic, last stride victory under a quality Ryan Moore ride in the 3000-metre $2.5-million G3 Longines Red Sea Turf H. at King Abdulaziz Racecourse on Saturday. It was Moore's 18th ride and first win at the fledgling meeting, and trainer Aidan O'Brien's third runner and first winner, as well. Enemy (GB) (Muhaarar {GB}), who finished second in the 2023 edition, filled that spot again, a head off of the winner. The listed winner blew...

Named the 2022 Eclipse Champion Male Sprinter, Juddmonte's Elite Power (Curlin) picked up right where he left off with an easy 3 1/4-length score in the G3 Riyadh Dirt Sprint Presented By Sports Boulevard. The favorite held fellow American-bred challenger and GI Hopeful S. hero Gunite (Gun Runner) in second in the $1.5-million 1200-meter race. In between horses as Meraas (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}) showed the way, the $900,0000 Keeneland September yearling raced in the last third of the field away from the kickback in the center of the track....

Silver Sonic (Jpn) (Orfevre {Jpn) was the second of three Japanese winners on the Saudi Cup card, and turned in a smooth performance to take the $2.5-million G3 Longines Red Sea Turf H. as the 2-1 favourite by 2 1/2 lengths over Enemy (GB) (Muhaarar {GB}). It was the second consecutive year a Japanese runner--both incidentally bearing the silks of Shadai Race Horse Co.--has lifted the 3000-metre turf prize after Stay Foolish (Jpn) (Stay Gold {Jpn}) in 2022. Before the race, the main talking horse had been Charlie Johnston's Subjectivist...

George Boughey's Missed The Cut (Quality Road) may have fluffed his lines but still the G3 Neom Turf Cup Sponsored By Altanfeethi went for export with fellow Newmarket-based trainers John and Thady Gosden landing the $1.5-million contest with Arc also-ran Mostahdaf (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) sprinting clear under Jim Crowley. John Gosden suggested after the race that the G1 Dubai World Cup could be next for Mostahdaf, a horse the team at Clarehaven Stables thought good enough to run in Europe's showcase race last autumn. But this was the day where...

Leading jockey Jose Ortiz rode four races Friday on the first of a two-day stint at King Abdulaziz Racetrack in the Saudi capital of Riyadh, and was able to boot home the winner of one of the program's feature races, guiding the U.S.-bred 6-year-old mare Avalina (Tale of Ekati) to a 3 3/4-length success in the $186,667 Prince Sultan Ben A/Aziz Cup over the metric 10 furlongs. Bred in Kentucky by Charles Fipke, Avalina won three of her first four career starts for owner John O'Hara and trainer Danny Gargan,...

Jane Chapple-Hyam's Albadri (Ire) (Dandy Man {Ire}) will take part in the $1.5-million Saudi Derby on the $20-million Saudi Cup undercard on Feb. 20. A winner on debut, the bay colt raced exclusively in stakes company in his next four starts, with his best finish a fifth in the G3 Tattersalls S. in September. His final 2020 appearance was a sixth in the G3 Horris Hill S. two starts later on Oct. 24. In his latest run, he handled the Southwell synthetic well and saluted by a length in a...

The silks of the late Prince Khalid Abdullah's Juddmonte Farms were already set to be carried aboard US raider Tacitus (Tapit) in the $20-million Saudi Cup (1800m, dirt) Feb. 20, and the breeding operation will also be represented by Derevo (GB) (Dansili {GB}), after the former Sir Michael Stoute galloper arrived in the nick of time to take out the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Cup (2000m, dirt) Saturday at King Abdulaziz Racetrack in Riyadh. The 340,000gns Tattersalls Autumn Horses In Training acquisition just touched off the commonly owned...

King Abdulaziz Racetrack in the Saudi capital of Riyadh plays host to the $266,667 Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Cup (King's Cup) Saturday afternoon, a 10-furlong affair that will produce a handful of runners for the second running of the $20-million Saudi Cup in three weeks' time. Scars Are Cool (Malibu Moon) won three of his 13 starts in the colors of Sagamore Farm and fetched $175,000 from Saudi Arabian interests during the Horses of Racing Age section of the Fasig-Tipton July Sale last summer. The Florida-bred was well-beaten...

A year ago, a brigade of American runners dominated results in the inaugural running of the $20-million Saudi Cup, taking four of the top five placings in the world's richest race. Another top-level group of U.S.-based horses are set to return to Riyadh for the second running of the 1 1/8-miles race Feb. 20. Leading the group is Charlatan (Speightstown), who returned from a layoff to record a scintillating victory in the Dec. 26 GI Malibu S. last month. The newly turned 4-year-old worked six furlongs in 1:12.60 (1/5) at...

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...

RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA - Gary and Mary West and Susan Magnier, Michael Tabor and Derrick Smith's Maximum Security (New Year's Day) put the final exclamation point on a memorable day of racing at King Abdulaziz Racetrack in Riyadh Saturday, recording a gritty 3/4-length victory over Midnight Bisou (Midnight Lute) in the inaugural $20-million Saudi Cup. Last year's champion sophomore was forced to drift in and out down the lane as he attempted to overtake pacesetting Mucho Gusto (Mucho Macho Man) and finally took charge with 100 meters to run before...

RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA - Mike Smith, with two wins on the day, may have won the International Jockey Challenge at King Abdulaziz Racetrack Friday, but it was the women-allowed to ride in Saudi Arabia for the first time-who stole the show. New Zealand jockey Lisa Allpress became the first woman to ever ride the winner of a race in the country when she captured the first leg of the challenge aboard Matmon (KSA) (Kreem {GB}) and the event was bookended by winning women when Sibylle Vogt captured the last leg...