Saudi Cup

Aron Wellman, the president and founder of Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, has had big days, buy maybe nothing quite like the one he had last Saturday. Horses owned in part by Eclipse won the GI Santa Anita Handicap, the GII San Felipe and the GIII Herecomesthebride Stakes. And while that was going on he was putting the finishing touches on an agreement for his Big Cap winner Locked (Gun Runner) to stand at stud at Gainesway. With many subjects to cover, Wellman was this week's guest on the TDN Writers' Room...

Danny Shum has indicated that his Hong Kong superstar Romantic Warrior (Ire) (Acclamation {GB}) may yet return to Riyadh for a second attempt at the Saudi Cup at the age of eight. The 10-time Group 1 winner lost out by a neck to Forever Young (Jpn) (Real Steel {Jpn}) in the $20 million contest, the pair having pulled more than 10 lengths clear of 2024 runner-up Ushba Tesoro (Jpn). "It was a great run and for the next 10 years they will be talking about what a great race The...

'TDN Rising Star' Locked (Gun Runner) has always been highly regarded. By one of the nation's hottest sires and sold for $425,000 as a 2022 Keeneland September yearling, he affirmed that regard with a Grade I win at two. Sent to the sidelines for nearly a year before coming back to win the GII Cigar Mile Handicap in his only stakes start at three, he opened his 4-year-old campaign with a second to White Abarrio (Race Day) in the Jan. 25 Pegasus World Cup Invitational at Gulfstream Park before shipping...

Rachel King made history in Japan on Sunday when she became the first female jockey to partner a Grade 1 winner in the country when she guided Costa Nova (Jpn) (Lord Kanaloa {Jpn}) to victory in the February Stakes at Tokyo. King rode six winners as an amateur in Britain between 2009 and 2013. She has gone on to become something of a globetrotting sensation and even rode a winner in the final leg in the International Jockeys' Challenge at Riyadh on the opening night of the Saudi Cup meeting...

Stop me if you've heard this one before. Japanese-trained runners dominated the Saudi Cup meeting, landing the big race itself and a clean sweep of the turf races, while peppering results elsewhere on the card with placed finishers.  A little sprinkling of European spice was added to the mix in the French breeding of the G2 Howden Neom Turf Cup winner Shin Emperor (Fr), whose heritage is shared by Christophe Lemaire, rider of the G2 1351 Turf Sprint winner Ascoli Piceno (Jpn) but now just as much a son of...

The world's richest horse race will serve as a qualifier for the richest race in North America, as the Feb. 22 $20-million G1 Saudi Cup joins the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series: Win and You're In, offering an automatic berth to the $7-million GI Longines Breeders' Cup Classic at Del Mar. As part of the benefits of the Challenge Series, Breeders' Cup will pay the entry fees for the winner of the Saudi Cup to start in the Breeders' Cup Classic. Also on the Feb. 22 card, the $2-million G2 Riyadh...

RIYADH, KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA -- Fourteen horses with Grade I or Group 1 form from America, Argentina, Dubai, Hong Kong, Japan and even Uruguay will take their chance at the winner's share of the $20-million gross purse for the world's richest horse race, Saturday's G1 Saudi Cup at King Abdulaziz Racecourse. And few of them are without some sort of chance. Susumu Fujita's Forever Young (Jpn) (Real Steel {Jpn}) returns to the Saudi capital 12 months on from a last-lunge success in the G3 Saudi Derby and looks to...

The $20-million G1 Saudi Cup and much of its accompanying card will air in the U.S. Saturday, Feb. 22 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. ET on FS2, according to a release from the New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) Thursday. The 'Golden Hour' telecast will air from noon-1 p.m., with a scheduled post time for the Saudi Cup at 12:40 p.m. Following the Saudi Cup broadcast, America's Day at the Races will begin at 3 p.m. Saturday on FS2 with live coverage from Aqueduct Racetrack and Oaklawn Park.

RIYADH, KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA -- At the age of six, Lucky Seven Stable and Sharaf Mohamad Alhairi's Rattle N Roll (Connect) is at the peak of his powers. The same can be said for his veteran trainer Ken McPeek, who is just this side of a series of achievements that anyone who does what he does for a living will have a hard time replicating anytime in the foreseeable future. For equine and human alike, Saturday's G1 Saudi Cup at King Abdulaziz Racecourse is a potential watershed moment. "It's...

RIYADH, KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA -- Owner Al Gold knows that you can't win if you don't play, and the New Jersey native has not one, but two cracks at a nice payday on Saturday's Saudi Cup undercard at King Abdulaziz Racecourse here in Riyadh. Gold, who did not make the trip over to Saudi Arabia, but will be watching from the comfort of his winter home in Florida, campaigns Cyclone State (McKinzie) in partnership with George Messina and Michael Lee, as the $70,000 Keeneland September yearling looks to extend...

RIYADH, KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA -- Forever Young (Jpn) (Real Steel {Jpn}), a Group 1 winner at the back end of 2024 in the Tokyo Daishoten and third in the GI Kentucky Derby and GI Breeders' Cup Classic, will jump from the widest alley in barrier 14 for Saturday's G1 Saudi Cup at King Abdulaziz Racecourse in Riyadh. Post positions were drawn Wednesday evening at the racecourse. Also victorious in a thrilling renewal of the G3 Saudi Derby on this program 12 months ago, the 4-year-old colt will once again have...

Fasig-Tipton will sponsor a world-record Best Turned-Out prize of SAR10,000 (US$2,666) for the world's richest race, the $20-million G1 Saudi Cup Feb. 22 at King Abdulaziz Racecourse. Fasig-Tipton, which also sponsored the award in 2024, will also sponsor a Best Turned Out Award during Friday's card at the Riyadh racetrack, making for a total reward of SAR40,000 ($10,665) over 16 races to the winning entrants' grooms. In addition to the grand prize, SAR2,500 ($667) will be awarded in 11 races over the two days. Fasig-Tipton will be represented on site...