Feature Story

SAUDI CUP 2023 ATTRACTS STARS FROM 22 COUNTRIES

SAUDI CUP 2023 ATTRACTS STARS FROM 22 COUNTRIES Jan 19, 2023

By Duane Fonseca

Interest in the 2023 Saudi Cup meeting has peaked with organisers Jockey Club of Saudi Arabia inundated with the number of entries that have exceeded 1,400, including 600 from overseas connections representing 22 countries. This year’s two-day meeting has been scheduled for 24 and 25 February at King Abdulaziz Racecourse in Riyadh, with a massive $35.35 million in prize money up for grabs.

The highlight of the first day is the International Jockeys Challenge, which is in its fourth year, while the showpiece $20m Group 1 Saudi Cup, the world’s most valuable race, draws the meeting to a close the following day. The feature 1800m Saudi Cup on the dirt strip heads a card on which five Group Three races and the newly-upgraded PA Group 1 Obaiya Arabian Classic will be contested.

The Group 2 Al Mneefah Cup for Purebred Arabians (2100m) will be contested on the opening day alongside the Saudi International Handicap. Locally owned and trained winner of the 2022 Saudi Cup, Emblem Road is set to return for his title defence, while horses from Japan, USA and UAE dominate the entries across the two days and there is also strong representation once again from the UK, Ireland, Argentina, France and Germany.

A total of 47 Group One winners could be set to take part. Last year’s runner-up and 2022 Dubai World Cup winner, Country Grammer, and thrice Grade One winner Taiba are also among the entries alongside 2022 Kentucky Derby winner, Rich Strike. The UAE has the second-highest rated entry for the Saudi Cup in Charlie Appleby’s impressive Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Turf winner Rebel’s Romance.

JAPANESE BACK FOR MORE

Japan won four of the six international Thoroughbred races on the big day last year, which has spurred bids for a first Saudi Cup from Yoshito Yahagi’s Panthalassa and Tetsuya Kimura’s Geoglyph, even as Jun Light Bolt holds an automatic entry after winning Chukyo’s Group 1 Champions Cup. Sydney-based Annabel Neasham’s Group One winner Laws Of Indices is the first Australian horse to be entered.

A total of 14 of the world’s top riders, seven female and seven male, will compete in the International Jockeys Challenge on the first day. Tom Ryan, racing advisor to the Jockey Club of Saudi Arabia, said: “Once again we’re delighted with the depth of the international entries, from 22 different countries across five continents, which goes to show the reputation and global standing the Saudi Cup meeting has quickly established after just three years.”


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