Horse power: The Saudi Cup comes to Riyadh

As we gear up for the world’s most lucrative horse race in Riyadh, with an eye-watering $35.1 million on offer in prize purses, it’s time to take a look at what makes The Saudi Cup one of the most hotly contested events in the horseracing calendar.

With all of the moments that make this sport compulsory viewing, the event might be young, but it certainly has an exciting future ahead of it. Compared to other events in the horseracing calendar, this is where the real money can be earned. So it comes as no surprise that jockeys and trainers take it seriously.

Here, we take a look at the horses and jockeys that have dominated the previous two years of the Saudi Cup, and at the female riders competing to win big. Jockeys, fans and viewers across the world wait ahead of race day to see how, in the parlance of the sport, the going is. Let’s hope it’s firm, not heavy (and if that means nothing to you, read on).

The history of the Saudi Cup

This is the world’s wealthiest horse race. Founded in 2020, the first year saw Panamanian jockey Luis Saez secure first place on the American horse Maximum Security. That year, the prize pot was set at a staggering $20 million, with the intention of drawing the world’s best jockeys and horses to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

To put that in context, the first Saudi Cup outshone the Pegasus World Cup, the American Thoroughbred horse race, to the tune of $4 million. The highest purse ever offered over in the US was $16 million, though in 2018 that fell back behind the World Cup in Dubai.

In 2021 the Saudi Cup went off, with the young Irish jockey David Egan stomping into first place on the Irish-bred, British-trained Thoroughbred Mishriff, beating the previous year’s first-place result with a time of 1:49.59. For that victory Egan took a cut of the prize purse, a total of $1 million, home with him.

As ever, the health of the horses is taken seriously. The prize money for the Saudi Cup forfeits for breaching the whip rules. So it pays to race safely and conscientiously, albeit as fast as you possibly can towards the finish line and $10 million.

Ahead of the 2022 event, the International Grading and Race Planning Advisory Committee have awarded the race Group 1 status. That’s a seriously big achievement for such a new event in the horseracing calendar.

The International Cataloguing Standards Book, which was created to foster global racing-quality standards, categorises countries and races. They do this to ensure equal standards across events and races. This new classification is a boon for the Saudi Cup and demonstrates its crucial importance as a part of the global horseracing scene. It might be the new kid on the racing block, but it’s certainly been taken notice of on the sporting stage.
Further proof of the race’s importance is that last year both the American Pegasus World Cup and the Champions Cup in Japan featured formats in which winners of the races automatically qualified to participate in the Saudi Cup, and catapulting the winners into the big money league.

Who to keep your eyes on

Jockeys and horses will arrive from all over the world to compete at the King Abdulaziz Racetrack in Riyadh, racing down 1,800 meters of turf track. This year $35.1 million will be offered in purses for the two-day event, so the competition is sure to be fierce.

So let’s take a look at the horses competing in the race and at the jockeys riding them, as well as some of the astronomical sums involved in this sport.

Mishriff will be competing again in 2022 and hoping to hold on to the title from 2021. After winning in Riyadh the Irish-bred, British-trained Thoroughbred racehorse went on to win the Juddmonte International Stakes (the British Champions Series). So surely this is a horse to watch, coming in hot after such a successful past year. David Egan picked up a prize purse of £567,100 for that effort, so the mood is sure to be high on race day in Riyadh.

From good stock indeed, Mishriff was sired by Make Believe, who won both the Poule d’Essai des Poulains and Prix de la Forêt. Clearly, winning is very much in the blood.
David Egan is himself a formidable force in horse racing at only 22 years of age. Born in Kildare, Ireland, horse racing runs in the family and his mother Sandra Hughes trained Irish Grand National winner Thunder and Roses. What’s more, Egan’s uncle is Richard Hughes, the 2012 British flat racing Champion Jockey.

Hayley Turner OBE, the first woman to ride 100 UK flat race winners in a single year, has confirmed that she will be competing in Riyadh after recovering from a broken thumb. She told journalists in December that, “the thumb is fine. I broke it at Wolverhampton a few weeks ago”. Adding that, “I did it the last day before we had a little break. I’d pulled up one of David Simcock’s horses after the line and he just fell over. It was unlucky.” Confident and calm talk from a competitor everyone will be paying attention to on race day.

Turner will compete on the International Jockeys Challenge run which is a part of the two-day Saudi Cup event, the headline where the high prize money on offer. There will be seven female riders competing from abroad.

Another one to watch out for at the Saudi Cup is Square De Luynes, aka “Frankel of the Fjords”, the Scandinavian champion. After winning the Stockholm Cup International a total of three times Square De Luynes is in fine form to perform at the Group 3 Neom Turf Cup.
Trainer Niels Petersen is prepping the horse for the 2000-meter dash where a total of $1.5 million is up for grabs.

The nitty-gritty track and schedules

The venue in Riyadh has had a busy month in the build-up to the Saudi Cup, with the Prince Khalid Abdullah Cup held on January 8. Now all we can do is wait to see who comes out on top at the world’s wealthiest horse race. One thing we know for sure, the competitors will be giving it their all to come out tops at this race to end all races.

The conditions presented to the jockeys couldn’t be better. To get an idea of the track in Riyadh, it has been compared to America’s Belmont Park by jockey Hayley Turner.

The New York track is affectionately nicknamed the “Big Sandy” due to its large dimensions at 1.5 miles long. The surface can be taxing, even for experienced jockeys, but it is thought to offer a fair ride for all.

The track in Riyadh, which opened in January 2003, is 2,000 metres long and 24 metres wide. There is also an 1,800-metre turf track at the venue which was built in 2020. Shane Foley, winner of the second International Jockeys’ Challenge, has said that the turf track might favour the European competitors, giving them the overall edge in the competition. That sounds like fighting talk if we’ve ever heard it.

Then there are the weather conditions, which are predicted to be warm for the weekend. Saturday might be 26 degrees celcius with a North North-easterly wind at 11 kph.

Firm ground during summer when there is little rain results in good going. A horse can run much faster on a dry surface and the quickest race times are often achieved in such conditions. What you don’t want is heavy going, which is essentially like traipsing through a bog. No one is going to enjoy that, neither the jockeys nor the horses.

The tried-and-tested drill is to get out the Goingstick, poke it into the ground, and take an accurate reading of how damp the course is. Touch wood, there shouldn’t be much need for that in Riyadh. Here’s hoping for sun and a dry track and to watch some of the world’s finest horseracing.

Open 1pm. Book tickets in advance. February 25-26. King Abdulaziz Racetrack, thesaudicup.com.sa (011 254 0155).