King Abdulaziz Racecourse

Reef Runner (The Big Beast), winner of the G2 1351 Turf Sprint in February at King Abdulaziz Racecourse in Riyadh and fourth in the Mar. 28 G1 Al Quoz Sprint at Meydan, is expected to make his stateside return in the June 6 GI Jaipur Stakes at Saratoga. The 5-year-old gelding had his first work since returning from the Middle East Saturday, going four furlongs in :46.90 (1/19) over the Tapeta at Gulfstream. "He looks fantastic," said trainer David Fawkes. "I nominated him for the Jaipur. We're coming. He traveled...

In the week leading up to the Saudi Cup meeting, Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert lamented to anyone who would listen about just how taxing those final 100 meters at King Abdulaziz Racecourse can be on the equine athletes. And he's certainly got the right to take that position, given that the likes of Mucho Gusto and Charlatan couldn't quite see it out in the G1 Saudi Cup, while Havnameltdown was just tagged after a long stretch duel in the G3 Saudi Derby a few years back. Pinehurst did...

RIYADH, KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA -- Bob Baffert may have won two Triple Crowns, six Kentucky Derbys, 21 Breeders' Cup races, and four Dubai World Cups but there is an itch that still needs to be scratched: the Saudi Cup. "We've gotten pretty close," he said Thursday morning from King Abdulaziz Racecourse, and he's not wrong. Baffert has been represented in five of the six runnings of the world's richest race and has finished second twice, with Charlatan (Speightstown) then Country Grammer (Tonalist). Last year was his sole omission, and...

A horse has never won two editions of the $20-million G1 Saudi Cup, and Japanese Horse of the Year Forever Young (Real Steel) will try to break into that rarefied air after drawing post position six on Wednesday, ahead of Saturday's race. Also voted a champion in the U.S. after taking the GI Breeders' Cup Classic last autumn, the likeable bay will face 13 rivals at King Abdulaziz Racecourse in a few days' time. "I think six is a good number," trainer Yoshito Yahagi said. "We don't have to change...

One need go no farther back than 2022, when Emblem Road (Quality Road) charged home to defeat America's Country Grammer (Tonalist) and Midnight Bourbon (Tiznow) in the G1 Saudi Cup, to see that horses trained in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia have managed to make an impression on the meeting, the seventh renewal of which takes place this Saturday at King Abdulaziz Racecourse in Riyadh. The home team fields a 14-strong challenge across five of the six group-level contests, and while each would have to find on their current form...

"It's been a long time since a country boy from Conway, Arkansas, has been invited to a race in a place like Saudi Arabia." So says Alex Lieblong, who in partnership with his wife JoAnn bred and race Reef Runner, a homebred son of the couple's Grade I King's Bishop Stakes winner The Big Beast, who flies a bit beneath the radar, but looms a real chance in Saturday's $2-million G2 1351 Turf Sprint at King Abdulaziz Racecourse in Riyadh. The Lieblongs, who have campaigned the likes of Grade I...

The Asian Racing Conference (ARC) will meet in Riyadh from February 9-14 in conjunction with the Saudi Cup meeting. The theme is "Honouring Tradition, Shaping the Future" and consists of a three-day business programme designed to provoke meaningful dialogue, strategic insights and key learnings to address the challenges and opportunities facing the horseracing industry. A gathering of the International Forum for the After Care of Racehorses (IFAR) will take place on Monday, where HRH Prince Bandar bin Khalid Al Faisal, chairman of the Jockey Club of Saudi Arabia (JCoSA), will...

It's been a long time since anyone has seen the New Jersey-bred star Book'em Danno (Bucchero). He hasn't run since winning the GI Forego Stakes at Saratoga Aug. 23. There were rumblings that he would run in the GII Stoll Keenon Ogden Phoenix Stakes at Keeneland, but he sat that one out. He also did not run in the GI Cygames Breeders' Cup Sprint, where he likely would have been the favorite. Passing on an appearance at the World Championships is something that could cost him some Eclipse Award votes....

9th-Oaklawn, $131,000, Alw (NW1$6MX)/Opt. Clm ($62,500), 4-11, 4yo/up, 6f, 1:09.27, ft, 5 1/4 lengths. SKELLY (g, 6, Practical Joke--Adande, by Bwana Charlie) ran a hole in the wind--much to the delight of the local crowd--en route to a supremely confident seasonal bow here against outclassed optional claiming rivals. Leaving the blocks like a rocket and immediately establishing control, Skelly rolled through splits of :21.96 and a half in :44.75 as he built up a sizeable margin entering the homestretch. In a position where the rest would need to produce a...

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 -- Making his first appearance in the International Jockeys' Challenge on the eve of the Saudi Cup meeting at King Abdulaziz Racecourse, journeyman jockey Muhammad Aldaham became the first homegrown rider to take out the competition, amassing a total of 30 points with victories in the first two legs of the series. Australia's Rachel King finished on 25 points to finish second ahead of James McDonald, whose 21 points was achieved in three races, owing to the scratching of his ride in race three of...

When Iowa-bred Cyclone State (McKinzie) breaks out of the starting gate for Saturday's $1.5-million G3 Saudi Derby, part of the Saudi Cup undercard at King Abdulaziz Racecourse in Riyadh, odds are that the loudest cheers will be emanating from halfway across the world at the Iowa State University (ISU) Equine Farm. That is where the colt, bred by Allen Poindexter, was born on April 29, 2022. It's an evening foaling that Nikki Ferwerda, a faculty member of the ISU Animal Science department and manager of the university's equine facilities, still...