Red Sea Turf Handicap

At an unspecified date in the future Saudi Arabia will have a brand new racecourse at Qiddiya City, which will eventually host the Saudi Cup, according to an announcement made earlier this week. But for now the world's richest race belongs in Riyadh. Development has continued apace at King Abdulaziz Racecourse, which has now been in operation for 24 years. Much has changed, even in the short history of the Saudi Cup, both to the infrastructure at the racecourse and in the status of some of the contests. The Saudi...

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia -- The international contenders may have been out in force on Wednesday morning but there is one horse who dominates the spotlight and he has every right to it. Forever Young first set foot on King Abdulaziz racecourse two years ago when he arrived as a three-year-old to take the Saudi Derby before going on to triumph in Dubai. He was then involved in an almighty tussle at Churchill Downs, where he went down by the merest of fractions to Mystik Dan and Sierra Leone in the...

A day after sending out Derby runner-up Ambiente Friendly to win over hurdles at Huntingdon, trainer James Owen has advised of a return to the Flat for another of his dual-purpose campaigners, Burdett Road. The five year-old son of Muharaar was bred and is raced by the Gredley Family, for whom he has already won at Royal Ascot as well as landing two Graded hurdle races at Cheltenham. He has been placed twice this National Hunt season but now looks set for warmer climes. "He is going to Dubai just...

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...

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 Sports Boulevard Riyadh Dirt Sprint and Longines Red Sea Turf Handicap will be run as Group 2 contests for the first time in 2025, it was announced by the Jockey Club of Saudi Arabia (JCSA) on Sunday. Both races take place during the Saudi Cup meeting, which is scheduled for Saturday, February 22 as part of the 2024/25 Riyadh season. The Riyadh Dirt Sprint, won this year by Japanese raider Remake (Jpn) (Lani), will see its prize-money boosted by $500,000 to $2 million, while the Red Sea Turf Handicap,...

Germany's champion trainer Henk Grewe will keep hold of his 2021 G1 Deutsches Derby winner Sisfahan (Fr) (Isfahan {Ger}), who will remain in training at five and is set to be aimed at the $2.5 million G3 Red Sea Turf Cup H. on the Saudi Cup card on February 25. "It was the plan to run him there last year, but he got injured, so it was disappointing to miss the race," said Holger Faust, racing manager to Darius Racing, who own Sisfahan with Michael Motschmann. "We've been thinking about...

There was little in Gifts Of Gold (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire})'s recent form to suggest that a win against top marathoners was on the cards, but a surface switch and the addition of cheekpieces as well as a few furlongs proved just the tonic for the Saeed bin Suroor-trained 6-year-old gelding to score an upset victory in the $2.5-million 3000 metre Red Sea Turf H. in Saudi Arabia on Saturday. Settling about two lengths off the moderate early tempo set by the defending champ and Group 1-winning stayer Call The...

The first three home in last year's Red Sea Turf Handicap have all returned to Riyadh for this $2.5 million staying contest over 3,000 metres. The trio is led by the George Strawbridge homebred Call The Wind (GB) (Frankel {GB}), whose victory over Mekong (GB) (Frankel {GB}) and Prince Of Arran (GB) (Shirocco {Ger}) was followed through the French summer with wins in the G3 Prix de Barbeville and G2 Prix Kergorlay.  Freddy Head, who arrived in Saudi in time to see the 7-year-old have an easy canter on Thursday...