Saudi Cup

Equine MediRecord's software platform will be used for all equine participants during the upcoming Saudi Cup weekend. The company offers a service which allows for the full veterinary history of every participant to be recorded securely, ensuring the best possible horse welfare and aiding with crucial anti-doping procedures. The new system EMR, developed for the 2025 Saudi Cup, will automatically inform trainers from across the world of the safety and integrity regulations that need to be followed and what documents need to be submitted through the system to allow horses...

On his way home from the races last week, Jamie Insole reflected on a good day for his stable following a 13-length win for Tommy The Tank (Ire) over hurdles and two promising runs for three-year-old fillies at Southwell. This is the nature of the training partnership he shares with Dr Richard Newland: jumps here, Flat there, and all the while a growing number of horses at their Urloxhey Stables in Worcestershire. From that rural idyll on Sunday left Witness Stand (GB) (Expert Eye {Ire}), a new recruit to their...

Yoshito Yahagi has nominated Hong Kong star Romantic Warrior (Ire) (Acclamation {GB}) as the biggest danger to his Forever Young (Jpn) (Real Steel {Jpn}) in the $20-million Saudi Cup next Saturday.  The Japanese native is one of the most successful trainers at the Saudi Cup meeting with four wins on the board including a Saudi Cup strike with Panthalassa (Jpn) in 2023, while Forever Young returns as the 2024 Saudi Derby champion.  The four-year-old last year went on to post agonisingly narrow defeats in the Kentucky Derby and the Breeders'...

Juddmonte Farms's Laurel River (Into Mischief) has been removed from consideration for the $20-million G1 Saudi Cup on Feb. 22 after picking up a minor injury that will require 'two weeks' rest', according to a tweet from racing personality Nick Luck, who was first to report the news. "Just a knock apparently, but it prevented him from getting in a critical workout before traveling," Juddmonte USA's General Manager Garrett O'Rourke said in a text message. "Will wait for the Dubai World Cup." Trained by Bhupat Seemar, the homebred 7-year-old demolished...

C2 Racing Stable, Agave Racing Stable and Ken Reimer's champion female sprinter Soul of an Angel (Atreides) is being pointed towards the Apr. 5 GI Madison Stakes at Keeneland, trainer Saffie Joseph, Jr. confirmed Sunday. The 6-year-old mare had been on the alternate list for the Feb. 22 G1 Saudi Cup and, had she kept that engagement, would have shipped to Riyadh on a Tuesday flight. "She's not going for sure," Joseph said of the overseas trip. "That's official. She's going to go to the Madison. We're going to give...

Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners' President and Founder Aron Wellman advised via text Saturday morning that 'TDN Rising Star' Locked (Gun Runner), the two-back winner of the GII Cigar Mile Handicap and recent runner-up in the GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes, will pass up an invitation to the G1 Saudi Cup Feb. 22 and instead will focus on a domestic campaign for 2025. "While we appreciate the gracious invite and the purse money is tempting, we're going to focus on a domestic campaign, with our near-term goal being the Big 'Cap,"...

After fielding a team of four for last year's $20-million G1 Saudi Cup, a maximum of three horses and as few as just one horse already on the ground in Riyadh, could make up the American challenge for the 2025 renewal to be contested Saturday, Feb. 22 at King Abdulaziz Racetrack on the outskirts of the Saudi capital. Three of the four horses that took part in last year's running were each possible for a return trip, but none will ultimately travel. Last year's winner Senor Buscador (Mineshaft) was to...

It was a tough day for the G1 Saudi Cup. Within hours of the breaking news that 2024 3-year-old male champion Sierra Leone (Gun Runner) will not run in the G1 Saudi Cup at King Abdulaziz Racetrack in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Feb. 22, the $20-million race lost another star when the owners of White Abarrio (Race Day) announced that they had also decided to keep their 6-year-old home and focus on a U.S. campaign. "We are going to bypass Saudi," co-owner Mark Cornett said. "We will stay here and...

Eclipse Award-winning 'TDN Rising Star' Sierra Leone (Gun Runner) is recovering from an abscess on his coronet band, forcing Chad Brown to scrub a key workout, and the conditioner confirmed that the reigning GI Breeders' Cup Classic winner will be forced to skip the G1 Saudi Cup at King Abdulaziz Racetrack in Riyadh on Feb. 22. "I couldn't really work him, so I just kind of played it safe and skipped it, which takes him out of the Saudi race," Brown told the TDN by phone early Wednesday afternoon. "It's...

Saffie Joseph Jr. has had some big days since he came to the U.S. from his native Barbados in 2011, but perhaps none bigger than last Saturday at Gulfstream Park. He had three stakes wins, including a score with Be Your Best (Ire) (Muhahaarar ({GB}) in the GII Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational S. and a win with Mystic Lake (Mo Town) in the GII Inside Information S. But the one that really mattered was the victory by White Abarrio (Race Day) in the GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational S....

Multiple stakes winner Last Leaf (Not This Time) (hip 56) brought the highest price at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's Winter Mixed Sale Tuesday when bringing a final bid of $140,000 from Joey Peacock. Peacock purchased the 6-year-old broodmare prospect in the name of Senor's Senoritas to support his recently retired G1 Saudi Cup winner Senor Buscador (Mineshaft). Last Leaf was the only six-figure offering at the one-session Mixed Sale, which was downsized from its two-day 2024 format. In all, 212 horses sold Tuesday for a gross of $3,098,700, an...

White Abarrio (Race Day) remains under consideration for the Feb. 22 G1 Saudi Cup, trainer Saffie Joseph confirmed Sunday, a day after the 6-year-old's runaway victory in the GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational at Gulfstream Park. "The ownership group is going to speak to each other and decide on what happens with [White] Abarrio," Joseph said. "The Saudi Cup is possible." Joseph called Saturday's Pegasus World Cup Day, "one of the best days of my career" after saddling Be Your Best (Ire) (Muhaarar {GB}) to win in the GII TAA...