The 2-day Saudi Cup meeting in February will be the richest weekend of horseracing on the planet, going clear of Dubai World Cup day a month later.
Total prize money at Riyadh on Friday and Saturday, February 25-26, will increase by nearly $5 million to $35.1million, making it the most valuable fixture in global racing, the Jockey Club of Saudi Arabia (JCSA) has announced.
Dubai World Cup day, which was promoted as the world’s richest single raceday even after the $20m Saudi Cup overtook the $12m Dubai World Cup as the most valuable race when it was first run in 2020, will have total prize money of $30.5 million on March 26, when it will feature six G1s and three G2s.
The Saudi Cup, which will be run as an official G1 for the first time (it has always been given G1 status in the TRC Global Rankings), stays on $20 million in February, while five Thoroughbred races on the Saturday card at the King Abdulaziz Racetrack in Riyadh have been awarded G3 status.
Prize money for both the G3 Neom Turf Cup and G3 1351 Turf Sprint has increased by $500,000 to $1.5 million. The Obaiya Arabian Classic, a $1m contest for Purebred Arabian horses, was this week promoted to G2 by the IFAHR.
HRH Prince Bandar Bin Khalid Al Faisal, Chairman of the Jockey Club of Saudi Arabia, told the media, “In 2020 we launched our first ever international meeting and less than three years later we enter our first racing season as a Part II racing nation, having been promoted by the IFHA earlier this month. We are now looking forward to hosting the world’s most valuable race, the Saudi Cup, as a Group 1 for the first time, as well as five Group 3 races on the undercard.
“None of this would have been possible without the buy-in and support of the international racing community and, on behalf of the Jockey Club of Saudi Arabia, I would like to thank everyone within the industry for the way they have embraced the Saudi Cup.”
Highlight on the opening day of the meeting, the STC International Jockeys Challenge (IJC), won last year by Ireland’s Shane Foley, will incorporate a turf contest into its 4-race format, while a new international turf race, the listed $1 million Al Mneefah Cup for Purebred Arabians, is also being added.
Qualifying races added on ‘Road To Riyadh’
The JCSA also confirmed some important additions to the list of qualifying races for the undercard contests.
The G3 Bahrain International Trophy on November 19 will be a qualifier for the Neom Turf Cup for the first time, as will the G3 Challenge Cup at Hanshin on December 4, with the winner of the G1 Pegasus World Cup Turf on January 29 gaining an automatic spot in the same race.
The G2 Hanshin Cup on December 25 becomes a new qualifier for the 1351 Turf Sprint, and Nakayama’s G3 Capella Stakes on December 12 keeps its place as a qualifying race for the G3 Riyadh Dirt Sprint.
The three qualifying contests for the Saudi Cup itself emain the G1 Pegasus World Cup on January 29 and the G1 Champions Cup in Japan on December 5, as well as the Saudi domestic G1, the Custodian of The Two Holy Mosques Cup on January 29.
Tom Ryan, the JCSA’s Director of Strategy and International Racing, said, “Despite the global challenges, the 2021 Saudi Cup was a huge success, attracting a truly international field. We had a brilliant winner in Mishriff who is the perfect example of the high-class horse the race can attract, and his victory showed how well-placed the race is in the calendar.
“Following his subsequent two Group 1 wins, he has proved to be one of the best horses in the world. We then had Saudi Cup fourth Knicks Go land the Grade 1 Whitney Stakes at Saratoga in August, while 11th placed Max Player was also successful at Saratoga last month in the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup.
“Several other races from the meeting have also produced Group 1 winners. Earlier this month, Godolphin’s Space Blues, who won the 1351 Turf Sprint, landed the Prix de la Foret on Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe day and even though the UK-trained Oxted finished down the field in the Riyadh Dirt Sprint, it certainly did him no harm as he went on to win the Group 1 King’s Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot just three starts later.
“One of the things we are most proud of at the Jockey Club of Saudi Arabia is the versatility of the racing surface at King Abdulaziz Racetrack. The 2021 Saudi Cup proved conclusively that turf horses can perform on our dirt track and that their form on dirt translates back to turf.
“Mishriff had only run once on dirt before, in last year’s Saudi Derby, while this year’s Saudi Derby winner, Pink Kamehameha, had previously only raced on turf in his native Japan. We hope this shows owners and trainers all over the world that they can come to Saudi and compete in both our dirt and turf races.”