Saudi Arabia: Leading British jockey Tom Marquand was suspended for six days after being found guilty of careless riding in the race in which US-trained Channel Cat and his Eclipse Award-winning rider Joel Rosario hit the deck during the Saudi Cup meeting.
The Riyadh stewards, who had made their presence felt at both previous Saudi Cup meetings, issued another raft of bans this time around.
Marquand received the longest ban following the Neom Turf Cup after he was found to blame for Channel Cat’s fall by angling out to his right on his mount Grocer Jack two furlongs out. Both Rosario and Channel Cat were uninjured.
In contrast to 2020 and 2021, there was no repeat of the massive financial penalties incurred for breaching the Saudi Arabian Jockey Club’s strict whip rules in the $20m Saudi Cup, where no rider was sanctioned.
Last year David Egan had to forfeit a cool $100,000 after breaching the whip limit during Mishriff’s triumph, while in 2020 Mike Smith lost $210,000 of his prize-money haul after finishing second on Midnight Bisou as well as collecting nine days in bans.
However, three jockeys did exceed the 10-strike limit on Saturday’s card with Olivier Peslier receiving the biggest sanction when forfeiting 20% of his prize-money cut ($24,000) after wining the $2m Obaiya Arabian Classic. He was also suspended for four days.
Cristian Demuro also had 20% of his prize-money ($6,000) retained and was banned for four days after he rode Sekifu to finish second behind Pinehurst in the Saudi Derby.
Local rider Camilo Ospina committed the other whip breach, and Sweden’s Ulrika Holmquist was the only other visiting rider to collect a ban. She was suspended for two days for careless riding on Friday.
• Visit the Saudi Cup website
Why Royal Ascot-winning trainer Archie Watson cannot wait for jump racing’s Olympics
Ken McPeek targets Epsom Derby with Breeders’ Cup runner-up Tiz The Bomb
Part 1 of our exclusive interview with Prince Bandar
View the latest TRC Global Rankings for horses / jockeys / trainers / sires