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| Sumita Pawar |
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The Saudi Cup 2024 is set to host some of the world's finest horses and jockeys at the King Abdulaziz Racetrack in Riyadh this weekend. The International Jockeys' Challenge kicks off the fifth edition of the event on Friday, with the highly anticipated Saudi Cup race taking place on Saturday.
The challenge features fourteen top-caliber jockeys, including seven men and seven women from all over the world. Among them are renowned jockeys Damien Oliver and Luis Saez, as well as Katie Davies from America and Lisa Allpress from New Zealand, who became the first woman to win a flat race in Saudi Arabia in 2020.
France's Maryline Eon and Britain's representative, 21YO Saffie Osborne, will also participate in the challenge. The Saudi Cup race itself is an 1,800-meter race around the oval-shaped track, featuring up to fourteen horses competing for a winner's cheque of US$10m – half of the race's total prize pot. The provisional start list includes horses from America and Japan, with White Abarrio, the grey colt who won last year's Breeders' Cup Classic, being the slight favorite.
Trained by the controversial Rick Dutrow, White Abarrio is expected to face stiff competition from other contenders like National Treasure, trained by Bob Baffert, who won the 2023 Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course in Maryland, and Japanese runners Derma Sotogake and Lemon Pop. The Brad H Cox-trained Saudi Crown and Kentucky-bred Senor Buscador are also among the contenders.
Horse Trainer
1 Carmel Road - Abdullah Albadah Saudi Arabia
2 Crown Pride - Koichi Shintani Japan
3 Defunded - Abdulaziz K Mishref Saudi Arabia
4 Derma Sotogake - Hidetaka Otonashi Japan
5 Hoist the Gold - Dallas Stewart United States
6 Lemon Pop - Hiroyasu Tanaka Japan
7 Meisho Hario - Inao Okada Japan
8 National Treasure - Bob Baffert United States
9 Power In Numbers - Ahmed Mohamoud Saudi Arabia
10 Saudi Crown - Brad Cox United States
11 Senor Buscador - Todd Fincher United States