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the Saudi Cup
ARAB NEWS Friday, February 28, 2020
When the gates open and the runners and riders get underway in
Riyadh on Saturday in the world’s richest horse race, one man will
be watching the action with more pride than most.
Prince Khalid bin Abdullah, owner of the hugely successful
Juddmonte Farms breeding operation, will not only be closely
monitoring the performance of his own horse, Tacitus, in the $20
million Saudi Cup, but will also be celebrating the fact that such
a prestigious international race meeting is taking place in the
Kingdom for the first time.
Simon Mockridge, director of the stable’s UK stud opera- tion,
described the Saudi Cup as a “momentous moment” and said that
victory in the inaugural event would be “vitally impor- tant” to
the prince and the entire Juddmonte team.
“I think what we have to remember (is that the Saudi Cup has) an
extremely strong field and Tacitus will have to step up to the
plate; we’re hoping very much that he can achieve that,” Mockridge
told Arab News at Juddmonte’s Newmarket headquarters.
“Prince Khalid’s breeding operation is probably one of the jewels
of Saudi Arabian history. It would be very nice if he was able to
win the race and I’m sure he and the family would be over the moon.
I think being a Saudi he will be very excited to think that they
have a race of this magni- tude now in Saudi Arabia, and it’s going
to create some great waves,” he said.
The Saudi Cup, a two-day meet that begins on Friday at King Abdul
Aziz Racetrack, is the latest high-profile event added to the
Kingdom’s growing sporting calendar. But while the country only
recently embarked on its ambitious program of attracting a host of
top-class international sporting events as part of its Vision 2030
develop- ment program, over the past four decades Juddmonte Farms
has become one of the most recog- nizable global names in horse
breeding and racing.
Founded in 1977 and located a world away from the desert sand of
Riyadh in the rolling country- side of Suffolk in England, with
further operations and bases in Ireland and Kentucky, Juddmonte
Farms has quietly become one of Saudi Arabia’s biggest sporting
success stories.
The inexorable rise of Juddmonte, and Prince Khalid,
HORSE RACING
Jewel in Kingdom’s sporting crown eyes Saudi Cup glory
Daniel Fountain London
shape the breed for many years to come.”
It is hard to disagree with her prediction. Juddmonte has bred some
of the most successful horses in recent racing history, including
the likes of Frankel — the legendary unbeaten horse now standing at
stud at the farm’s Banstead Manor base — Kingman, and Danehill, a
thoroughbred Mockridge said is “arguably the most impor- tant
stallion that has stood in the northern and southern
hemisphere.”
And yet despite such consis- tent global success in the sport, the
achievements of Juddmonte Farms and Prince Khalid are still more
celebrated outside the Kingdom than within. This is something
Mockridge hopes will change when the two-day Saudi Cup meet grabs
the racing world’s attention and puts Saudi racing on the
map.
He was also full of praise for event organizer Prince Bandar bin
Khalid Al-Faisal, chairman of the Jockey Club of Saudi Arabia, and
the work that has gone in to bring an elite racing event to the
Kingdom.
“We have to look at the race itself and say this is one of the
strongest races that has been run for a great many years, so this
is a phenomenal achieve- ment by Prince Bandar and his
team,” said Mockridge. “I think the difficulty for them
going forward is how they can maintain the momentum … but there is
no doubt they have positioned this race incredibly well and there
has been a lot of foresight here.
“I think if you imagine there is now an opportunity for a single
horse to win the Breeders’ Cup and the Pegasus, then the Saudi Cup
and to go on and win the Dubai World Cup, races that are worth
nearly $50 million in total prize money, then I think it’s a great
opportunity.”
Douglas Erskine Crum, Juddmonte’s CEO, echoed Mockridge’s thoughts
about the bright future for horse racing in Saudi Arabia.
“There will always be many challenges in establishing racing and
breeding but I have every confidence that it will be achieved
successfully in the Kingdom,” he said. “The team that has put the
Saudi Cup together is very impressive.”
Mockridge conceded that some were skeptical early on about whether
it was feasible for Saudi Arabia to host top-class horse racing,
but he said the work done by Prince Bandar’s team has silenced the
doubters.
“The wonderful thing for Saudi Arabia is that they have been able
to attract such a strong field at the first time of asking,” he
said. “There was a little bit of skepti- cism right at the
beginning, but Prince Bandar and his team have been very
progressive with it.
“The fact they have been able to build a turf course in such a
short space of time — and apparently it’s riding very well — that’s
extraordinary to me that they have been able to do that. For most
of us, it would take generations to get a track up and
running.
“So, I hope it’s a wonderful success for them and I would like to
see lots of young Saudi people coming out of that and coming in to
invest in European and American bloodstock. I think it’s important
for the future of racing.”
Regardless of which horse is first past the post on Saturday, the
Saudi Cup marks the begin- ning of a new and exciting chapter for
racing in the Kingdom. And given the exper- tise of Prince Khalid,
Mockridge and the entire Juddmonte team, their own success story is
likely to run and run.
began when Known Fact won the 2000 Guineas Stakes in 1980, a
victory that earned the prince a place in the history books as the
first Arab owner of the winner of a Classic, the name given to a
handful of the most prestigious, elite races in England, Ireland
and France.
It marked the beginning of a long and illustrious career for the
prince that includes more than 100 Group 1 winners and dozens of
Classics winners. According to Mockridge, the secret to that
sustained success is down to the building of a highly professional
team at Juddmonte and some astute early decisions by the
prince.
“I think we have to think back to when Prince Khalid was very
active in the market, in the early 1980s,” he said. “He purchased
very well, he was advised extremely well and he made very sound
decisions. He purchased a
lot of good mares and that was his primary focus at the time.
“They were wise decisions, calculated purchases at the time, which
he then masterfully guided through wonderful breeding careers. I
think globally, if you look at the impact he has had in the 40
years he has been in opera- tion, he’s managed to win every English
Classic and every French Classic.
“And to top it all off, he has had in excess of 500 stakes (the
most prestigious, and valuable, races, contested by the best
horses) winners. So you have to look at him and say that for a
medium- sized breeding operation, he has certainly taken the racing
and breeding operations to a very high
level,” Mockridge said. Amanda Prior is the general
manager of Great British Racing International, which facilitates
global investment
in British racing and breeding. “It is brilliant to see
Prince
Khalid Abdullah’s long-serving investment in British racing and
breeding continuing to reap rewards,” she said.
“Juddmonte has never had a better stallion roster, attracting
world-class mares from all over the world, and will
ultimately
Main: Saudi Cup contender Tacitus completes trackwork in the
lead-up to the $20 million race tomorrow. Jockey Club of Saudi
Arabia/Neville Hopwood
All five stallions standing at Juddmonte Farms’ Banstead Manor Stud
(from left): Bated Breath, Oasis Dream, Frankel, Kingman and Expert
Eye. Bronwen Healy
Frankel is led to his paddock by Juddmonte attendant Rob Bowley.
Darren Tindale, Bronwen Healy
Prince Khalid bin Abdullah’s Tacitus leads the charge as world’s
richest event opens new horizons for racing in Saudi Arabia
SAUDI CUP fAST fACTS •Established by Chairman of the Jockey Club of
Saudi Arabia Prince Bandar bin Khalid Al-Faisal.
•Set to become the richest horse race in history with prize money
of $20 million.
•Will run over nine furlongs (1,800m) on a dirt track at the King
Abdul Aziz Racetrack.
•Drawn 14 entries from around the globe.
•Saudi-owned horses in the race include Tacitus, Gronkowski, Mucho
Gusto, Great Scot and Mjjack.
•UAE-owned horses in the race include Capezzano and Dubai’s
Godolphin-owned Benbatl.
•The Saudi Cup meeting will also include a combination of seven
other races run on dirt and turf tracks.
4 p.m./1 p.m.
4:35 p.m./1:35 p.m. 5:10 p.m./2:10 p.m. 5:45 p.m./2:45 p.m. 6:30
p.m./3:30 p.m. 7:10 p.m./4:10 p.m. 7:50 p.m./4:50 p.m. 8:40
p.m./5:40 p.m.
The Mohamed Yousuf Naghi Motors Cup
stc 1351 Cup Longines Turf Handicap Obaiya Arabian Classic Jockey
Club Local Handicap Samba Saudi Derby Saudia Sprint Saudi Cup
turf
DISTANCE TRACKTIME – KSA/GMT RACE NAME
Saudi Cup day Saturday, Feb. 29, 2020
2100m (1m 2½f)
1351m (6¾f) 3000m (1m 7f) 2000m (1m 2f) 1800m (1m 1f) 1600m (1m)
1200m (6f) 1800m (9f)
4 p.m./1 p.m.
4:35 p.m./1:35 p.m. 5:10 p.m./2:10 p.m. 5:45 p.m./2:45 p.m. 6:30
p.m./3:30 p.m. 7:10 p.m./4:10 p.m. 7:50 p.m./4:50 p.m. 8:40
p.m./5:40 p.m.
The Mohamed Yousuf Naghi Motors Cup
stc 1351 Cup Longines Turf Handicap Obaiya Arabian Classic Jockey
Club Local Handicap Samba Saudi Derby Saudia Sprint Saudi Cup
turf
DISTANCE TRACKTIME – KSA/GMT RACE NAME
Saudi Cup day Saturday, Feb. 29, 2020
2100m (1m 2½f)