WHAT an amazing experience it was to attend the sixth Group 1 Saudi Cup, at $20 million the most valuable race in the world, in Riyadh on Saturday.

Attracting two of the very best horses in the world, Romantic Warrior and Forever Young, the race lived up to all the hype preceding the evening, and a neck separated the pair on the line, with the rest well in arrears. It was not the result many hearts wanted, the Corduff Stud-bred Romantic Warrior going down by a neck, but what a brave performance the gelding put up on his first time to race on dirt. He lost nothing in finishing second, and boosted his already record earnings by a further $3.5 million.