Saudi Cup (Group 1)

SPINETINGLING is the only way to describe the lead-up to the much-anticipated Group 1 Saudi Cup, and the race produced a finish that could not have been better scripted. There were no losers, only winners, but it was the Japanese runner Forever Young who broke the heart of the world’s greatest money-winner Romantic Warrior, the distance of a neck between them as they passed the post costing the Hong Kong team $6.5 million.

Twelve months ago, Forever Young won the Saudi Derby, and now returned to the scene of that triumph to capture the world’s richest race, and provide one of the most thrilling finishes you could ever hope to see. Romantic Warrior cruised to the lead from Forever Young as they entered the home turn, his rider James McDonald looking as though he was sitting on the back of a turbo jet. All the while, unperturbed, Ryusei Sakai was preparing to time his counter run with pinpoint accuracy.

As he put in a final challenge within sight of the line, Forever Young responded with courage and class to Sakai’s urgings, and everyone at the King Abdulaziz Racecourse cheered two superstars as they passed the winning post.

Both played their role to the full in a vintage, and unforgettable, Saudi Cup, and crowned a day for Japanese racing that is up there with the very best. Four winners on the card flew the flag for Japan.

Victory for the trio of owner Susumu Fajita, trainer Yoshito Yahagi and jockey Sakai was a follow-up to their earlier success with Shin Emperor, and marked a second win in the Saudi Cup for the trainer, successful two years ago with Panthalassa.

Forever Young has an almost impeccable record, his only defeats in 10 starts coming in the USA, when narrowly beaten in the Kentucky Derby and third in last November’s Breeders’ Cup Classic.

To bring together two of the world’s best racehorses is a credit to the Saudi Cup organisers, and the race surpassed all the pre-race hype and billing. Beaten a head last year in the race, it was another Japanese runner, Ushba Tesoro, who ran on to take third.

THIRD to Economics and Auguste Rodin, just a length behind the winner in the Group 1 Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown in September, and beaten a neck in the Group 1 Japan Cup on his most recent start, Shin Emperor gained the third win of his career when beating Group 1 winners Calif and Al Riffa in the $2 million Group 2 Howden Neom Turf Cup over 10 and a half furlongs.

The French-bred, four-year-old winner, a son of Siyouni, provided compensation for owner Susumu Fujita, who had seen his Shin Forever finish second in the Saudi Derby earlier on the card.

Shin Emperor has more than amply rewarded connections for their €2.1 million investment in him as a yearling, and surely the colt is deserving of a Group 1 success, having placed four times at that level. A full-brother to Sottsass, about to embark on his first season at stud in Japan, Shin Emperor is a readymade stallion in time if he puts a victory at the highest order on his CV.

Trainer Yoshito Yahagi was pleased with the win, and will consider a summer campaign which could see him run at Royal Ascot and York.

Thrilling finish

There was heartbreak and joy in equal measure for the enormous Japanese contingent at the meeting when, 35 minutes later, they provided the 1-2 in the Group 3 Turf Sprint over just short of seven furlongs.

With victory seemingly in his grasp, Win Marvel was caught on the line by Ascoli Piceno. Christophe Lemaire timed his run to perfection on the four-year-old Daiwa Major filly, and her record now stands at five wins and two seconds in eight starts. Her only disappointing run was last time out in November in the Golden Eagle in Australia.

Bred by Northern Farm and running for Sunday Racing, the Yoichi Kuroiwa-trained Ascoli Piceno won a Group 1 at two in Japan, after which she was voted champion juvenile filly, and she was runner-up twice at that level, including the Japanese 1000 Guineas, all over a mile.

Like buses

A particularly strong team of runners travelled from Japan for this year’s meeting, and they took their third major prize in a row on the night when Kazumi Yoshida’s Byzantine Dream saw off allcomers to run out a convincing winner of the Group 3 Longines Red Sea Turf Handicap over a mile and seven furlongs. In so doing, he denied a six-strong European team, which included the Aidan O’Brien runner Continuous, the 2023 Group 1 St Leger hero.

Ryan Moore played a waiting game with Continuous, making use of his stamina, and stayed on to finish third and collect a cheque for $250,000. Campaigned most recently in Dubai, David O’Meara’s Epic Poet was closet at the finish, netting connections $500,000 for running second.

Saudi Derby

Japanese-trained runners won three of the first five editions of the Group 3 Saudi Derby, and came agonisingly close to a fourth when Shin Forever took command in the straight.

However, the UAE challenger Golden Vekoma, bred in Kentucky by Irishman Peter O’Callaghan at his Woods Edge Farm, had other ideas, and given a fine ride by Connor Beasley wore down the longtime leader to snatch victory, his third in four starts, and bag the $900,000 winner’s purse.

There was an Irish interest in the race, with Joseph O’Brien saddling last year’s group-winning juvenile Apples And Bananas in the colours of Prince Faisal Bin Khaled Bin Abdulaziz. The son of Wootton Bassett was unhappy running on dirt for the first time, and never posed a challenge under Dylan Browne McMonagle. Afterwards, O’Brien said that future plans for the three-year-old colt are fluid, and could even include remaining to race in Saudi Arabia.

The immediate plan for the recent UAE 2000 Guineas winner Golden Vekoma is to return home and be targeted at the UAE Derby on Dubai World Cup night.

Champion sprinter

Last year’s Eclipse Award champion male sprinter, and Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Sprint winner, Straight No Chaser was never in danger in the $2 million Group 2 Riyadh Dirt Sprint over six furlongs, and the son of Speightster vindicated the decision of trainer Dan Blacker to give the leg up again to John Velazquez on the six-year-old entire. What a buy he was as a breezer for $110,000, and Straight No Chaser has won seven of 11 starts, and netted My Racehorse, his owners, almost $2.5 million.

Credit is due to the brave runner-up, the four-year-old Muqtahem. Bred by Ballyhane Stud, the son of Soldier’s Call is trained in Saudi Arabia and was partnered by the previous day’s International Jockeys’ Challenge winner, Muhammed Aldaham.