Rispoli, Velazquez, Stevens Won’t Make Saudi Cup After Travel Headaches

Umberto Rispoli, John Velazquez, and retired rider-turned-broadcaster Gary Stevens will not make this year's Saudi Cup after a series of travel headaches benched Stevens and Rispoli and have left Velazquez stranded in Spain. The Thoroughbred Daily News reports that initially, the trio arrived at airports Wednesday to discover their tickets had been cancelled. They were told the Saudi travel team had accidentally double booked the second leg of their journeys and when the extra booking was cancelled, the first leg was automatically cancelled.

Stevens, Rispoli, and Joel Rosario rebooked flights for Thursday and were sitting on the plane in California when they were informed they would not be allowed to travel to their final destination after all. Saudi officials are requiring a negative COVID-19 test within 72 hours of arrival into Riyadh and because they didn't leave as scheduled, they were told their tests had expired. Rosario was able to remain en route after he showed the results of a rapid test he had taken after the previous day's delay. Stevens and Rispoli were told they could have been allowed to go to their layover in Qatar, but would not have been allowed to board a plane to Riyadh from there.

Velazquez, meanwhile, made it out of Miami and to his layover in Spain before he was told he couldn't proceed due to the same test timing issue. Agent Ron Anderson told the TDN Velazquez was stopped from changing planes and told he could be incarcerated for leaving the terminal he'd arrived in due to COVID-19 restrictions.

William Buick will now be aboard Tacitus, and Miguel Barcelona will ride Max Player in the Saudi Cup.

Devastated 😭 @TVG @DRFInsidePost @thesaudicup @AtTheRaces @theTDN @MaxPlayer__ pic.twitter.com/AlhRxgScGX

— Umberto Rispoli (@umbyrispoli) February 19, 2021