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Fresh Off Saudi Cup Win, John Gosden Joins TDN Writers’ Room

Three days after racking up yet another monumental win in a career chock full of them, legendary trainer John Gosden joined the TDN Writers' Room podcast presented by Keeneland Tuesday morning. Calling in via Zoom as the Green Group Guest of the Week, Gosden explained how he got Saudi Cup hero Mishriff (Ire) (Make Believe {GB}) to be as brilliant on dirt as he is on turf, what made his five-time champion Enable (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}) such a phenomenon, how his roots of training in California in the 1980s informed the rest of his career and much more.

Asked about what it takes to get a horse to perform at a top level on multiple surfaces as Mishriff has done, Gosden said, “I think you've got to have the individual. You've got to have a horse that obviously handles the surface, but also the one that has the courage to face the kickback. And I think that's very much the issue. I had many good turf horses in California that could work a mile in a great time on the main track on their own in the morning, but put them in a race in the afternoon and they couldn't tolerate the dirt. They lose their breathing, their rhythm, everything. So, you need a horse with courage.”

Regarding what else made the difference for Mishriff against top American dirt horses Charlatan (Speightstown) and Knicks Go (Paynter) in the Saudi Cup, Gosden commented, “I think one thing is very clear, and I think Bob [Baffert] might have said this: the long straight at Riyadh made a big difference to us, because we are used to straights of two, three, four furlongs in distance. To that extent, he really relished the two-and-a-half furlong straight, which I think in the end just caught Charlatan out in that last 100 meters. So that type of track very much suits him.”

On what he's looking at for the rest of Mishriff's campaign and whether or not it will include a shot in the GI Breeders' Cup Classic, Gosden said, “We plan obviously to be running him here in races like the Eclipse Stakes. We may even consider looking at a race at the end of the year like The Arc. As regards to Del Mar, of course, that's to be discussed on the agenda. Having trained and had a lot of fun at Del Mar, I know it very well. The track and the finish line is quite a long way away from the clubhouse turn. It's quite a short straight. So that would probably be something that would be a positive for horses like Knicks Go and Charlatan and maybe not such a positive for us.”

Elsewhere on the show, the writers conducted their 2021 fantasy 3-year-old draft, checked in with TDN European Editor Emma Berry for more on the Saudi Cup and, in the West Point Thoroughbreds news segment, reacted to the huge news of three top stallion farms suing The Jockey Club over its 140-mare cap. Click here to watch the podcast; click here for the audio-only version.

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Charlatan Takes Over No. 1 Spot In NTRA Top Thoroughbred Poll

Though he was caught in late stretch en route to finishing second in the $20 million Saudi Cup on February 20, Charlatan's game effort against international competition was enough for the son of Speightstown to garner favor among voters, who moved the colt into the No. 1 spot on this week's National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA) Top Thoroughbred Poll.

Trained by Bob Baffert, Charlatan finished a length behind Mishriff in the Saudi Cup – the first time in five career starts that the chestnut colt had not crossed the wire in front. That outing earned Charlatan 25 first-place votes and 353 points to move him up one spot on the poll.

“(Charlatan) ran a big race,” Baffert told the Santa Anita Park notes team on Sunday morning. “He put away Knicks Go, just ran him down, turned in a gallant effort and it's too bad he got beat. That's a demanding track. The stretch is so long, and he ran hard. The way he ran, it shows what a brilliant horse he is.”

Knicks Go, who led the NTRA Top Thoroughbred Poll last week, dropped to second in the balloting with 1 first-place vote and 288 points after running fourth in the Saudi Cup.

Godolphin's unbeaten homebred Maxfield, winner of the Grade 3 Mineshaft Stakes at Fair Grounds on Feb. 13, remains third with 5 first-place votes and 265 points while champion distaffer Monomoy Girl (6 first-place votes, 264 points) holds in fourth.

Swiss Skydiver, the champion 3-year-old filly of 2020, moved up to fifth with 160 points followed by Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational Stakes winner Colonel Liam (156 points).

Reigning champion female sprinter Gamine is seventh with 93 points with Jesus' Team (92 points), champion turf male Channel Maker (73), and champion male sprinter Whitmore (55) completing the top 10.

There were no positional changes in this week's NTRA Top Three-Year-Old Thoroughbred Poll as champion juvenile male Essential Quality remains the clear leader with 26 first-place votes and 345 points.

Life Is Good, winner of the Grade 3 Sham Stakes on Jan. 2, remains second with 5 first-place votes and 295 points while Mandaloun, who captured the Grade 2 Risen Star Stakes on Feb. 13, is third with 4 first-place votes and 238 points.

Holy Bull Stakes winner Greatest Honour (1 first-place vote, 225 points) sits fourth with Medina Spirit (188 points) in fifth. Caddo River (1 first-place vote, 165 points) remains sixth followed by Concert Tour (101 points), Keepmeinmind (81), and Jackie's Warrior (70). Grade 3 Withers Stakes winner Risk Taking (65 points) completes the top 10.

The NTRA Top Thoroughbred polls are the sport's most comprehensive surveys of experts. Every week eligible journalists and broadcasters cast votes for their top 10 horses, with points awarded on a 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis. All horses that have raced in the U.S., are in training in the U.S., or are known to be pointing to a major event in the U.S. are eligible for the NTRA Top Thoroughbred Poll. Voting in the Top Three-Year-Old Thoroughbred Poll concludes following the Belmont Stakes on June 5 and the Top Thoroughbred Poll is scheduled to be conducted through Nov. 6.

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Baffert: Charlatan ‘Turned In A Gallant Effort’ In Saudi Cup

Charlatan did all the heavy lifting in the world's richest race on Saturday but could not hold off Mishriff late, enduring a noble defeat in the $20-million Saudi Cup, finishing second by a length.

“He ran a big race,” trainer Bob Baffert said Sunday morning. “He put away Knicks Go, just ran him down, turned in a gallant effort and it's too bad he got beat. That's a demanding track. The stretch is so long, and he ran hard.

“It was an exciting race and I would have loved to have won it, but I was afraid of a speed duel between him and Knicks Go. They locked horns after a half-mile and really picked it up the second quarter.

“But the way he ran, it shows what a brilliant horse he is. He put away a really good horse (in Knicks Go, who finished fourth).”

As to the immediate future, Baffert said, “He came out of the race really well. We'll get him back to the United States, play it by ear and see how he's doing.”

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Gosden-Trained Mishriff Upsets Charlatan To Win Saudi Cup

The second edition of the Saudi Cup was billed as a battle between Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup winner Knicks Go and G1 Malibu winner Charlatan, but John Gosden-trained Mishriff, an Irish-bred 4-year-old colt by Make Believe who won last year's G1 French Derby, stole the show on Saturday, running down the Bob Baffert-trained, Mike Smith-ridden Charlatan in deep stretch to win by about one length under 21-year-old David Egan.

Saudi-based Great Scott finished third in the one-turn, 1 1/8-mile dirt race, with Knicks Go fourth after pushing Charlatan throughout and taking a brief lead into the far turn. The Brad Cox-trained Knicks Go was followed by Miguel Angel Silva-trained Sleepy Eyes Todd.

Mishriff paid $41.60 on a $2 wager in American pools for the Saudi Cup.

Mishriff, whose only previous race on dirt came when second in the 2020 Saudi Derby, was winning for the fifth time in nine career starts. He is owned by Prince AA Faisal. Mishriff was beaten 2 1/4 lengths by Japanese-trained Full Flat in the 2020 Saudi Derby, coming into that race off a 10-length maiden score in his third career start as a 2-year-old the previous November at Nottingham in England.

Coming out of the Saudi Derby, Mishriff won a Newmarket stakes in June, then proved 1 3/4 lengths the best in the G1 Prix du Jockey Club (French Derby) at Chantilly July 5. After a G2 stakes victory at Deauville, he finished a disappointing eighth in the G1 Champion Stakes at Ascot on Oct. 17. That was last race going into the Saudi Cup.

Charlatan darted to the front from the nine post in the 14-horse field, getting the jump on Knicks Go and Joel Rosario, who broke from the five post. Mishriff settled in just behind the top pair in the run down the backstretch, with Bill Mott-trained Tacitus up close and toward the inside.

Into the turn, Knicks Go poked his head in front, but Charlatan was not finished, re-gaining the lead as the field wound their way around the turn. At the top of the stretch, Knicks Go began to retreat, but Mishriff swung to Charlatan's outside and took dead aim on the leader. Despite running down the stretch on his left lead, Mishriff wore down Charlatan, taking a narrow advantage with 100 meters to run and gradually edged away.

The Saudi Cup was run under unusually cool, damp conditions at King Abdulaziz Racecourse in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Saturday.

This was the second running of what is billed as the world's richest race, offering a $20-million purse, with $10 million going to the winner. The first-place prize money from the inaugural running, won by Maximum Security, has not been paid due to the criminal charges against the horse's trainer, Jason Servis, in the United States that were filed just over a week after his victory in Saudi Arabia. Prince Bandar, head of the Saudi Cup, said in a television interview with commentator Nick Luck he hopes the purse situation will be settled in about six weeks.

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