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‘Lively’ Saudi Cup Hero Mishriff Could Be Aimed At Juddmonte International After Dubai

The Saudi Cup winner Mishriff – fresh from landing the world's most valuable race, – has the Juddmonte International at York as his main summer target following a return to turf in the Dubai Sheema Classic on March 27.

The Juddmonte International, a Group 1 prize over 2000m (1 1/4 miles) in August, is the chief aim for the John Gosden-trained colt, in what is expected to be a busy campaign for the 4-year-old before retiring to stud at the end of the British turf season.

Mishriff, who ran down American star Charlatan with a strong late charge to win the $20 million Saudi Cup last month, will next appear in the 2400m (1 1/2 miles) Dubai Sheema Classic at Meydan on March 27.

He is likely to have a break after that before heading to Royal Ascot and Gosden's son Thady, who oversaw his preparation in Saudi Arabia, said: “To win a race of the caliber of The Saudi Cup was pretty wonderful for everyone involved. It was brilliant that the horse is owned by a local owner, Prince Faisal, and the home crowd were obviously thrilled.

“Charlatan had a lot more speed than us from the gate but David [Egan] gave him a brilliant ride to keep him close enough to the pace, which definitely helped.

“In America they have much shorter straights whereas in Saudi it is just one turn. They have that long, sweeping bend and then it's a long way home. Horses like Charlatan wouldn't be used to that.

“Obviously, Mishriff had a hard race in The Saudi Cup but he took the race well. Charlatan is a top-class horse so it was pretty tough running him down.

“He's been working well and he seems happy. The whole journey and the travelling hasn't taken much out of him.”

The decision to run Mishriff in the Dubai Sheema Classic instead of the Dubai World Cup means a return to turf and a first try at 2400m.

Gosden, who is to join his father on the licence at Clarehaven Stables as joint-trainer in the near future, doesn't believe the step up in distance will be a problem.

He revealed: “There's plenty of stamina in his pedigree and you'd think he might get it [the trip] on what he shows at home. The Sheema Classic is 2400m so we'll find out what we suspect but we'll know for sure afterwards.

“The dirt tracks in Saudi and Dubai are different surfaces. The turf horses seem to handle it better in Saudi so the dirt form might not necessarily translate to Meydan.”

There will be plenty of options in Europe for Mishriff during the British summer but Gosden was quick to nominate the Juddmonte International as an ideal target for the Saudi Cup hero.

He said: “The Juddmonte International is the premier 2000m race in the UK. York is a track that should suit him well as it's a nice galloping 2000m.

“With the Juddmonte link with Prince Faisal and Saudi Arabia it's another race I'm sure he'd like to target. Plenty of good horses have won it and it's been a pretty good stallion making race over the years.

“Mishriff is definitely a horse who enjoys his racing, mentally he doesn't seem to worry about it at all. He should be able to take plenty of racing this year.

“He's a pretty lively character – he definitely likes to let you know he's there but he's very straightforward in his work. When you see him on the racetrack he holds his head quite low – he gets on with it and definitely enjoys it.”

When Mishriff is next seen on track in Britain, Gosden is likely to be given official recognition for his role at his father's Newmarket stables. The 25-year-old will be joint-trainer after filling the role of assistant for the last five years.

He said: “It's been in the pipeline a little while and we were working out a good time to do it. Everything unfortunately got pushed back a bit with Covid but hopefully it will all get sorted soon.

“Things are working fairly well at the moment so hopefully we can keep on going. It's going incredibly smoothly – no speed bumps at all – and I'm obviously very fortunate to be in this position.”

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Saudi Cup Winner Mishriff Tops World’s Best Racehorse Rankings; Life Is Good Highest-Rated 3-Year-Old

In his first start of the year, Mishriff (IRE) [122] won the Saudi Cup, and the Great Britain-based 4-year-colt leads the first edition of the LONGINES World's Best Racehorse Rankings for 2021 as a result.

LONGINES World's Best Racehorse Rankings Leading Horses click here for complete rankings
Rank	Horse	Rating	Trained
1	MISHRIFF (IRE)	122	GB
2	NATURE STRIP (AUS)	121	AUS
3	CHARLATAN (USA)	120	USA
3	EXULTANT (IRE)	120	HK
3	GOLDEN SIXTY (AUS)	120	HK
6	KNICKS GO (USA)	119	USA
6	LIFE IS GOOD (USA)	119	USA
6	RAINBOW BRIDGE (SAF)	119	SAF

Mishriff posted a one length victory in the Saudi Cup over Charlatan [120], who was also making his first start of 2021. Last year, Mishriff's biggest score came when he won the Prix du Jockey Club (G1) in France.

Australia's Nature Strip (AUS) [121] is the second highest rated horse in the first edition of the rankings for 2021 after his half-length win in the Black Caviar Lightning (G1) in February, which served as the multiple Group 1 winner's first start of the season.

In co-third, along with Charlatan, are Hong Kong-based runners Exultant [120] and Golden Sixty (AUS) [120]. Golden Sixty, who has now won 13 races in a row, took the Stewards' Cup (G1) in January over Southern Legend [118] and Ka Ying Star [117], and he beat Furore [117] and Exultant in the Citi Hong Kong Gold Cup (G1) in February. Exultant came into that race having finished second in the Centenary Vase (G3) while carrying 133lbs.

Three horses sit in the co-sixth position as well. America's Knicks Go [119], who finished fourth in the Saudi Cup, started his 2021 campaign with a 2 ¾-length victory in the Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes (G1), while undefeated Life Is Good [119] is the highest rated 3-year-old thus far after winning the San Felipe Stakes (G2) by eight lengths.

In South Africa, Rainbow Bridge [119] added to his list of accomplishments by taking the Cape Town Met presented by Cape Racing (G1) in January by 1 ¾ lengths.

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Believing In Ballylinch

Although his first crop is just four this year, Make Believe (GB) has made an impressive start at stud with his flagbearer, Mishriff (Ire), backing up his Classic-winning year with a recent win in the Saudi Cup. With the flat season due to start in a few weeks, racing pundits are already guessing at what possible route the winner of the world's richest race might take this year. For Make Believe, the breeding season has started in a strong vein and the team at Ballylinch Stud, where the sire stands, have every reason to look forward to the year ahead.

“This would be the strongest book that he covers,” said John O'Connor, manager of the Co. Kilkenny stud. “There have been some more calls since the Saudi Cup, but the basis was already laid for it. Very pleasingly, both the dams of Mishriff and Believe In Love (Ire) are coming back to him.”

Believe In Love, who is in training with Roger Varian, was a progressive filly last year and rounded off her 2020 campaign with five wins from nine runs including the G3 Prix Belle de Nuit at Saint-Cloud. Among Make Believe's other notable winners from his first crop are Rose Of Kildare (Ire), Tammani (GB) and German champion 2-year-old filly Ocean Fantasy (Fr).

“That was an exceptional crop and he's backing it up with some very nice 2-year-olds from last year, including one trained by John Gosden called Third Kingdom (GB),” said O'Connor.

Mishriff's win in the Saudi Cup was a remarkable feat and the poignancy of the win for his owner Prince Faisal has not been lost on anyone. “I think it was an exceptional performance for both horse and trainer to go to a race of this caliber in Saudi without a prep while training through the winter,” O'Connor said. “He was taking on top-caliber performers from the States on the surface that they would be more accustomed to and they had the advantage of a prep run and training in warmer climates.”

O'Connor continued, “Prince Faisal has been developing that Rafha (GB) family for a number of years. He bred both Kodiac (GB) and Invincible Spirit (GB) from that family. Make Believe is one of his favorite racehorses. So it was highly appropriate that Prince Faisal should breed his first really top-class horse too.”

There are early signs that Make Believe works well with mares from the Acclamation sire line as well as the Sadler's Wells line.

“It's still early days for working out nicks, but it does seem fairly obvious that he can go well with the Sadler's Wells line,” said O'Connor. “Tammani is out of a Sadler's Wells mare and Rose of Kildare is a granddaughter of Galileo (Ire).”

Eager to build on these successes, O'Connor has made strides himself with mare purchases to bolster Make Believe's future crops. “We recognized early on that Mishriff was a very high- class horse. We tried to take a leaf out of Prince Faisal's book and so we have a mare from the Rafha family, which we got from Hill 'n' Dale. She's a group-winning Galileo mare and she's currently in foal to Make Believe.”

With support like this Make Believe, could reach the level of global success that is frequently achieved by his stablemate Lope De Vega (Ire).

“Our model really follows that line where we do syndicate the horses and with all the horses that we stand here, the original racing owner has stayed involved,” said O'Connor. “I think that's extremely important because the person who has raceday success with the horse is going to have a vested interest in them doing well as a stallion.”

The newest recruit at Ballylinch, Waldgeist (GB), shares similar connections with Lope De Vega and has his first foals this year with those already on the ground receiving rave reviews.

“The reports are excellent,” said O'Connor. “He's been very well supported. As you know, he was raced like Lope De Vega by Gestut Ammerland who combined with Newsells Park to breed Waldgeist, and they're both supporting him well. They've both got some very nice foals by him. We've got some really nice foals on the ground here, at Ballylinch, including one of our own out of a mare called Fort Del Oro (Ire) (Lope De Vega {Ire}), who was a champion sprint filly for us; her colt I would call exceptional.”

Aside from the aforementioned stallions, the Ballylinch roster also includes New Bay (GB), who was a leading first-season sire in 2020, and Fascinating Rock (Ire), who recently sired his first stakes winner in America, Earls Rock (Ire), who was bred by his racing owner Newtown Anner Stud.

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Mishriff To Return To Turf In The Sheema Classic

Saudi Cup winner Mishriff (Ire) (Make Believe {GB}) will make his next appearance in the G1 Dubai Sheema Classic on Dubai World Cup night at Meydan on Mar. 27, Racing Post reports. After winning the world's richest race in his second try on the dirt, the 4-year-old Mishriff had been considered a leading candidate for the $12-million G1 Dubai World Cup, but he will instead return to the turf for the $6-million Sheema Classic and step up to a mile and a half for the first time. Mishriff won the G1 Prix du Jockey Club and G2 Prix Guillaume d'Ornano last summer.

Trainer John Gosden told Racing Post, “This morning we've accepted an invitation for Mishriff to run in the Dubai Sheema Classic. He's a versatile horse and we've always wanted to try him over this trip of a mile and a half. This will then give him plenty of time for a break before tackling Royal Ascot in June and the Eclipse S. at Sandown the following month.”

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