The Avengers: Five Americans Look To Take Back Saudi Cup

In the previous four runnings of the $20-million G1 Saudi Cup, American-based horses have–surprisingly–passed the post in first on a single occasion while finishing second on each occasion. That 'victory' came in the much-discussed inaugural running in 2020, a result that seems likely to soon be overturned, albeit to the benefit of another American horse.

So, even though the U.S. is the epicenter of world dirt racing, its five representatives this year arguably still have something to prove when a field of 14 loads the gate around 12:40 p.m. ET Saturday afternoon. And it's anything but a fait accompli that one of them gets their picture taken in the King Abdulaziz winner's enclosure a short time thereafter.

We will analyze America's chances in these pages and will have a look at the runners from defending champion Japan, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, plus previews for Saturday's five other group races back in TDN Europe.

White Abarrio (Race Day) looks to become the first winner of the GI Breeders' Cup Classic to double up in Riyadh and races first-up since his defeat of the re-opposing Derma Sotogake (Jpn) (Mind Your Biscuits) at Santa Anita on the first Saturday of November. The 5-year-old really came to life at the back end of 2023, powering home in the Whitney prior to his Classic effort.

“We thought we had a chance of beating a couple of horses in the [Whitney],” trainer Rick Dutrow, Jr. told the Saudi Cup notes team earlier this week. “We weren't expecting or hoping to beat Cody's Wish (Curlin), but two turns at Saratoga might not have been Cody's Wish's game, who knows, so we said we'd take a chance.

He continued, “But I never got to breeze him for the race, so we were like 10 days without breezing and you just show up. But we did breeze him the morning of [the race] and Irad [Ortiz] happened to be there watching. It wasn't my plan, I wasn't even there, I was on my way up because I had to train at Belmont but Irad caught it and he was wondering if we were going to scratch!” laughed the trainer.

“When I knew that we were coming here, it was like 11 days before we came and I was like man, they are playing into our hands because we don't need to breeze him,” the conditioner continued. “We can play the same game and right now I feel that he is over the trip and he's himself now.”

White Abarrio, who will carry the red-and-white silks of Prince Faisal Bin Khaled Bin Abdulaziz, has saddle cloth 14, but gate one, and he'll want to leave there running to be handy to a pace that maps above-average quick. Dutrow has expressed his intention to blow out his charge on race morning.

 

 

 

National Treasure is one of three in the race for Quality Road, who accounted for 2022 Saudi Cup stunner Emblem Road. The $500,000 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga grad employed front-running tactics to take out last year's GI Preakness S. and nearly pulled off the upset when ridden the same way in the GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile last November. But the 4-year-old showed a bit of a rating gear when last seen in the GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational S., as he shook free into the final furlong and held the rallying Senor Buscador (Mineshaft) in the run to the line.

“He has a good post to work from in seven,” said Jimmy Barnes, assistant to trainer Bob Baffert. “This is our fifth runner in this race, we have been second three times (Charlatan, 2021, Country Grammer, 2022-23), so we are hoping to make the breakthrough.”

Senor Buscador figures to sit a good trip from gate four beneath Junior Alvarado.

Reigning GI Pennsylvania Derby winner Saudi Crown (Always Dreaming) may have been out of his depth in the Classic, as he was a beaten horse a long way from home, but this 1800-meter trip figures to suit him much better. He was a convincing winner of the GIII Louisiana S. when last seen Jan. 20, but those immediately behind that day made no impact in the GIII Mineshaft S. last weekend.

“I think he's more suited from a mile [1600m] to a mile and an eighth [1800m] and the one turn should be ideal for him,” jockey Florent Geroux said. “It's a very deep race. I've been on him many times before, I know him very well, the work rider has done a perfect job and I'll leave it to them.”

Hoist the Gold (Mineshaft) is the least-likely among the five U.S. horses, but did post a 109 Beyer in wiring the GII Cigar Mile H. back in December.

“It's all about winning,” said trainer Dallas Stewart. “If you're not in it to win, you best stay home and if you don't want to be in great races like this, you ought to go do something else.”

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C2 Racing Stable Sells An Interest In White Abarrio To HRH Prince Faisal Of Saudi Arabia

Brothers Mark and Clint Cornett, who race under the name of C2 Racing Stable, have taken on HRH Prince Faisal Bin Khaled Bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia as a partner in the GI Breeders' Cup Classic winner White Abarrio (Race Day). The 5-year-old will make his next in the Feb. 24 running of the G1 Saudi Cup. Mark Cornett said that C2 remains the majority owner, but declined to say how big of a percentage was sold.

The story was first reported by the Daily Racing Form's Mike Welsch.

Prince Faisal is the owner who lured trainer Jimmy Jerkens to Saudi Arabia to train a string of his horses.

“Winning the Saudi Cup is very important to them,” Mark Cornett said. “It's in his backyard and he'll be representing his country in an international race. You're going to have four or five Japanese horses, horses from all over the world. It's very important to them that they represent the Saudi people.”

Cornett said the deal has been in the works for about four weeks.

“We've been working on this for about a month,” he said. “They've flown over a couple of times to watch the horse breeze. Their vet has come over twice from France to do his due diligence. They ended up pulling the trigger on it and we consummated the deal this week. They're going to be great partners for us and we will be great partners to them. We look forward to doing additional things with them in the future.”

White Abarrio | Benoit

White Abarrio has remained at Santa Anita since winning the Breeders' Cup Classic there. Cornett said the gray will board a plane from LAX to Miami Feb. 13. From there, he will be joined by South Florida-based horses who will also be running on the Saudi Cup card before heading straight to Riyadh.

Though the owners have not committed to any races beyond the Saudi Cup, Cornett said the G1 Dubai World Cup Mar. 30 is definitely a possibility.

“The Dubai World Cup is definitely on our list of races,” he said. “He'll have to run the right way in the Saudi Cup and come out the race the right way. All the stars are going to have to line up. If that happens, we'll go in the Dubai World Cup. If not, we'll bring him back to New York and take a look at the Met Mile.”

White Abarrio worked four furlongs (:47.60, 6/73) on Friday morning at Santa Anita.

“The horse is doing better than he's ever done,” Cornett said. “I talked to (trainer) Rick (Dutrow) this morning. He breezed a half in :47 3/5 as good as he ever has and came out of the work great. The horse is definitely on his game.”

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Jimmy Jerkens Saddles First Saudi Winner

Trainer Jimmy Jerkens, who relocated to Saudi Arabia earlier this year to take up a position as private trainer to Prince Faisal bin Khalid Al Saud, was represented by his first winner when  Honky Tonk Man (Ire) (Tamayuz {GB}) won a 1400-meter allowance Saturday afternoon at King Khalid Racecourse in Ta'if, about 500 miles southwest of Riyadh.

Ridden by former U.S.-based jockey Wigberto Ramos from gate 16, Honky Tonk Man–who was second to fellow American-bred Chiefdom (The Factor) when becoming Jerkens's first runner in a 0-90 handicap July 15–raced with the leading group and edged forward to contend for the lead with about a half-mile to race. Matching strides into the stretch in a rematch with Chiefdom Saturday, Honky Tonk Man began to get the upper hand inside the final furlong and went on to score by 1 1/2 lengths (see below, SC 16).

 

 

“It is, I must admit, it's a little bit of breathing room for a little while,” a relieved Jerkens told the Jockey Club of Saudi Arabia's Shamela Hanley. “He ran a winning race last time. The others we've run since then haven't fared as well, they just didn't get enough out of their works in the morning to be fit enough. But he's a light, little horse, kind of a natural athlete and he was getting over the track better than the majority of my horses, so I was fairly confident in him.”

A winner of two of nine starts in England for trainers Harry and Roger Charlton, Honky Tonk Man was purchased by Najd Stud for 150,000gns ($177,654) at last year's Tattersalls Autumn Horses in Training Sale, an increasingly important source of bloodstock for jurisdictions in the Middle East. He was unplaced in a pair of starts at King Abdulaziz Racecourse last January and February before being transferred to Jerkens.

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Jimmy Jerkens Off To Saudi Arabia

Veteran New York trainer Jimmy Jerkens, 64, whose stable has been slumping in recent years, has agreed to train in Saudi Arabia for Prince Faisal bin Khalid Al Saud. Jerkens said he will likely start his new job in Saudi Arabia in mid-May.

The Daily Racing Form's David Grening was first with the story.

Jerkens, the son of Hall of Famer Allen Jerkens, has been around the New York tracks for nearly 50 years. After working for his father as an assistant, he went out on his own in 1997. By 2000, he had established himself as a steady winner on the New York circuit who had the type of stock that could compete in stakes. He won 59 races in 2000, good for a 28 percent winning rate, and won six stakes. His numbers stayed relatively stable and in 2018 he won 38 races with stable earnings of $2,922,392. But his fortunes declined every year thereafter and in 2022 he won just four races and had earnings of $365,995 .

“We've just been just existing the last three or four years,” he said. “It got to where I was losing money. This is a hard thing to do, seven days a week, when you're going nowhere.”

Jerkens trained 11 different horses that won Grade I races, including Quality Road (Elusive Quality). He won the GI Florida Derby with Quality Road, who was eventually turned over to trainer Todd Pletcher. Some of his other major wins came in the GI Woodward S., a race he won twice, the GI Santa Anita H., the Queen's Plate, the GI Metropolitan H., the GI Breeders' Cup Mile and the GI Travers S.

“I never had a big stable but I was always lucky to get a lot of good ones,” Jerkens said.

He blames himself for his career heading off in the wrong direction.

“It's probably my fault,” he said. “The game started changing and I probably wasn't proactive enough in keeping the stable going. I got entrenched in my father's era. Back then you could get a reputation of being thorough and doing a good job and you could sit back and the horses would come to you. You did the best you could. It's a different game now. You have to be proactive, you have to go to sales, you have to be on social media. I was never built like that. I never adapted and I'm paying the price.”

Jerkens said it was jockey agent Ron Anderson who recommended him to Prince Faisal. Jerkens left for Saudi Arabia on April 9 and spent five days there meeting with the Prince and his advisors.

“I wasn't interested at first but the more I thought about it it seemed to be an opportunity to get some nice stock to train and not have to worry about the bills and everything else.” he said. “You go over there and all you have to worry about is the training. You get your percentage, you can get bonuses, you can accomplish some nice things with some nice horses. So I bit the bullet and decided to go.

“Everyone I talked to, the Prince, his advisors, they couldn't have been any nicer. They made me feel comfortable, especially the Prince. He's got the warmest, kindest face you could imagine. You felt really at ease around him.”

Jerkens has signed a two-year contract and expects to have about 50 horses under his care. He added that the possibility of Prince Faisal opening a stable in the U.S. has been discussed and, if that happens, Jerkens would likely return to the U.S. to train them.

“That's the most appealing part of this.” he said. “It would be wonderful to be able to do that.”

He said he still has a lot to learn about his new horses, but, so far, he has been impressed.

“The pedigrees are good and they look the part,” he said. “I was really impressed with their condition. They looked really good and had good muscle tone. I didn't know what to expect when they started pulling them out. But I was really impressed with how they looked.”

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