G3 Longines Red Sea Turf H. runner-up Sonnyboyliston (Ire) (Power {GB}) is a possibility for the G2 Dubai Gold Cup at Meydan on Mar. 26, but trainer Johnny Murtagh will first see how his charge comes out of his latest effort before making firm plans. A winner of the G1 Comer Group International Irish St. Leger at The Curragh on Sept. 12, Kildare Racing Club's 5-year-old gelding closed up the inside in the Red Sea Turf H. and was a clear second behind Stay Foolish (Jpn) (Stay Gold {Jpn}) on Saturday.
“He ran great,” said Murtagh. “I was very happy with the run. We knew he's very good but he ran his race and we were delighted. He stuck on well, stayed on well round there.
“We'll get him home and make a decision. We're in no rush after that run. Dubai is very much on his agenda but we'll see how he is in the next couple of weeks. It's a good starting place and we always thought he would improve, so let's hope he can keep going.”
Other international targets, besides Dubai, are also being considered for the gelding.
“He looked great and he enjoyed being over there,” added the former rider. “He took to it really well, he enjoyed the sun and everyone was delighted.
“He'd been to England a few times but he had never been on a plane, so it's always good when these horses can travel. There are big opportunities for them.”
In recent years the name of Najd Stud has appeared with increasing frequency on the list of sales returns in Britain and Ireland, and the bloodstock industry globally can expect to hear plenty more about the growing Saudi Arabian breeding empire of its owner, HRH Prince Faisal Bin Khaled Bin Abdulaziz.
On the Saudi Cup undercard, Prince Faisal was represented by a number of runners, including Grocer Jack (Ger) (Oasis Dream {GB}) who was just over two lengths behind Authority (Jpn) (Orfevre {Jpn}) when fifth in the G3 Neom Turf Cup, and Alnaader (KSA) (Teletext), who was the same distance off the winner Pinehurst (Twirling Candy) in the G3 Saudi Derby.
Grocer Jack, a Group 2 winner in his native Germany, had made headlines last October when topping the Tattersalls Horses-in-Training Sale at 700,000gns. In the last year alone, Najd Stud has signed for 26 horses in Newmarket for just shy of 4 million gns. The horses in training have mostly headed to Saudi, though Grocer Jack remained in Europe and is trained in Newmarket by William Haggas, who also has three 2-year-olds for the prince this year. Najd Stud also boards three mares in England and was active during the yearling section of the recent Goffs February Sale, buying eight youngsters, as well as Kadinnka (Ire) (Oasis Dream {GB}), a 3-year-old filly from the Aga Khan Studs.Â
In just four years, Najd Stud in Riyadh has grown to an operation which consists of 120 broodmares and five stallions. Alnaader's good run in the Saudi Derby will doubtless have brought pride to his owner/breeder as he represents the first crop of one of the resident stallions, Teletext. The Juddmonte-bred son of Empire Maker was third in the G1 Grand Prix de Paris and beaten a neck by Ectot (Ire) when runner-up in the G2 Prix Niel before concluding his racing career in Saudi, where he won a local Group 1 in Prince Faisal Bin Khaled's colours.Â
Speaking ahead of Alnaader's run on Saturday, Najd Stud's representative Saud Al Qahtani, now a familiar face at the European sales, said of the homebred, “We hope he will show everybody that a Saudi horse can be a good horse and he might go to the UAE Derby.”
He would certainly be entitled to take up that engagement now, and it may not be long before more of the Najd Stud homebreds are seen in action around the globe.
“We have a new foundation in Europe,” said Al Qahtani on Friday. “We have three broodmares and some yearlings we bought from Goffs and Tattersalls, so we hope to have some good horses to run in England and France and to make Najd Stud a global brand.”
The mares, all in England, include the G3 Princess Margaret S. winner Under The Stars (Ire) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}), who was bought in foal to Frankel (GB) last December from Godolphin for 300,000gns, and Serene Oasis (Ire) (Oratorio {Ire}), who is in foal to Almanzor (Fr) and will visit Pinatubo (Ire) this year. The latter, a four-time winner and daughter of Round Hill Stud's Princess Serena (Unbridled's Song), now looks to have been a shrewd purchase 10 years ago for 30,000gns. Still only 13, her pedigree has received several significant updates in recent years thanks to her Group-winning half-siblings Zabeel Prince (Ire) (Lope De Vega {Ire}), Puissance De Lune (Ire) (Shamardal) and Queen Power (Ire) (Shamardal).
“To buy a very good horse is very difficult, beach no-one wants to sell them,” said Al Qahtani. “So we started to do this to try to breed good horses to be competitive all around the world.”
While the mares are currently boarding at studs in England, there are plans afoot for Prince Faisal Bin Khaled to acquire his own stud in the country before too long.
His advisor added, “We will try to produce good horses from them and if they are good enough to stay in Europe then that's great, otherwise they will come here [to Saudi Arabia]. It is our hope to have our own farm in England in the next three or four years. We would like to start in England because Juddmonte started there and all the best breeders are there.”
The influence of Saudi Arabian breeders in the world of Thoroughbred breeding has been immense, not least through the late Prince Khalid Abdullah's hugely successful Juddmonte Farms, but also through the boutique operation of Prince AA Faisal, which has given the stallion scene Kodiac (GB) and Invincible Spirit (Ire) and is currently represented on the track by Mishriff (Ire), a Group 1 winner in three countries. His sire Make Believe (GB) also raced in the same colours but was bought by Prince AA Faisal as a foal.Â
It would seem that through Najd Stud, Prince Faisal Bin Khaled aims to follow his compatriots' example, and in the meantime those behind racing in his home country have their own aims of significant growth through the addition of new racecourses and expansion of the Saudi race programme.Â
Al Qahtani noted that he has been heartened by the response to the country's flagship Saudi Cup meeting in the last three years, which, as the most valuable in the world, could hardly have failed to make an impression.Â
He said, “If you compare the horses from last year to those who came this year from all around the world you will see it's even more competitive. We have the best horses coming from America and from Europe and Japan.”
The world's richest horse race contained plenty of international star power, with the likes of GI Kentucky Derby winner Mandaloun (Into Mischief) facing off with defending winner Mishriff (Ire) (Make Believe {GB}), G1 Champion S. victor Sealiway (Fr) (Galiway {GB}) and GI Breeders' Cup Distaff victress Marche Lorraine (Jpn) (Orfevre {Jpn}), but in the end it was a new name written among the global racing elite with the locally trained Emblem Road (Quality Road) springing the upset in the $20-million G1 Saudi Cup. Though he has raced exclusively in Saudi Arabia since being purchased for $80,000 at OBS June in 2020, Emblem Road traces his roots back to Kentucky. Bred by Brian Moore's Brushy Hill Enterprises out of the Bernardini mare Venturini, Emblem Road was born at Threave Main Stud in Paris, Kentucky. His mating was planned by the late Mike Recio, whose South Point Sales Agency sold him for $230,000 at Keeneland September in 2019.
Now owned by Prince Saud bin Salman Abdulaziz, Emblem Road came into Saturday's 1 1/8-mile race off the back of three straight wins, but looked likely to have blown all chance at the start when breaking slowest of all from gate five. Rider Wigberto Ramos didn't panic, however, and kept Emblem Road in touch with the pack but still with plenty to do as the Dubai raider Secret Ambition (GB) (Exceed and Excel {Aus}) moved to make the running. Amr Zedan's Country Grammer (Tonalist) raced in Secret Ambition's slipstream while Art Collector (Bernardini) kept the frontrunner company to the outside, with Midnight Bourbon (Tiznow) tracking the GI Woodward S. winner. Mandaloun and Mishriff raced in the three and four paths while stalking the pace, with Marche Lorraine and Sealiway further toward the back. Emblem Road, meanwhile, began to circle the field as they ran into the bend, quickly picking off rivals while traveling five wide. By the time they straightened, Emblem Road was running on the heels of his stablemate Making Miracles (GB) (Pivotal {GB}), likewise running a bold race at long odds. With Art Collector having called it a day at the quarter pole and Secret Ambition soon dropping back on the rail, it was a tussling Country Grammer and Midnight Bourbon who inherited the lead, but Emblem Road soon arrived on their outside, with Making Miracles also rallying gamely in behind. As Midnight Bourbon ceded, Emblem Road grabbed the lead from Country Grammer at the 50-meter mark and hit the line a half-length the best. Making Miracles stayed on for fourth, while the Uruguayan raider Aero Trem (Brz) (Shanghai Bobby) grabbed fifth at huge odds. Marche Lorraine was sixth, while Mandaloun faded to ninth and Art Collector 12th. Sealiway and Mishriff were distanced in 13th and 14th, respectively.
Emblem Road and Ramos returned to raucous celebrations in the King Abdulaziz Racecourse stands, and Prince Bandar Bin Khalid Al Faisal, chairman of the Jockey Club of Saudi Arabia, summed up the occasion: “To have a locally trained horse perform that way is very emotional. I'm very happy for the connections, and I'm happy for Saudi Arabia. I think Mishriff, a Saudi-owned horse [the 2021 Saudi Cup winner], did amazing things to spread the love of horses. And now to have a locally-trained horse win it [the Saudi Cup] is extremely special, and I'm really excited about what this means for the future of horse racing in Saudi Arabia.”
Ramos explained how he put his knowledge of the course to good use. “My horse ran a great race and I broke good and my horse was very strong,” he said. “He wanted to go early, but I took my time with him and took a little hold and saw another horse, so then I just waited for the 500 metres to ask him. The key on this track is that you have to be near the front when you pass the 800 metres. If you're near, you are in a good position and outside is the best part of the track. It's a big turn, so when you put a horse who comes from behind all the way on the outside, they finish a lot better. I knew that I could do it, but now that I've done it, I still don't believe it. I beat so many good horses and this is the biggest race in the world. I think he could go on to the Dubai World Cup. He's the kind of horse who can do it.”
Emblem Road has won seven of nine starts and has never been off the board, and he has raced exclusively over this track. He broke his maiden going a mile by 6 1/4 lengths in November of 2020 three weeks after running a debut third, and he won a pair of allowance races in late December and early January of last year before being put away for the season. Emblem Road was second on return on Aug. 28 before winning a local stakes race by 14 lengths. He rounded out the year with a five-length victory in November and returned a winner once again in a Jan. 15 stakes over Great Scot (GB) (Requinto {Ire}), who was third in last year's Saudi Cup but only made it as far as the also eligibles for this year's edition.
Flavien Prat and Joel Rosario aboard runner-up Country Grammer and third-place Midnight Bourbon, respectively, had positive feedback on their mounts. Prat said, “[Country Grammer] ran great. When I pulled away I thought I was going to win, I thought it was going to be enough and that my horse was doing the hardest, but the winner was just too good and finished harder.”
Rosario said of Midnight Bourbon, “I thought he ran really well; it was probably a little bit different with him but he showed heart. He did great.”
Florent Geroux said of Mandaloun, “No good. He just wasn't there today. We knew the locals were good horses but we thought the outside horses might be better.”
Ryan Moore and David Egan provided insight on the well-beaten European fancies. Moore said of Sealiway, who was running on the dirt for the first time, “He started really well. He had more speed than I expected and the pace was strong, and once he got shuffled back he got some kickback and he didn't know what to do. He's a good horse.”
Egan said of Mishriff, “He didn't jump as sharp as last time but I did a similar thing and kept him out wide. He got there with ease but once I turned into the bend I was struggling from a long way out. I hope he's alright, there's obviously something amiss. He's better than that.”
Pedigree Notes
Saudi Arabian themes run along the bottom of Emblem Road's pedigree, too: his second dam is the four-time Grade I-winning filly Ventura (Chester House), who was bred by the late, great Saudi Arabian breeder Khalid Abdullah of Juddmonte Farm. Emblem Road's dam, the unplaced Venturini, was the first live foal out of Ventura and was purchased by Brushy Hill for $62,000 at Keeneland November in 2016 in foal to Temple City. The resulting produce was the Canadian listed-placed Kunal, and Emblem Road is the mare's second foal. She has a 2-year-old colt by Nyquist. Ventura has since produced the G3 Prix de Lieurey winner Fount (GB) (Frankel {GB}). The dual South African Group 1 winner Queen Supreme (Ire) (Exceed and Excel {Aus}) appears under the third dam Estala (GB) (Be My Guest).
Saturday, King Abdulaziz (Riyadh), Saudi Arabia SAUDI CUP-G1, $20,000,000, King Abdulaziz, 2-26, 4yo/up, 1800m, 1:50.52, ft.
1–EMBLEM ROAD, 126, c, 4, Quality Road                1st Dam: Venturini, by Bernardini                2nd Dam: Ventura, by Chester House                3rd Dam: Estala (GB), by Be My Guest 1ST BLACK-TYPE WIN. 1ST GROUP WIN. 1ST GROUP 1 WIN.
($230,000 Ylg '19 KEESEP; $80,000 2yo '20 OBSJUN). O-Prince
Saud Bin Salman Abdulaziz; B-Brushy Hill, LLC (KY); T-Mitab
Almulawah; J-Wigberto Ramos; $10,000,000. Lifetime Record:
9-7-1-1, $10,204,734. Werk Nick Rating: A. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Country Grammer, 126, h, 5, Tonalist–Arabian Song, by
Forestry. ($60,000 Ylg '18 KEESEP; $450,000 2yo '19 OBSAPR;
$110,000 '21 KEEJAN). O-Zedan Racing Stables, WinStar Farm
& Commonwealth T'Breds; B-Scott & Debbie Pierce (KY); T-Bob
Baffert; J-Flavien Prat; $3,500,000.
3–Midnight Bourbon, 126, c, 4, Tiznow–Catch the Moon, by
Malibu Moon. ($525,000 Ylg '19 KEESEP). O-Winchell
Thoroughbreds, LLC; B-Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings,
LLC (KY); T-Steven Asmussen; J-Joel Rosario; $2,000,000.
Margins: HF, 1HF, 3.
Also Ran: Making Miracles (GB), Aero Trem (Brz), Marche Lorraine (Jpn), Secret Ambition (GB), T O Keynes (Jpn), Mandaloun, Magny Cours, Real World (Ire), Art Collector, Sealiway (Fr), Mishriff (Ire). Click for the Racing Post chart and VIDEO. Click for the free Equineline.com catalog-style pedigree.
Amr Zedan, who sat down with Nick Luck on the world feed of the Saudi Cup Day races Saturday, offered a passionate defense of his trainer and friend Bob Baffert, pledging to take their Kentucky Derby title defense of Medina Spirit (Protonico) all the way to the U. S. Supreme Court if necessary, using his substantial means to do so.
“Myself, my means, my resources are at Bob Baffert's disposal,” Zedan told Luck. “We are going to see this 'til the end, and if it takes going to the Supreme Court, I will throw every single bit of me into this. That man is a good, decent family man and I will not stand for any more insults, any more criminal allegation to a man that has been nothing but great to this sport that we all love.”
The comments were made hours before their Country Grammer (Tonalist) posted a second-place finish in the G1 Saudi Cup.
“This sport is barely hanging on by a thread,” he continued. “The last thing we need is personal biases, jealousy to kick in. All we're asking for is an opportunity to present our case objectively.”
Eight days after Medina Spirit's win in the GI Kentucky Derby, Baffert told a gathering of media outside his Churchill Downs barn that he had tested positive for the presence of betamethasone in the race, and said he hadn't injected the colt with the substance. Two days later, he revealed that the horse had been treated with the ointment Otomax, which contains betamethasone, for a skin rash.
But Zedan told Luck he didn't understand–after they took a split sample of Medina Spirit's urine to the New York Equine Drug Testing and Research Laboratory Director George Maylin, to prove that the betamethasone in the colt's system came from the Otomax used for his skin rash–why the distinction between betamethasone valerate from the topical ointment and betamethasone acetate, which was absent from the sample, wasn't considered by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission (KHRC) stewards, who disqualified Medina Spirit on Monday, Feb. 21, suspending Baffert for 90 days.
“Why did we go to Dr. George Maylin?” said Zedan. “To prove distinction. Why wasn't that distinction considered in the hearing? Was it just a waste of everyone's time? If you're really so adamant about avoiding the facts, why did you waste everyone's time and prolong the agony and suffering for all these months if you knew you weren't even going to consider what you were supposed to consider? That's a question mark. But, I firmly believe again, there are calm minds, there's a lot of wisdom that will come together.”
If, however, the final judgment is that he should be disqualified–which Zedan said he does not believe will happen–he said he was ready to accept it.
“If, at the end of the day for whatever reason, Medina will be disqualified, fine, if that's what the Supreme Court or whoever the highest court authority rules. But we all need to come together for this sport that we all love. I'm very objective, and I have clearly said that at the end of the day, if we get disqualified by the proper objective panel, whichever that may be, I will take it on the chin and I will be a big boy about it. But I think once this case is in the public domain and we've had an impartial objective judge within the court system, there is no doubt in my mind that we will win this.”
Zedan was equally passionate in his support for his friend, prompting Luck to ask him if he was able to be objective about the subject because of their friendship.
“I trust in the integrity of the whole process and I choose to stand by the greatest trainer the sport has ever witnessed. It's not my emotional friendship with Bob. I read all sorts of articles. I know the man, and I know the man's emotions. When Medina passed away, it was like one of his kids passed away. The man loves horses. He will never endanger his horses.
“Bob Baffert has been great to me,” Zedan continued. “He has been nothing but great to the sport and he does not deserve all this misinformation. He does not deserve to be compared to people whose names I don't even want to mention, because it's not even proper. This guy loves his job and he's been great at what he does, and nothing but great to everybody around him. Do you know how many people in his barn (for whom) he has saved loved ones and lives? There are stories that you guys don't even know. He doesn't talk about it. I know. I am his friend, and it hurts me so much to see a good man's reputation tarnished as such.”
