Gary and Mary West have released a statement saying that they will support a redistribution of the purse of the $20 million Saudi Cup. The statement was made via the Twitter account of Werk Thoroughbred Consultants, of which the Wests are longtime clients.
Maximum Security won the $20 million Saudi Cup in 2020, just days before Jason Servis was named in a criminal indictment along with 26 others for a “widespread, corrupt scheme by racehorse trainers, veterinarians, PED distributors and others to manufacture, distribute, and receive adulterated and misbranded PEDs and to secretly administer those PEDs to racehorses under scheme participants' control,” by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York. Servis pleaded guilty to those charges in court Friday, and is expected to serve four years in prison.
“We believe in the justice system and have patiently waited for the legal prosecution to take its course. Now that Jason Servis has entered a guilty plea, we want to make it clear that if the Saudi Cup decides to redistribute the purse, we would support that decision. Hopefully, that action will prevent future conduct of this nature. We believe the decision to take the Saudi Cup purse from Maximum Security and redistribute it is the correct one. There will be no further statements or comments.” The statement was signed `Gary and Mary West.'
WTC's Sid Fernando posted the statement on @sirewatch, the company's Twitter account, Friday night at 11:46 p.m. with a note that said, “WTC clients Gary and Mary West have asked us to release this statement regarding the guilty plea of Jason Servis, who trained the Wests' homebred Maximum Security.”
The payment, or non-payment, of the 2020 Saudi Cup purse has long been a source of contention, with Maximum Security's owners crying foul that they did not receive the purse money after the allegations against Servis. The rest of the field was paid their share of the purse, but Maximum Security's $10 million payment was withheld. “We are sort of in a hold position now waiting for the U.S. authorities to move forward with that case,” said Prince Bandar on behalf of the Jockey Club of Saudi Arabia at the 2021 Saudi Cup.
Midnight Bisou was the runner-up in the race, with Benbatl third, Mucho Gusto fourth, and Tacitus fifth.
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