Saudi Cup: A new baby is born

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Riyadh - The Saudi Cup, the centrepiece of the eight-race card, has a cool $20 million alone with the winner taking home half of that.

By James Jose

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Published: Fri 28 Feb 2020, 7:21 PM

Last updated: Fri 28 Feb 2020, 9:27 PM

A new baby is born. Nine months on after being given the green signal, it will finally see the light of day. When the inaugural Saudi Cup will play out on the morrow, it will join an elite list of horse racing events around the globe.
Not that horse racing is not new to Saudi Arabia. Like the rest of the Gulf region, horses have always been a part of the Saudi culture and are steeped in history. But there has never been something of this magnitude in the Kingdom before.
The Saudi Cup, the centrepiece of the eight-race card, has a cool $20 million alone with the winner taking home half of that. The rest of the $10million will be split between the rest of the finishers, in the order that they place. The entire night is worth an astonishing and jaw-dropping $29.2 million.
The historic event has attracted a stellar field of different countries and different continents. The American raiders have brought their best, while the English have arrived with their finest. And so have the Kingdom's neighbours and 'brothers' UAE.
Four of the 14 runners in this rich field are from the UAE and it should make for an interesting duel within and against the rest of the runners.
Also, with the landmark 25th instalment of the Dubai World Cup just a month away, the Saudi Cup could perhaps provide an early marker.
Leading the line for the UAE is none other than Benbatl. The Godolphin charge, the son of Dubawi, is the highest-rated in the field and his handler Saeed bin Suroor hopes he can return with the spoils to Dubai.
"It will be a very important race and we hope he runs well," bin Suroor said on Friday morning after Benbatl had a canter around the King Abdulaziz Racetrack, on the outskirts of Riyadh, with stablemate Pupil Song, who runs in the Samba Saudi Derby.
"You have seen his results in the past. He always runs well, whether in England, Australia or Dubai or anywhere. He has that Group 1 class like some of our best horses have had," the Emirati added of Benbatl, who had a winning debut on dirt in the Group 2 Al Maktoum Challenge Round 2 in the sixth meeting of the Dubai World Cup Carnival.
"I would like to see him handy in the race. I would like to see him second or third early on. That would be good for him. He has speed and has proven himself on the dirt winning the Maktoum Challenge over 1900m. I think he will run a good race. He's in good form," bin Suroor said.
Benbatl will break from barrier three under regular jockey Oisin Murphy.
Meanwhile, the other UAE runners are the Satish Seemar trained-North America and Emirait handler Salem bin Ghadayer's Capezzano and Gronkowski.
North America and Seemar's other charges Lake Causeway and Gladiator King had a workout under the watchful eyes of assistant trainer Bhupat Seemar.
"Once he gets his momentum going, he's such a big horse that that's when his stride becomes dangerous. He's a special horse to Zabeel and Dubai," Seemar said of North America, who will break beside Benbatl from gate four, under Richard Mullen.
james@khaleejtimes.com


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