A field of 14 has been entered for the $20 million Saudi Cup (G1) on Saturday at King Abdulaziz Racecourse in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – the world’s richest horse race. usracing.com is posting profiles of the starters.
This 6-year-old will make his 18th career start at his 12th racetrack in Saturday’s Saudi Cup, so it’s easy to cross off the shipping concerns for this Todd Fincher trainee.
He’s coming off a nice runner-up finish to National Treasure in the Pegasus World Cup (G1) last month, which followed a second to Hoist The Gold in the Cigar Mile (G1) in November. So he’s kept good company with some of the more highly regarded runners who will line up in the gate next to him.
"Let me tell you, the horse gave me a lot more than I expected," exercise rider Oscar Rojero said after the son of Mineshaft trained mid-week. "I don’t have words to describe how good the horse went this morning. He was spectacular. Like an angel in heaven.
"Every stride, the way he takes ahold of the track and switches leads in training and then finished his training. He was relaxed and mature. You would have to be in the saddle to understand how the horse was communicating to me how good he was feeling."
He represents the best of Kentucky blue bloods in his sire and the best from New Mexico in his dam, the Desert God mare Rose’s Desert, who won seven stakes in the Land of Enchantment for the Peacocks in the care of Fincher a decade ago.
Betting advice: He has run against and been competitive against some of the better runners in North America so it’s hard to like them and discount Senor Buscador’s chances to check in for a piece of the exotics.
Post position: 4
Odds: 10-1 (unofficial US Racing Team odds)
Jockey: Junior Alvarado
Trainer: Todd Fincher
Owner: Joe R. Peacock, Jr.
Age: 6
Career record: 17 6-2-2
Career earnings: $1,496,427
Last race: Pegasus World Cup (G1), 2nd
Top Equibase speed figure: 113
Pedigree: Mineshaft-Rose’s Desert, by Desert God
Color: Bay
Running Style: Deep closer
Notes: This is by far the biggest race for this horse and all of his connections. He is a product of a longtime breeding program run by the Peacocks, who campaigned and bred his his dam, and also campaigned and bred his grand-dam… had a nice 800-meter work over the track on Monday…
| PP | Horse | Jockey | Trainer | Owner | Odds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | White Abarrio | Irad Ortiz, Jr | Rick Dutrow, Jr. | C2 Racing Stable LLC and La Milagrosa Stable, LLC | 3-1 |
| 2 | Isolate | Joel Rosario | Doug Watson | RRR Racing | 15-1 |
| 3 | Lemon Pop | Ryusei Sakai | Hiroyasu Tanaka | Godolphin | 15-1 |
| 4 | Senor Buscador | Junior Alvarado | Todd Fincher | Joe R. Peacock, Jr | 10-1 |
| 5 | Saudi Crown | Florent Geroux | Brad Cox | SFMQ Stables | 8-1 |
| 6 | Crown Pride | Joao Moreira | Koichi Shintani | Teruya Yoshida | 20-1 |
| 7 | National Treasure | Flavien Prat | Bob Baffert | F Racing LLC, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables LLC, Masterson, Robert E., Stonestreet Stables LLC, Schoenfarber, Jay A., Waves Edge Capital LLC and Donovan, Catherine | 9-2 |
| 8 | Hoist the Gold | John Velazquez | Dallas Stewart | Dream Team One Racing Stable | 30-1 |
| 9 | Defunded | Luis Saez | Abdulaziz K Mishref | Pegram, Michael E., Watson, Karl and Weitman, Paul | 25-1 |
| 10 | Power in Numbers | Adel Alfouraidi | Ahmed Mohamoud | Klaravich Stables, Inc. | 30-1 |
| 11 | Ushba Tesoro | Yuga Kawada | Noboru Takagi | Ryotokuji Kenji Holdings Co. Ltd. | 10-1 |
| 12 | Meisho Hario | Suguru Hamanaka | Inao Okada | Yoshio Matsumoto | 20-1 |
| 13 | Derma Sotogake | Christophe Lemaire | Hidetaka Otonashi | Hiroyuki Asanuma | 6-1 |
| 14 | Carmel Road | Camillo Ospina | Abdullah Albadah | SF Racing LLC, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables LLC, Masterson, Robert E., Stonestreet Stables LLC, Schoenfarber, Jay A., Waves Edge Capital LLC and Donovan, Catherinetd> | 25-1 |
The writing team at US Racing is comprised of both full-time and part-time contributors with expertise in various aspects of the Sport of Kings.
