In the days leading up to the $20 million Saudi Cup at King Abdulaziz Racetrack in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Feb. 20, usracing.com will profile the contenders in the world’s richest horse race. The profiles will be updated with odds, post positions and jockeys following the post-position draw on Wednesday [Feb. 17].
By Margaret Ransom
Chuwa Wizard, a 6-year-old son of King Kamehameha, was the Japan Racing Association’s (JRA) dirt champion of 2020 and will be making his 2021 debut after winning the Champions Cup (G1), a Saudi Cup “Win & You’re In” event at Chukyo in his most recent start Dec. 6. He will be Japan’s lone starter in the $20 million race.
Chuwa Wizard has won or placed in of 11 black-type events. In addition to the Champions Cup, he captured the Heian (G3) at Kyoto and was second in the Tokyo TV Hai Okai (G2) at Chukyo. He also won last year’s JBC Classic and Kawasaki Kinen, the 2019 Diolite Kinen and the 2018 Nagoya Grand Prix.
Chuwa Wizard, who was bred in Japan by Norther Racing, is out of the Durandal mare Chuwa Blossom. He is owned by Shinobu Nakanishi and trained by Ryuji Okubo.
2021 Saudi Cup Profile: Chuwa Wizard
Post position: TBD
Odds: TBD
Trainer: Ryuji Okubo
Jockey: Keita Tosaki
Owner: Shinobu Nakashani
Age: 6
Career record: 18-10-3-4
Career earnings: $4,535,789
Top Equibase speed figure: N/A
Pedigree: Paynter-Kosmo’s Buddy, by Outflanker
Color: Gray
Running style: Stalker/midpack runner
Notes: Shipped to Dubai a year ago to contest the Dubai World Cup before it was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and restrictions, and he then spent seven months on the shelf… only unplaced finish was a fourth in last year’s Champions Cup, which was formerly known as the Japan Cup Dirt … he was his late sire’s 12th Group 1 winner and 80th black-type winner overall
California native and lifelong horsewoman Margaret Ransom is a graduate of the University of Arizona’s Race Track Industry Program. She got her start in racing working in the publicity departments at Calder Race Course and Hialeah Park, as well as in the racing office at Gulfstream Park in South Florida. She then spent six years in Lexington, KY, at BRISnet.com, where she helped create and develop the company’s popular newsletters: Handicapper’s Edge and Bloodstock Journal.
After returning to California, she served six years as the Southern California news correspondent for BloodHorse, assisted in the publicity department at Santa Anita Park and was a contributor to many other racing publications, including HorsePlayer Magazine and Trainer Magazine. She then spent seven years at HRTV and HRTV.com in various roles as researcher, programming assistant, producer and social media and marketing manager.
She has also walked hots and groomed runners, worked the elite sales in Kentucky for top-class consignors and volunteers for several racehorse retirement organizations, including CARMA.
In 2016, Margaret was the recipient of the prestigious Stanley Bergstein Writing Award, sponsored by Team Valor, and was an Eclipse Award honorable mention for her story, “The Shocking Untold Story of Maria Borell,” which appeared on USRacing.com. The article and subsequent stories helped save 43 abandoned and neglected Thoroughbreds in Kentucky and also helped create a new animal welfare law known as the “Borell Law.”
Margaret’s very first Breeders’ Cup was at Hollywood Park in 1984 and she has attended more than half of the Breeders’ Cups since. She counts Holy Bull and Arrogate as her favorite horses of all time. She lives in Pasadena with her longtime beau, Tony, two Australian Shepherds and one Golden Retriever.