The $20 million Saudi Cup (G1) is Saturday, Feb. 14, at King Abdulaziz Racecourse in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and US Racing is publishing profiles of all the contenders.
This former claimer came within a neck of a career moment in the Churchill Downs Stakes (G1) last year on Derby Day. Overcoming a brutal trip, Banishing surged late and just missed in a four-way photo involving first-place Mindframe, Nysos, and Book’em Danno, all multiple Grade 1 winners.
Banishing dead-heated for second on a muddy track with Nysos, whom he’ll meet Saturday again in the $20 million Saudi Cup (G1), the world’s richest race. Not bad for a gelding purchased for only $80,000 in July 2024 at a Fasig-Tipton Horses of Racing Age sale. Since then, he’s won seven of 18 starts, including the Charles Town Classic (G2) and the Oaklawn Mile (G3), for co-owners Lawrence Roman and David Jacobson, his trainer.
“He’s very competitive and a very good shipper,” Jacobson said. The 6-year-old has run on nine tracks but never gone halfway around the world.
Despite that dead heat with Nysos, their odds will be far apart at King Abdulaziz Racecourse. Banishing has been in a slump, losing his last four races, as he takes on the heavy favorite Forever Young. Banishing also is only 1-for-6, going 1 1/8 miles, the Saudi Cup distance. Few will expect him to be in the mix in the stretch.
Banishing has run well against top-class horses, but he’s in over his head this time. Throw him out.
Notes: Jacobson started training at age 19 in 1976. He lost his trainer’s and owner’s license in 1982 when the New York State Racing and Wagering Board suspended him for 25 years for failing to give proper care in 1981 to a horse … Jacobson resumed his career in 2007 and in 2013 set a New York record with 160 wins in a year ... He specializes in claiming horses and improving them dramatically. According to Equibase statistics, he has 1,481 wins in 7,883 starts with purse earnings of nearly $60 million.
Ed McNamara is an award-winning racing writer who has covered the sport since 1981 for The Bergen (N.J.) Record, Newsday, ESPN, Thorocap, and USRacing. He is the author of Cajun Racing: From the Bush Tracks to the Triple Crown and Racing Around the World, and a contributor to The Most Glorious Crown and The Racetracks of America. He has also written for racing publications in France and Italy.
