New $20m Saudi Cup announced as the world's richest horserace

Saudi Arabia will host the richest race in the world next year when it stages the inaugural running of the $20 million (£16.5m) Saudi Cup on February 29.

The prize-money on offer for the nine-furlong contest on dirt at King Abdulaziz Racetrack in Riyadh eclipses that of the Dubai World Cup, worth $12m this year (£9.9m), and the Pegasus World Cup, run at Gulfstream Park in Florida, which was worth a peak $16m in 2018.

In announcing details during a launch event at Saratoga in New York that drew some of America's leading trainers, Jockey Club of Saudi Arabia chairman Prince Bandar bin Khalid Al Faisal declared that the Saudi Cup – which will be limited to 14 invited runners – is being designed to be long-lasting as well as lucrative.

"This is an event that we plan on having for decades, well beyond your or my time," he said. "What we hope is for this event to be on the international calendar, to be one of the main races sought after.

"We also would like for it to be an opportunity for people to come and visit that part of the world, see the culture, see the people, and understand it.

"We'd like it to be a memorable experience, we'd like for it to be a special experience, and we'd like it to be an opportunity for us to showcase horseracing in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia."

The Pegasus World Cup was first run in 2017 and its value in 2018 eclipsed that of the Dubai World Cup, which is currently worth $12m. However, the 2019 running was split into dirt and turf races with the main Pegasus World Cup worth $9m.

The winner of the Saudi Cup will earn a $10 million prize, but many of the beaten horses could still take home the largest earnings of their careers. Second-place will be worth $3.5 million and there is $2 million for third, $1.5 million for fourth; $1 million for fifth and $600,000 for sixth. Payments will go down to the tenth-place finisher, who will bank $200,000.

Entry to the race will be free and the Jockey Club of Saudi Arabia will pay for all shipping of horses as well as travel and accommodation for connections.

Prince Bandar and Prince Abdullah bin Khalid Al Saud told those at the event – including trainers Bill Mott, Chad Brown, Steve Asmussen and Todd Pletcher – that Saudi King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman are fully supportive of the race.

Harry Herbert, who is serving as the Saudi Cup's global ambassador, racetrack officials Tom Ryan and Adel Almazroa, and American Hall of Fame jockey Gary Stevens were also in attendance, with Frankie Dettori adding supporting comments via video.

"We have to thank the leadership presented by His Majesty the King and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince for giving us the chance to work on this and for really pushing us and giving us all the tools that we need to host a special race like this,” Prince Abdullah said. "It's a proud moment for all Saudis and it really is a gift to all the horseracing industry around the world."

King Abdullah Racetrack will stage the Saudi Cup in February 2020Credit: Jockey Club of Saudi Arabia

More announcements are planned in coming weeks about additional races for the Saudi Cup program, including several planned on turf for the future, and a major prize for Purebred Arabians.

Jockey Club officials aim to grow the Saudi Cup into an event comparable to Breeders’ Cup or the Dubai World Cup.

"That is our hope," Prince Bandar said. "Our main mission is to improve the horseracing environment within the kingdom of Saudi Arabia and to bring it to international standards and be able to produce horses that compete on a global level. Part of how we do that is to create world-class racing and to invite the best of the best from around the world to come and compete in Saudi Arabia.

"We feel we have the right infrastructure – we certainly have an amazing track. We have the right stabling and quarantine area, so there really was nothing missing in all of the elements except to come up with the concept with the right, if you will, incentive for people to come here."

Prince Bandar and Prince Abdullah credited Sheikh Mohammed and his creation of the Dubai World Cup, first run in 1996, as inspiration.

"I think that Dubai did a lot of the heavy lifting for the region as a whole to introduce that part of the world to horse racing, and Sheikh Mohammed single-handedly did that,” Prince Bandar said. “He made things a lot easier for us because a lot of the owners and trainers have been to that part of the world and they understand what is involved in going."

Saudi officials selected the February date so that horsemen could consider a new triple crown of rich races with the Pegasus World Cup followed by the Saudi Cup and then the Dubai World Cup in late March at Meydan.

Prince Bandar said: "We chose the timing very carefully. We think it fits in nicely between those two races. It's close enough to the Dubai Cup that people who do come to that part of the world can stay. I think we were very lucky that we had that opening between those two races and we're going to own it now."

King Abdulaziz Racetrack features a track design that is somewhat comparable to the large expanse of Belmont Park in New York, and the Saudi Cup will be run around a single turn.

The track, which opened in 2003, is well regarded by Dettori, who said: "It’s based on Belmont, in that it’s a one-turn mile and a quarter. Of all the dirt tracks I've ridden it's the one I like best as you can win from the front and you can win from behind – it’s a fair track.

"The other thing I like is that the kickback is so much less than on other dirt tracks. I don’t know why but the sand seems finer and doesn't stick. You only need a couple of pairs of goggles, where on other tracks you need four or five. It's a kinder track that I can see turf horses handling."

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