Saudi Crown
The world’s richest race, the USD20 million G1 Saudi Cup, is squarely in the crosshairs of the China Horse Club bred Saudi Crown after he made an imperious return to racing in 2024.
The grey was almost six lengths superior to his outgunned rivals in the USD170,000 G3 Louisiana Stakes (Fair Grounds, USA) in a performance that suggests the Brad Cox trained four-year-old is on song for his Middle Eastern assault in five weeks’ time.
Saudi Crown was one of three China Horse Club graduates to win at the elite level in 2023 alongside the Australian duo Ozzmosis (1st G1 Coolmore Stud Stakes) and Communist (1st G1 Randwick Guineas).
The Louisiana Stakes was the fourth career win for the 2023 G1 Pennsylvania Derby winner who elevated his record to four wins and two seconds from seven career starts. His only unplaced effort being a disappointing display in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic.
“Big run. Proud of him,” Cox said post-race of Saudi Crown.
“Obviously this was a setup for Saudi. We’re hoping he’ll take one turn, he showed ability around one-turn early in his career, and we’re excited to take him to Riyadh.
“It worked out that he was able to gallop in. Hopefully he can build off this and we can have him even better the third week in February.”
Jockey Florent Geroux was equally impressed with Saudi Crown’s four-year-old bow.
“That was very impressive,” Geroux said.
“I thought he was very steady all the way, and geared down at the end. It was a very nice move, exactly what we wanted and what we needed to go to Riyadh next month. Hopefully the horse comes back in good order so we can move forward, so we can try to represent America nicely.”