The expected field for the Cup, announced Jan. 30 by the Jockey Club of Saudi Arabia, includes six American horses, including last year’s Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile winner Nysos and Goodwood Stakes winner Nevada Beach from Bob Baffert’s barn.
Also expected are the Steve Asmussen-trained Magnitude, who defeated the 2025 Dubai World Cup Hit Show winner by half a length in the Clark Stakes presented by Norton Healthcare on November 28, and Rattle N Roll, who makes repeated appearances for trainer Kenny McPeek after finishing fifth in 2025. Banishing, sixth in the recent Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes, and Bishops Bay, winner of December’s Cigar Mile Handicap, are also expected.
Bishops Bay was purchased for $1.3 million at the Keeneland November Horses of Racing Age Sale by Pedro Lanz as agent for King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Sons, and will race in the colors of that KAS Stables. Rattle N Roll also has Saudi connections.
Forever Young is aiming to become the first double winner of the Saudi Cup after chasing Hong Kong-based Romantic Warrior in the dramatic end to the 2025 edition. He is expected to be joined from the Japanese squad by twelfth-placed Luxor Cafee in the 2025 Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve and Sunrise Zipangu.
On January 22, Forever Young was honored by Eclipse Award voters as the 2025 Older Dirt Male Champion based on his overall campaign that included just one U.S. start: the aforementioned Longines Classic. The Saudi Cup offers a ‘Win and You’re In’ berth this year Longines classic scheduled for Oct. 31 in Keeneland.
Following the announcement, Bob Baffert said he plans to attend the Saudi Cup races in person for the first time in years and hopes to finally saddle a winner after finishing second in three of the first six races.
“I lost a lot of money in the last 200 meters of that race,” Baffert said.
Charlatan in 2021 and Country Grammer in 2022 were caught in the late stages of the 1,800-meter event. In 2023, Country Grammer fell just short again with a rise through the last 200 meters.
The $1.5 million Saudi derby on February 14, the undercard also has a substantial American contingent expected with Jerome Stakes winner My World, Sanford Stakes winner Obliteration, Acknowledgemeplz and Very Connected. And they should all be able to overtake Al Haram, who won the Saudi Two Thousand Guineas by more than seven lengths.
Japanese contenders in the Derby include Best Green, Keiai Agito, Satono Voyage, Tokai Ma Cherie and Wonder Dean. The country’s three-year-olds are always dangerous in this race, which was won by Forever Young over Book’em Danno in 2024.
Satono Voyage, a colt by Into Mischief, has won three races in a row, including the Cattleya Stakes, the first leg of the Japan Road to the Kentucky Derby. Best Green finished third in the second stage, the Zen-Nippon Nisai Yushun. The two are currently third and fourth on the Japanese standings, but like Forever Young two years ago, they are abandoning that four-race series in favor of a desert trail to Louisville, Kentucky.
The Saudi Derby has been added to Churchill Downs’ Euro/Mideast Road to the Kentucky Derby and will award 20 points to the winner. However, the winner of the series will almost certainly be decided at the UAE Derby on March 28 in Dubai.
Baffert said he also has high hopes for Imagination’s chances in the $2 million range Riyadh Dirt Sprintanother undercard event. Second in the Cygames Breeders’ Cup Sprint in his last outing, Imagination is expected to face American rivals Lovesick Blues and Just Beat the Odds in the 1,200 meters (approximately 6 furlong).
“We have to get there first,” Baffert said.
The Dirt Sprint won’t be easy for any of them as Hong Kong’s self-improvement and a four-man contingent from Japan square off.
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