Racing Preview

A warm welcome back to King Khalid Racecourse for our 15th meeting of the season. Today’s nine-race card includes two important trial races – for the Prince Abdullah Cup and King Faisal Cup – as well as a JCSA Award and the feature race, the Um Eiquira University Cup. Our first race is a maiden for locally-bred fillies, run over 1400m. Boweshah has the advantage of experience over most of her rivals, having run twice already. Badan Alsubaie’s filly showed significant improvement on her second start over 1200m, staying on strongly into second at the line, and looks certain to be suited by this step up in trip. Race two is a contest over 1600m for horses that have won between one and three races in the past. Eshtaher ran well on his recent seasonal debut and can be expected to improve again under Adel Alfouraidi, but many eyes will be on the returning top-rated duo Motabasher and Orayman. We remain over a trip of 1600m for race three, an Open race for locally-bred horses. Katheer has been prolific in recent seasons, with eight wins and 10 placed efforts from 27 starts, but most of his wins have come over a longer trip. Morano is capable of being a threat at this level, while Faz should improve on his low-key seasonal return last month. Up next is a maiden for locally-bred horses aged four or five years old. A full field of 18 go to post over a trip of 2000m and, as you would expect given their age, many of the field have had plenty of previous chances to gain a first win. However, that isn’t the case with Abdallah Albadah’s once-raced filly Zemareed, who wasn’t disgraced when finishing fifth on debut in March and there should be more improvement to come from her. Race five is a 0-90 handicap, worth SAR145,000, over 2400m. One World, a son of the Sea The Stars, was a winner in the UK in the Juddmonte colours for John & Thady Gosden, but disappointed on his first start in KSA for trainer Lucas Gaitan. He should do better this season in the colours of Athbah Racing, and may be able to get the better of the Luis Morales-ridden My Code here. The prep race for the Prince Abdullah Cup is over 2000m and sees several interesting horses make their seasonal bow. Mutwakel Alkhalediah and stablemate Qaswarat Al Khalediah finished fourth and sixth respectively in the Group 1 Obaiya Arabian Classic last season and both should come to the fore here. The unbeaten Najeeb Alzaman could give them something to think about. A smaller field of six go to post for the prep race for the King Faisal Cup, over 1600m. Saad Mutlaq’s two debutants Damthaa Al Khalediah and Nadem Al Molwk Al Khalediah may well prove too good for their rivals here, and it will be fascinating to see which comes out on top. The JCSA Award over 1400m looks to be at the mercy of Shaqra’a Sultan, who was just run down by a progressive rival in the closing stages of her seasonal reappearance over 1600m. Back in trip, she should be hard to beat under Wiggy Ramos. Our finale is the SAR150,000 Um Eiqura University Cup over 1600m. This looks a compelling contest, with the high-class Israaj in the field and notable progressive runners Minwah and Just For Sul also taking their chance. There was plenty to like about the way Smoky Quartz powered clear of her field last time out though, and she could make it a quick double for Wiggy Ramos.