Big prize money on offer for local-bred juveniles at King Khalid Racecourse this weekend

TAIF: A combined SR1,000,000 ($266,000) is on offer over two races for two-year-olds at King Khalid Racecourse this weekend as the Jockey Club of Saudi Arabia Contributions for locally bred animals sold at auction in 2024 take centre stage.

The sixth and seventh 1,400-metre races on Friday each carry a purse of $133,000. The latter, for colts and geldings, features a field of 13 runners, with the idea being to give horses sold at the November JCSA Yearling sale the chance to earn prizemoney.

Among the 13 is the newcomer Alsultan Seven who goes to post under champion jockey Adel Al-Fouraidi for trainer Abdullah Al-Nahhabi, with Fahad Saad and the powerful Red Stable of Prince Faisal bin Khaled bin Abdulaziz represented by the twice-raced Moa’arekhom.

An even bigger field of 16 has been declared for the filles’ event with Al-Fouraidi again in action aboard the Ahmed Al-Shaia-trained Basmat Almuhamadih, who was sixth on her debut earlier this month, while Alexis Moreno teams up with trainer Gaith Al-Ghaith and the once-raced Taghneik.

Arabian runners take charge in the final two events on Friday and plenty of high-class form is on offer in the concluding Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Cup Prep Arabian Horses Open.

Bint Ghaliat Al Khalediah is top-rated for Al-Fouraidi and trainer Mousa Al-Masoudi, who also saddles Tariq Al-Mansour’s mount Maysour Al Khalediah, after the pair were first and second on Aug, 16.

Also in the line-up for the in-form Thamer Al-Daihani and owner Sheikh Abdullah Homoud Al-Malek Al-Sabah is the French-bred Sir Amer, who was third to the Al-Khalediah pair last time out, but was also a respectable seventh in the G1 Obaiyah Arabian Classic on Saudi Cup night.

Valuable prize money is on offer on both