Jockey Club of Saudi Arabia to host 8th edition of Kings and Princes Cups Festival

RIYADH: The Jockey Club of Saudi Arabia will host the 8th edition of the Kings and Princes Cups Festival on the grounds of King Abdulaziz Racecourse on Jan. 13.

The two-day festival will include local and foreign horses with a purse distribution of SR5.9 million ($1.57 million) within the 83rd and 84th ceremonies of the ongoing season.

The festival includes eight runs dedicated to horses of different ages and over several distances, with prize money for the runs of the Kings Cups (Saud, Faisal, Khalid, Fahd and Abdullah bin Abdulaziz) totaling $213,000 each, prizes for the cups of Princes Sultan and Nayef bin Abdulaziz reaching $186,000, and the prize for the Prince Badr bin Abdulaziz Cup amounting to $133,000.

The Princes Naif, Badr and Sultan bin Abdulaziz Cup races will be held alongside the King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Cup on Friday, while the cups of Kings Fahd, Khalid, Faisal and Saud bin Abdulaziz will be held among the last races on Saturday.

The Jockey Club of Saudi Arabia launched the first edition of the Kings and Princes Cups Festival in 2016 to celebrate the royals.

The past seven editions of the festival witnessed victories for 21 owners, who won 46 trophies, led by “The White Stable,” owned by King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz’s sons, who won 13 trophies.

“The Red Stable,” owned by Prince Faisal bin Khalid, won seven cups, three of which were in the seventh edition. “The Sky Blue Stable,” owned by Abdullah Al-Mousa, came in third place, with four cups.

Meanwhile the stable of Prince Saud bin Salman bin Abdulaziz came fourth with three cups, two of which were in the previous edition.