The Saudi Cup: Wednesday track notes

Last year’s best dirt horse in Japan, Cafe Pharoah, galloped for 800m with his race rider Joao Moreira. Naoto Suzuki, assistant to trainer Noriyuki Hori, was satisfied after watching the breeze, saying: “He had a good gallop as we planned. Joao told me he was stretching his legs well toward the finish and he still had plenty of energy. I might take him for a paddock schooling tomorrow, but all options are open to him.”

Country Grammer (US) and Taiba (US) — The Bob Baffert-trained duo of Dubai World Cup winner Country Grammer and triple Grade 1 winner Taiba each had an easy day on Wednesday. Owned fully or in part by Zedan Racing, the pair will seek to make principal owner Amr Zedan the first to win both the Dubai World Cup and The Saudi Cup.

“They are going well and we’re happy,” said assistant trainer Jimmy Barnes. “We just jogged today on the training track, which is close to the barn. We will go to the main track on Thursday.”

Baffert also sends out Mike Pegram, Karl Watson and Paul Weitman’s Havnameltdown on Saturday, hoping to win a second consecutive Saudi Derby presented by Boutique Group after Pinehurst’s success in 2022. The San Vicente Stakes winner did the same as his stablemates on Wednesday. All three breezed on Monday and tack-walked on Tuesday. 

Crown Pride (JPN) — Koichi Shintani’s Crown Pride had a gallop on the dirt track under jockey Yuga Kawada. Masafumi Matsuda, assistant trainer to Shintani said: “Although Yuga is not riding him in The Saudi Cup, he was happy to help us in breezing him. After riding Yuga told me Crown Pride responded well to rider’s direction and he also was handling the surface very well.”

Emblem Road (US) and Scotland Yard (US) —  The pair were once again among the first