Local hope Emblem Road pulls a shocker in the Saudi Cup
Local hope Emblem Road rallied down the stretch to spring a massive upset in the Grade 1, $20 million Saudi Cup on Saturday in Riyadh. The locally based son of Quality Road returned $229.20 in North American pools.
Breaking from the fourth post position under Wigberto Ramos, Emblem Road was off the pace for the majority of the race before steadily making up ground on the turn. Country Grammer, who had pressed the pace on the inside, locked up with Midnight Bourbon at the top of the stretch, but Emblem Road came surging on the outside to pull off the shocker by half a length. The final time was 1:50.53 for 1 1/8 miles.
Country Grammer was second followed by Midnight Bourbon and Making Miracles. Full results are available here. Last year's Saudi Cup winner, Mishriff, finished last in a field of 14 horses. Mandaloun ranged into contention at the top of stretch but faded to finish ninth. Art Collector fell back to 12th after pressing the pace.
Country Grammer, trained by Bob Baffert, performed well in defeat with Flavien Prat in the irons.
"He ran great,” Prat said. “When I pulled away I thought I was going to win, I thought it was going to be enough and that my horse was doing the hardest, but the winner was just too good and finished harder."
For the new named Kentucky Derby winner, the race was disappointing.
"No good," said Mandaloun's rider Florent Geroux. "He just wasn’t there today. We knew the locals were good horses but we thought the outside horses might be better."
Midnight Bourbon's jockey, Joel Rosario, was more positive about his performance.
“I thought he ran really well,” Rosario said. “It was probably a little bit different with him but he showed heart, he did great."
A 4-year-old Kentucky-bred colt, Emblem Road improved his record to 9: 7-1-1. All nine starts have been at King Abdulaziz Racecourse. He entered with $204,734 in earnings.
Ramos was aboard Emblem Road for the first time in the Saudi Cup. The veteran reinsman rode in North American from 1989 to 1998 and won 1,470 races. He has spent the last 23 years in Saudi Arabia where he has been a champion rider multiple times.
"My horse ran a great race and I broke good and my horse was very strong,” Ramos said in the news release. “He wanted to go early, but I took my time with him.”
Emblem Road is trained by Mitab Almulawah and owned by Prince Saud bin Salman Abdulaziz. Bred in Kentucky, the 4-year-old colt was a $230,000 auction purchase at the 2019 Keeneland September yearling sale.