Rispoli, Velazquez off Saudi Cup mounts after travel issues

Gary Stevens was “settling in real comfortable” to his seat Thursday afternoon before his flight from Los Angeles to Saudi Arabia. He and jockeys Umberto Rispoli and Joel Rosario were all headed to the Middle East for Saturday’s $20 million Saudi Cup.

“They’d actually poured me a glass of champagne,” Stevens, who was going to serve as analyst on an international feed broadcast, said Friday morning. “I was enjoying it. They had taken the boarding dock back away from the plane. All of a sudden, we saw the boarding dock coming back.”

A flight attendant escorted Rispoli, Rosario and Stevens from their seats on the plane and explained that the Saudi Cup had changed their COVID testing protocols. Rather than producing a negative test 72 hours prior to departure, travelers were now to show a negative test within 48 hours of their arrival to Saudi Arabia.

Rosario had obtained a negative rapid test shortly before the flight, Stevens said. The jockey showed proof of that updated result and was able to continue on his way for a flight scheduled to land early Saturday morning in Saudi Arabia, where he will ride Knicks Go in the Saudi Cup.

Rispoli and Stevens, however, were forced to remain home, as their tests did not meet the new 48-hour window requirement.

Rispoli and Stevens both announced Thursday night on Twitter that they were unable to make their trips to Riyadh. Jockey John Velazquez, who was to fly out of South Florida with a connection in Spain, then announced Friday morning that he too was unable to fly to the Middle East.

Stevens said he received “zero” communication from the Saudi Cup on updated COVID protocols.

“It was the middle of the night over there, so we couldn’t get hold of anyone while this was going on,” Stevens said. “It was too late anyway. I mean, they were ready to fire up the engines when they escorted us off the plane. And there’s only one flight a day, so there was no alternative.”

Rispoli had three mounts scheduled for the Saudi Cup card, including a pair of Steve Asmussen-trained American runners: Max Player in the Saudi Cup and Cowan in the $1.5 million Saudi Derby. Mickaël Barzalona will now assume the mount on Max Player while Asmussen said Rosario will ride Cowan.

In a video he posted Thursday night to Twitter, Rispoli described himself as “so devastated.”

Rispoli was supposed to depart for Saudi Arabia on Wednesday but was unable to board despite a lengthy wait at the airport. After finally making it onto the plane Thursday, he was told that he would not be able to make the trip to ride in the world’s richest race.

“I want to give all my apologies to Steve Asmussen and his connections of Cowan and Max Player,” said Rispoli, an Italy native who is based in Southern California. “I’m really sorry about that. I would say that this is the biggest race in the world and there should be better organization behind this and there probably wouldn’t be any issue. Today, I’m paying the consequence of this organization, which probably they don’t pay attention about any details.

“As I said, I’m frustrated. I have to move on.”

Velazquez had four mounts on the Saudi Cup card, including Tacitus for trainer Bill Mott in the Saudi Cup. Jockey William Buick will now ride Tacitus, Mott confirmed Friday.

The Hall of Fame jockey Velazquez said he was “very disappointed” that he was staying home despite recorded four negative COVID tests this week.