Saudi Cup COVID Bubble In Place

The organisers of the $20million Saudi Cup have COVID protocols in place for the event which is scheduled for less than three weeks time, reported bloodhorse.com. Tom Ryan, director of strategy and international racing for the Jockey Club of Saudi Arabia, said that international participants will operate within a "series of bubbles". "The intent is not to have any impediments to starting work—you could call them 'functional bubbles'," he said. Further, crowds will be "greatly scaled back from last year—only a select few Royal court and sponsors and the media." It is anticipated that Pegasus World Cup winner Knicks Go (Paynter-Kosmo's Buddy, by Outflanker) will join Charlatan (Speightstown-Authenticity, by Quiet American) and Tacitus (Tapit-Close Hatches, by First Defence) to represent America, with Charlatan's trainer Bob Baffert sending his assistant Jimmy Barnes with the Gr1 Malibu Stakes winner. "His talent makes up for his experience. To win these races, you need to be way the best…If I'm sending him over there, it means he's doing really, really well." Meanwhile, UK trainer John Gosden is hoping for a wide draw for last year's Saudi Cup runner up Mishriff (Make Believe-Contradict, by Raven's Pass) who will attempt to go one better in the second version of the race this year. "This race is run on the dirt, and it's run at a very different tempo. I just asked the owner if he'd be kind enough to make sure we get a nice wide draw," said Gosden. "The American horses break, that's their game. They're very fast over the first quarter, and you really don't want to be getting in behind all of that. Our horses don't break as well; it's not our style, and then if you get a face full of dirt, that's what stops the turf horses when they switch. They're just not used to taking all that kickback, and that's why a wide draw would be very advantageous." The Saudi Cup was moved forward by five weeks to provide time for quarantine between that race and the Dubai World Cup to be held on March 27.