Last year’s Saudi Cup-winning jockey David Egan is set to make a return to Saudi Arabia to ride in the domestic Group 1 Custodian Of The Two Holy Mosques Cup, a qualifying race for the $20 million Saudi Cup, at King Abdulaziz Racecourse on Thursday.
Egan, who was last seen at King Abdulaziz when partnering Mishriff to success in The Saudi Cup, rides Qaader, a three-time winner when trained by Mark Johnston in the UK, who now makes his debut for Bahraini trainer Fawzi Nass.
Other top international riders jetting in for the contest are Ryan Moore and Mickael Barzalona, while Frankie Dettori will ride in the earlier running of the domestic Group 1 contest, for locally-bred horses.
Moore, who seeks his first win in Saudi Arabia after coming up short in 13 rides so far, will partner the ex-Coolmore-owned Horoscope, a Listed winner and Group 2 Boomerang Mile third when trained in Ireland.
International star of the saddle, Mickael Barzalona, has been booked for another former Aidan O’Brien-trained runner, Khartoum, a son of Kentucky Derby second, Pioneerof The Nile.
Barzalona has numerous Saudi Arabian Group 1 wins to his name, the last coming in 2017, when he remarkably rode three in the space of six rides.
One rider who is already fully acclimatised to conditions in Riyadh is Silvestre de Sousa. The Brazilian has spent the last three weeks in Saudi and already has two domestic Group race wins to his name, both coming in the colours of top owner Prince Faisal Bin Khaled Bin Abdulaziz.
The former UK Champion Jockey is set to ride Saiydabad, a Group 3 winner when trained in France by Jean-Claude Rouget, who was bought for €575,000 from the Arqana Arc Sale in October and now makes his debut in Saudi.
Two other interesting debutants are Kaspar, a Group 2 winner in Germany for trainer Markus Klug, and Zuran Zuran, a son of Remote, who has won six of his seven starts in Argentina, including the Group 1 Gran Premio Dardo Rocha at La Plata Racecourse in November.
Dettori is set to make his second trip to Saudi in the space of a month, after finishing second on Recovery Run in the Prince Khalid Bin Abdullah Cup, a race run in memory of the great owner-breeder.
The Italian will take the ride on last time out domestic Group 1 winner Almobeer in the first edition of The Custodian Of The Two Holy Mosques Cup, which is restricted to locally-bred horses.
Egan, Moore, Barzalona and De Sousa all have additional rides across the $1 million nine-race card.