Horse racing notebook: Forever Young faces Bob Baffert duo in Saudi Cup ...Middle East

Forever Young, the Japanese-bred 5-year-old last seen in competition winning the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Del Mar on Nov. 1, tries to become the first repeat winner in the seven runnings of the $20 million Saudi Cup at King Abdulaziz Racecourse on Saturday. But he and jockey Ryusei Sakai will have to beat 5-year-old Nysos (Flavien Prat riding) and 4-year-old Nevada Beach (Irad Ortiz Jr.), the Bob Baffert-trained pair who battled to a 1-2 finish in the Laffit Pincay Jr. Stakes at Santa Anita. Fourteen horses are entered in the approximately 1⅛-mile Saudi Cup, the world’s richest thoroughbred race.

• Other California horses racing in Riyadh on Saturday: Doug O’Neill-trained Acknowledgemeplz in the Saudi Derby, and Baffert’s Imagination and Librado Barocio’s Lovesick Blues in the Riyadh Dirt Sprint.

• Two prolific stakes winners and fill-in jockeys headline the Friday-through-Monday racing week at Santa Anita. Eight-year-old Gold Phoenix, a graded stakes winner on turf for trainer Phil D’Amato in each of the past four years, begins 2026 with Kazushi Kimura replacing injured Umberto Rispoli in Saturday’s Grade III San Marcos. Six-year-old Man O Rose, on a four-race win streak against California-breds for Jeff Mullins, has Emisael Jaramillo subbing for the traveling Edwin Maldonado as he faces graded stakes-caliber Madaket Road (Kimura) and Pilot Commander (Florent Geroux) in Sunday’s Palos Verdes sprint.

• Maldonado and Santa Anita leader Juan Hernandez will ride at Sunland Park in New Mexico on Sunday. Hernandez has morning-line favorite Express Kid and Maldonado has Doug O’Neill-trained Pavlovian in the Sunland Derby, and Hernandez has favorite Bottle of Rouge for Baffert while Maldonado has Cashed for O’Neill in the Sunland Oaks.

• At Los Alamitos, Saturday’s Winter Derby for quarter horses features Doodah Cartel (Henry Reynoso Lopez), who rallied after an awful start to post a fastest qualifying time of 19.899 seconds for 400 yards.

• Quarter-horse jockey Cruz Mendez, hospitalized since falling in a Jan. 24 race at Los Alamitos, will move to the Craig Hospital in Denver, which specializes in care for people with spinal and brain injuries. That update was provided by the Sam Thompson Foundation, a racetrack philanthropic organization named for a jockey who died in a 2008 accident at Los Al. “(Mendez) currently has no feeling in his legs, though doctors are hopeful – based on recent tests – that sensation may return over time,” the Thompson Foundation reported on its website. The group is taking donations at samthompsonfoundation.org to “go toward helping him adapt to his new way of life.”

• Hall of Fame trainer King Leatherbury, the Maryland-based winner of 6,508 races from 1958 to 2023, died Tuesday at age 92, his family said. Leatherbury made racing his career after graduating from the University of Maryland and became known mostly for his success with claiming-level horses. His win total is fourth all-time in North American behind Steve Asmussen (11,122), Jerry Hollendorfer and the late Jack Van Berg.

• Del Mar’s July 17-Sept. 7 stakes schedule sweetens the opening-day Oceanside turf mile (purse up to $150,000 from $100,000) and Aug. 22 Green Flash turf sprint (up to $200,000 from $150,000 and Grade II from Grade III), but drops the La Jolla for 3-year-olds on grass. The Oceanside will be open to all 3-year-olds; its conditions had kept out many stakes winners. The Aug. 22 Pacific Classic remains the only $1 million race on California tracks’ regular schedules.

SANTA ANITA LEADERS

(Through Sunday)

Jockeys / Wins

Juan Hernandez / 21

Kazushi Kimura / 19

Emisael Jaramillo / 18

Umberto Rispoli / 15

Hector Berrios / 12

Armando Ayuso / 12

Edwin Maldonado / 11

Trainers / Wins

Doug O’Neill / 17

Bob Baffert / 14

George Papaprodromou / 12

Michael McCarthy / 12

Mark Glatt / 11

Jeff Mullins / 10

Phil D’Amato / 9

UPCOMING STAKES

SANTA ANITA

Saturday

• $100,000, Grade III San Marcos Stakes, 4-year-olds and up, 1¼ miles on turf

Sunday

• $100,000 Palos Verdes Stakes, 4 and up, 6 furlongs

LOS ALAMITOS

Saturday

• $200,000, Grade I Los Alamitos Winter Derby, 3-year-old quarter horses, 400 yards

Related Articles

Hence then, the article about horse racing notebook forever young faces bob baffert duo in saudi cup was published today ( Friday 13/02/2026 - 02:26 AM ) and is available on Los Angeles Daily News ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.

Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Horse racing notebook: Forever Young faces Bob Baffert duo in Saudi Cup )

Also on site :

• Masonite International Corporation Sued for Securities Law Violations - Contact the DJS Law Group to Discuss Your Rights - DOOR
• For Iran’s Rulers, Refusing U.S. Demands Is a Risk Worth Taking
• Battered by Gaza war, Israel's tech sector in recovery mode