DUBAI: Aez Alkhatir (KSA) will make his debut for new owners this Friday when facing 14 rivals in the SR150,000 ($40,000) JCSA Sprint Cup at King Khalid Racecourse in Taif.
Formerly owned by Qemat Twaiq Stable, the gelding remains in the care of Homoud Alshamari.
But will now sport the colors of the White Stable of King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz & Sons in the 1,200-meter feature when he aims to follow up last month’s Alhada Cup success under Fahad Alfouraidi.
Runner-up in the Sarawat Cup on The Saudi Cup weekend, Aez Alkhatir will take on the Red Stable Prince Faisal bin Khaled bin Abdulaziz’s Aba Almae’aly (KSA) who was eighth in the Sarawat Cup and reappeared to win a conditions race on Aug. 28.
Intriguingly both the White and Red Stable runners have a very similar form line, with both starting in the Sarawat Cup.
And both beat the filly Ana Aljonubiyah (KSA) on their most recent starts, with Aez Alkhatir leaving her a length behind in third, and she was just a quarter-of-a-length second to Aba Almae’aly.
Red Stable additionally rely on December’s Riyadh winner Thamer Almoghtarah (KSA), while also set to play a leading role is Adel Alfouraidi’s mount Alklothani (KSA) who was fourth in the Sarawat Cup and reappeared last month to land the JCSA Sprint Cup Prep.
Friday’s other main event is an Arabian Horses Open worth SR120,000 and features Ershan (FR) who has twice been runner-up this season including last time out when second in the Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Cup Prep.
He locks horns with King Khalid Racecourse Championship Prep runner-up Angad Al-Khalediah (KSA) who has worked his way back into form in three Taif outings this campaign having been highly tried last term including when down the field in the Group One Obaiyah Arabian Classic.
Saturday’s feature event is a SR120,000 Open in which the Red Stable and owner Sheikh Abdullah Homoud Almalek Alsabah account for seven of the 19 runners.
The latter’s main hope would appear to be Muhammad Aldaham’s mount Ajwadi (GB).
The racer is top rated and looking for a hat trick of wins after signing off last season in Riyadh with success in the North America Cup, and reappearing in Taif to land a conditions race by nearly fourth lengths, with stablemate and the reopposing Moswaat (GB) in third.
Amichi (IRE) split that pair on Aug.
15 in second for the Red Stable and he will start again along with fellow Red Sable runners William Tell (FR) and Wuqood (GB) who finished in fifth and sixth respectively behind Ajwadi.
Riyadh Angel (IRE) completes the Red Stable quartet while Taif University Cup fifth Allah Maae (KSA) is the sole White Stable representative under Rayan Altoairsh.