Three horses have now tried and failed to win the Saudi Cup and Dubai World Cup double, with Forever Young becoming the latest at Meydan Racecourse on Saturday.
The Real Steel colt arrived as the overwhelming favourite, having won the $20 million Saudi Cup but failed in his bid to become the first horse to win both races.
He could finish only third behind surprise winner Hit Show and Mixto in the 29th edition of the Dubai World Cup, becoming the latest horse to fall short with the races taking place little over a month apart.
Last year, the same fate befell Senor Buscador. He too finished third, behind Bhupat Seemar’s Laurel River and Ushba Tesoro, who had won the 2023 Dubai World Cup.
However, Forever Young had all the hallmarks of becoming the first horse to achieve that feat. He had secured the Saudi Derby and the UAE Derby double last year but could not repeat the trick with the Saudi and Dubai World Cups.
“We had to win this race and I am disappointed,” admitted Forever Young’s jockey Ryusei Sakai.
“He ran a great race in Saudi and I expected him to win if he ran his race but it was a tough race as he was the horse to beat. It was tough and we did our best. He wasn’t travelling at all.”
Trainer Yoshito Yahagi added: “We were the away team and Forever Young got worked up because of it. That’s no excuse though.”
Romantic Warrior, runner-up behind Forever Young in the Saudi Cup, was another to fall short in the UAE when he was beaten by Soul Rush in the $5 million Group 1 Dubai Turf.
A nine-time Group/Grade 1 winner, Romantic Warrior was caught close home to go down in the photo finish.
His jockey James McDonald said: “Close, wasn’t it? He’s had a long campaign.”
Another Saudi meeting winner in the Riyadh Dirt Sprint was Straight No Chaser in the Group 1 Golden Shaheen.
He was in touch with leaders early on, dropped to rear after the first 200m and made no impression thereafter. The post-race vet exam revealed the horse to be mildly lame in the left-foreleg.
“He jumped, I asked him but he didn’t go. That’s not his style, his style is ‘come and get him’. At least if he lays close he’s fine, but he just didn’t even do that,” jockey John Velazquez said after the race.
Providing two additional weeks for the horses to prepare before the Saudi meeting might have to come into consideration in the future if the organisers of the two race meetings aim to make the Gulf Grand Slam more attainable.
Seemar felt his Walk Of Stars, who finished 12th in the Saudi Cup, could have done better than the fourth-place finish in the Dubai World Cup, had he not run in the $20 million event.
“He ran a super race. Maybe if he didn’t go to Saudi Arabia, he could have finished better,” the Zabeel Stable trainer said.
“We saw that all the horses that participated at the Saudi Cup were beaten tonight. So it is not easy to do both races. He just got tired in the end.”
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