As a lot as a trio of 3-year-olds will play main roles Nov. 6 within the Longines Breeders’ Cup Basic (G1) at Del Mar, one other main member of a deep and gifted crop is quietly transferring nearer to a return to the races and a date in 2022’s richest race.
Whereas Essential Quality , Hot Rd Charlie, and Medina Spirit are the second through fourth choices in the Classic, Juddmonte’s Mandaloun , the runner-up in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1), is expected to return to trainer Brad Cox’s Kentucky barn shortly after the World Championships to point toward the Feb. 26 $20 million Saudi Cup (G1) at King Abdulaziz Racecourse in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
“He’s doing great and he looks fantastic. We gave him two months off doing practically nothing. The last three or four weeks we’ve been riding him on the farm and as soon as Brad gets back from the Breeders’ Cup, (Mandaloun) will go up to Churchill Downs with the purpose of getting a prep race in January and going to the Saudi Cup,” stated Garrett O’Rourke, common supervisor of Juddmonte Farms’ United States division.. “That was the plan once we hit a bump within the highway that turned out to be nothing in any respect, and it made all of the sense on the planet. The household (of the late Prince Khalid bin Abdullah) needs to have a crack on the Saudi Cup. It is an important race for them.
“We’re hoping for a very large 12 months from Mandaloun and it is going to be good to start out it off on a giant observe within the Saudi Cup,” he added.
Although the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes (G1) is scheduled for Jan. 29, O’Rourke stated that was an unlikely spot for Mandaloun’s first race since profitable the July 17 TVG.com Haskell Stakes (G1) by way of the disqualification of Sizzling Rod Charlie.
“I am not saying something is off the desk. There are a number of choices for his first begin again,” O’Rourke stated. “However everybody’s clear on what the principle purpose is. He is a giant horse and he ought to get higher as a 4-year-old.”
Mandaloun, a grade 1-winning homebred son of Into Mischief out of the Empire Maker mare Brooch, was taken out of training in early August due to a sore heel.
A winner of five of eight career starts, he has earned $1,651,252, and those figure could soar if the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission ultimately decides to strip Medina Spirit of his Kentucky Derby victory due to a pair of positive drug tests. If that happens, Mandaloun would be declared as the winner of the Run for the Roses.
O’Rourke also said Juddmonte’s Maker’s Mark Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf (G1T) starter Acanella will remain in the United States after her American debut at the World Championships and will move into Cox’s barn.
