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Jeddah - Yasmine El Tohamy - RIYADH: The Saudi Cup, the world’s most valuable race meet, got underway on Friday at Riyadh's King Abdulaziz Racecourse, with total prize money of more than $37 million up for grabs over the weekend.
Fourteen jockeys, seven women and seven men, competed in the Invest Saudi International Jockey Challenge across four of the opening day’s eight races, with French rider Maryline Eon emerging victorious with 25 points.
Reigning champion Camilo Ospina, a Colombian jockey who races out of Saudi Arabia, was runner-up on 17 points, with Victoria Mota of Brazil in third.
“It was very emotional to win this … and I can only thank the Saudi Cup for having invited me here today. Obviously it was going to be an emotional moment,” Eon told Arab News.
“I am really impressed with the track here in Saudi Arabia. It was my first time riding on the dirt and I wasn’t used to getting dirt in my face and everything. Everything is in really good condition.
“I was told when I was coming that the horses that I am going to ride would need a bit of work and that they would be outpaced in the early stages of the race. The handicappers showed me the races of the horse that I was riding and that was really helpful.”
Despite the unfamiliar ground conditions, Eon said she did not alter her approach to the races or her technique.
“I didn’t really change anything in the style of my riding and I just followed instructions,” she said.
“I would like to thank the country for making such an effort to bring women here and obviously I’m very lucky to win this championship, which is something I would have never imagined.”
In the other events, 16 riders competed in the 1,600-meter Mosef First Fillies Mile, the first race of the day, in which Ospina, riding Istita’aeh, took the lead with 300 meters to go and romped home for the win. First across the line in the 1,200-meter Saudia Sarawat Cup was Aezm Al-Riyadh, ridden by Tariq Almansour. Adel Alfarid, on Badr, was the winner of the 1,800-meter Lucid Tuwaiq Cup.
In the final race of the night, the Group 1 $1.5 million Ministry of Culture Al-Mneefah Cup, Tilal Al-Khalediah, the 2023 Obaiya Arabian Classic winner, was victorious.
Day 2 of the fifth Saudi Cup on Saturday will again feature eight races: the Ministry of Culture Jockey Club Local Handicap, the Group 1 Diriyah Gate Development Authority Obaiya Arabian Classic, the NHC Saudi International Handicap, the G3 Boutique Group Saudi Derby, the G3 Sports Boulevard Riyadh Dirt Sprint, the G2 Saudi National Bank 1351 Turf Sprint, the $2 million G2 Howden Neom Turf Cup, and the $2.5 million G3 Longines Red Sea Turf Handicap.
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