Defending winner Forever Young headlines a strong field laden with American and Japanese stars set for the seventh running of the $20 million Saudi Cup Feb. 14 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Forever Young was last seen taking the Nov. 1 Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic at Del Mar, a race that secured him an Eclipse Award as champion older dirt male for 2025.

The expected field for the Cup, announced Jan. 30 by the Jockey Club of Saudi Arabia, has five American horses, including last year’s Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile winner Nysos and Goodwood Stakes winner Nevada Beach from Bob Baffert’s barn.

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Also expected are Rattle N Roll, who makes a repeat appearance for trainer Kenny McPeek after finishing fifth in 2025; Banishing, sixth in the recent Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes; and Bishops Bay, winner of December’s Cigar Mile Handicap. Steve Asmussen-trained Magnitude was initially pointed to the Saudi Cup but will not make the trip due to illness, Daily Racing Form reported Feb. 1.

Bishops Bay was purchased for $1.3 million at the Keeneland November Horses of Racing Age Sale by Pedro Lanz as agent for King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Sons, and will race in that KAS Stables’ colors. Rattle N Roll also has Saudi connections.

Forever Young seeks to become the first dual winner of the Saudi Cup after chasing down Hong Kong-based Romantic Warrior in the dramatic ending of the 2025 edition. He is expected to be joined from the Japanese squad by Luxor Cafe, who finished 12^th in the 2025 Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve, and Sunrise Zipangu.

On Jan. 22, Forever Young was honored as champion older dirt male of 2025 by Eclipse Award voters based on his overall campaign that included only one start in the U.S. – the aforementioned Longines Classic. The Saudi Cup offers a “Win and You’re In” berth to this year’s Longines Classic set for Oct. 31 at Keeneland.

After the announcement, Bob Baffert said he plans to attend the Saudi Cup races in person for the first time in several years and hopes finally to saddle a winner after finishing second in three of the first six runnings.

“I’ve lost a lot of money in the last 200 meters of that race,” Baffert said.

Charlatan in 2021 and Country Grammer in 2022 were caught in the late stages of the 1,800-meter (about 1 1/8-mile) event. In 2023, Country Grammer fell just short again with a surge through the final 200 meters.

My World (Joe Labozzetta/NYRA)

The $1.5 million Saudi Derby on the Feb. 14 undercard also has a substantial American contingent with Jerome Stakes winner My World, Sanford Stakes winner Obliteration, Acknowledgemeplz, and Very Connected expected. And they all could have to catch Al Haram, who won the Saudi Two Thousand Guineas by more than seven lengths.

Japanese contenders in the Derby are Best Green, Keiai Agito, Satono Voyage, Tokai Ma Cherie and Wonder Dean. The country’s 3-year-olds are always dangerous in this race, won in 2024 by Forever Young over Book’em Danno.

Satono Voyage, an Into Mischief colt, has won three straight races including the Cattleya Stakes, first leg of the Japan Road to the Kentucky Derby. Best Green finished third in the second leg, the Zen-Nippon Nisai Yushun. The two currently stand third and fourth on Japan’s leaderboard but, as Forever Young did two years past, they abandon that four-race series in favor of a desert path to Louisville, Ky.

The Saudi Derby has been added to Churchill Downs’ Euro/Mideast Road to the Kentucky Derby and bestows 20 points upon the winner. The series winner, however, almost certainly will be determined in the UAE Derby March 28 in Dubai.

Baffert said he also has high hopes for Imagination’s chances in the $2 million Riyadh Dirt Sprint, another undercard event. Second in the Cygames Breeders’ Cup Sprint in his last outing, Imagination is expected to face American rivals Lovesick Blues and Just Beat the Odds in the 1,200-meter (about 6-furlong) dash.

“We just have to get there, first,” Baffert said.

The Dirt Sprint won’t be easy for any of them with Hong Kong’s Self Improvement  and a four-strong contingent from Japan opposing.