What Top Favorite Taiba Has To Do To Rope In His $10-Million Cut Of The $20-Million Pot

To snare the victor’s hefty fifty percent of the Saudi Cup’s mind-boggling $20 million, the contenders will test their athleticism and their street smarts for what is being called “1800 meters.” But! To hell with that, let’s call it what it is: The Saudi Cup is being contested over a track that’s just a hair shy of a mile-and-an-eighth.

Specifically, the Saudi Cup is 1.118 miles long. The Preakness is one-and-three-sixteenths of a mile long, or 1.187 miles. The point is that American trainers, and to an extent UK trainers, think of the Preakness as a short race. Taking that view for a moment, it’s useful to view the Saudi Cup as being an especially furious battle within a very compressed amount of space – more like a mile sprint, less like the Derby and the Belmont.

But before we dive deep in on Taiba’s talents, and how he has to use them on Saturday, herewith, a refresher on the London odds. We’ll hasten to add that the gimlet-eyed London bookakers are taking no prisoners with these odds and, with $20 million on the barrelhead, that they are playing close attention. Translation: We’ll find these odds getting sliced quite thinly as post time approaches on Saturday.

(Post Position, Horse, Early London Odds)

1 Café Pharoah (USA), 14-1

2 Country Grammer (USA), 7-2

3 Crown Pride (JPN), 12-1

4 Emblem Road (USA), 14-1

5 Geoglyph (JPN), 16-1

6 Jun Light Bolt (JPN), 8-1

7 Panthalassa (JPN), 14-1

8 Remorse (IRE), 33-1

9 Scotland Yard (USA), 14-1

10 Taiba (USA), 7-4

11 Vin de Garde (JPN), 33-1

12 Lagertha Rhyme (IRE), 40-1

13 Sunset Flash (IRE), 50-1

(Source for Post Positions: the Saudi Cup; Odds: William Hill, 2/23/2023)

Very much with his jockey Mike Smith, Taiba has shown us what he can do in a ‘short’ race in his last Grade One outing in the 7-furlong Malibu Stakes last December. The Hall of Fame jockey and Kentucky Derby winner, who has been with Taiba and Baffert since the get-go, told the trainer that he was going to “empty him out” during the Malibu Stakes, in short, blast out of the gate and drive him hard.

At seven 7 furlongs or 0.875 miles, the Malibu is unquestionably a sprint, and Smith did all of that, one reason that Baffert and his jockey seem so elated in the shot above. In the largest sense Taiba’s connections were pleased because the run showed that Taiba, at four years old, had matured mentally enough to deliver races with far more tactical flair and presence, exhibiting a higher awareness of himself and his position in the heat of battle.

Exactly that is what will be required in the Saudi Cup’s big feature on Saturday in Riyadh.