Astro King aiming to hit Riyadh heights

Kubler team have high hopes ahead of $2million Neom Turf Cup.

Daniel and Claire Kubler’s Astro King will fly the flag for his upwardly-mobile stable in the Neom Turf Cup at Riyadh on Saturday.

The gelding had a successful campaign last season, winning two good handicap pots in both the Sky Bet Finale at York and the Cambridgeshire at Newmarket.

There was also a near-miss as the horse was narrowly outdone in the John Smith’s Cup on the Knavesmire in July, and at the end of the season he headed out to the Middle East to contest the Group Two Bahrain International Trophy.

The seven-year-old had a luckless passage through the race when trapped on the inside rail, but he still ran with credit in sixth and set a precedent for further travel after taking the journey in his stride.

With that in mind, his first start this year will be in the Neom Turf Cup at the Saudi Cup meeting, a race upgraded from Group Three to Group Two status and run for an exceptional prize fund of $2million.

Daniel Kubler reports the bay to have landed in the desert in good form and though his draw in stall 11 is less than ideal, he is still hopeful the horse will do the yard proud at the meeting.

“He travelled over to Saudi last Saturday and he seems to have travelled very well,” he said.

“We’re looking forward to it, I understand he’s been drawn in stall 11 and we would have preferred a bit lower but there’s not much we can do about it.

“We haven’t overly pushed him but we’re happy with how he’s trained going into it, his preparation has been pretty similar to when he went to Bahrain and we were pretty happy with how he ran there.

“He was a little bit unlucky with how the race panned out but hopefully he’ll have a bit more luck in running this time and he can come home with some prize-money – the money out there is pretty ridiculous!”

Follow us on Twitter racing365dotcom and like our Facebook page.

Latest