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Lots of first for this meeting with the inaugural running of the Saudi Cup.

On Friday there were four races comprising an International Jockeys Contest, with the first being won by Lisa Alpress and thus she became the first female to ride a winner in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.  Mike Smith was the overall winner, with Swiss jockey Sybille Vogt the overall second, and Lisa and Mikaëlle Michel tying for third.

On Saturday we had the first race on the new turf track and the winner was the Fawzi Nass trained Port Lions, in the capable hands of Adrie de Vries.  There was a thrilling battle for the finish with Port Lions just getting the nod in front of Deidre and the Argentinian-bred For The Top 40/1 third.

The Saudi Derby went to the Japanese Full Flat ridden by Yutaka Take who started at 16/1 and the Saudia Sprint to New York Central.

The Longines Turf Handicap went to France with Freddy Head's Prix du Cadran winner Call The Wind winning from Mekong 25/1 and Prince of Arran third.  Cross Counter was 5th.

And the big $20 million Saudi Cup saw sweet revenge for Maximum Security, cruelly denied in the Kentucky Derby but no problems here and a much bigger pay cheque to boot as the winner got $10 million and the other $10 million was divided by the first 9 finishers after the winner.  Midnight Bisou ran a blinder to finish second with a great run from Benbatl for third.

It is well worth remarking that this was all done without drugs – no bute, no Lasix and no catastrophes.