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He rode Silver Sonic to victory in the 3000m Red Sea Turf, the other race with an 8-digit US$ prize money allocation which should have made the trip worthwhile.

And then his 5th on Dancing Prince in the Dirt Sprint helped and his 5th on Crown Pride in the Cup would also have been a useful pick-up

Subjectivist ran well but the return to racing after such a long lay-off was a big ask.  Hopefully he pulled up OK and could continue racing for a little while longer.  Trawlerman was disappointing.  Enemy was second and Get Shirty third.  This was trainer Y Ikee's first win in Saudi and it may lead him to think "Melbourne Cup" for Silver Sonic, who is a grey by our beloved Orfevre out of that superb mare Air Thule so he should get good guidance from the pedigree.

The Neom Cup was over 1800m with Missed The Cut starting favourite and being his own worst enemy in the run to finish 4th.  The win went to the Darley runner Mostahdaf for the Gosdens with Jim Crowley on board.

The Derby went to the locals with Commissioner King emerging the winner and providing jockey Luis Morales with a double on the night.  Havenameltdown under Dettori tried to keep him honest but could not overtake the winner.  Third home was another Japanese runner – Derma Sotogake who hails from the NAR racing circuit in Japan and came over for this on the strength of his win dirt at Kawasaki in the Zennippon Nissai.  The Brazilian bred Es Unico came fourth under compatriot jockey Joao Moreira.

The dirt Sprint 1200m was designed for an American winner and Elite Power fulfilled that role to the utmost winning by 3 ½ lengths from compatriot Gunite.  No doubt we shall see them again in Dubai. Japanese runner Remake was third and Dancing Prince with D Lane on board was fifth.

One very interesting stat from Riyadh concerns the saddle cloth numbers – Races 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6 were all won by horses carrying saddlecloth #7!  If it isn't a lucky number in the KSA it may well be now!