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$20 Million Saudi Cup Contender: SENOR BUSCADOR

A field of 14 has been entered for the $20 million Saudi Cup (G1) on Saturday at King Abdulaziz Racecourse in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – the world’s richest horse race.  usracing.com is posting profiles of the starters.

SENOR BUSCADOR

This 6-year-old will make his 18th career start at his 12th racetrack in Saturday’s Saudi Cup, so it’s easy to cross off the shipping concerns for this Todd Fincher trainee.

Senor Buscador is the most well-traveled in the Saudi Cup field

He’s coming off a nice runner-up finish to National Treasure in the Pegasus World Cup (G1) last month, which followed a second to Hoist The Gold in the Cigar Mile (G1) in November. So he’s kept good company with some of the more highly regarded runners who will line up in the gate next to him.

“Let me tell you, the horse gave me a lot more than I expected,” exercise rider Oscar Rojero said after the son of Mineshaft trained mid-week. “I don’t have words to describe how good the horse went this morning. He was spectacular. Like an angel in heaven.

“Every stride, the way he takes ahold of the track and switches leads in training and then finished his training. He was relaxed and mature. You would have to be in the saddle to understand how the horse was communicating to me how good he was feeling.”

He represents the best of Kentucky blue bloods in his sire and the best from New Mexico in his dam, the Desert God mare Rose’s Desert, who won seven stakes in the Land of Enchantment for the Peacocks in the care of Fincher a decade ago.

2024 Saudi Cup Contender: Senor Buscador

Betting advice: He has run against and been competitive against some of the better runners in North America so it’s hard to like them and discount Senor Buscador’s chances to check in for a piece of the exotics.

Post position: 4

Odds: 10-1 (unofficial US Racing Team odds)

Jockey: Junior Alvarado

Trainer: Todd Fincher

Owner: Joe R. Peacock, Jr.

Age: 6

Career record: 17 6-2-2

Career earnings: $1,496,427

Last race: Pegasus World Cup (G1), 2nd

Top Equibase speed figure: 113

Pedigree: Mineshaft-Rose’s Desert, by Desert God

Color: Bay

Running Style: Deep closer

Notes: This is by far the biggest race for this horse and all of his connections. He is a product of a longtime breeding program run by the Peacocks, who campaigned and bred his his dam, and also campaigned and bred his grand-dam… had a nice 800-meter work over the track on Monday…

2024 Saudi Cup Odds and Contenders
PP Horse Jockey Trainer Owner Odds
1 White Abarrio Irad Ortiz, Jr Rick Dutrow, Jr. C2 Racing Stable LLC and La Milagrosa Stable, LLC 3-1
2 Isolate Joel Rosario Doug Watson RRR Racing 15-1
3 Lemon Pop Ryusei Sakai Hiroyasu Tanaka Godolphin 15-1
4 Senor Buscador Junior Alvarado Todd Fincher Joe R. Peacock, Jr 10-1
5 Saudi Crown Florent Geroux Brad Cox SFMQ Stables 8-1
6 Crown Pride Joao Moreira Koichi Shintani Teruya Yoshida 20-1
7 National Treasure Flavien Prat Bob Baffert F Racing LLC, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables LLC, Masterson, Robert E., Stonestreet Stables LLC, Schoenfarber, Jay A., Waves Edge Capital LLC and Donovan, Catherine 9-2
8 Hoist the Gold John Velazquez Dallas Stewart Dream Team One Racing Stable 30-1
9 Defunded Luis Saez Abdulaziz K Mishref Pegram, Michael E., Watson, Karl and Weitman, Paul 25-1
10 Power in Numbers Adel Alfouraidi Ahmed Mohamoud Klaravich Stables, Inc. 30-1
11 Ushba Tesoro Yuga Kawada Noboru Takagi Ryotokuji Kenji Holdings Co. Ltd. 10-1
12 Meisho Hario Suguru Hamanaka Inao Okada Yoshio Matsumoto 20-1
13 Derma Sotogake Christophe Lemaire Hidetaka Otonashi Hiroyuki Asanuma 6-1
14 Carmel Road Camillo Ospina Abdullah Albadah SF Racing LLC, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables LLC, Masterson, Robert E., Stonestreet Stables LLC, Schoenfarber, Jay A., Waves Edge Capital LLC and Donovan, Catherinetd> 25-1
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