Jockey Luis Saez will return to Saudi Arabia with hopes of defending his crown in the International Jockey Challenge against 13 of the planet's best in the four-race competition Feb. 23.
During the 2023 competition, Saez earned 37 points, defeating Japan's Yuga Kawada and taking home the $30,000 first-place prize. The defending winner faces competition from jockeys out of the United Kingdom, France, United States, South Africa, New Zealand, and Japan—in what promises to be a high-class international showdown.
The U.S. is also represented by Katie Davis, who in 2023 had career-best earnings of $2,372,616.
HRH Prince Bandar Bin Khalid Al-Faisal, chairman of the Jockey Club of Saudi Arabia extended a warm welcome to all jockeys competing in the International Jockeys Challenge.
"The jockeys challenge on the Friday of Saudi Cup weekend is always one of the event highlights for me," he said. "We are justifiably proud of the variety of racing showcased across the two days. To be in a position to offer a global stage to 14 of the world's best jockeys, seven men and seven women, is highly gratifying.
"We wish the best of luck to all the jockeys competing and hope that their feats on the racecourse serve to inspire new generations of riders both in Saudi Arabia and beyond."
Three-time Melbourne Cup (G1) winner Damien Oliver ended a glittering career in the saddle with victory in a race named in his honor in Perth Dec. 16, but has now been enticed back into competitive action.
U.K. champion Ryan Moore, who was once again voted the Longines World's Best Jockey at a ceremony in Hong Kong at the end of 2023, competes in the IJC for the first time, having won races at the highest level in the U.K., France, America, Japan, Hong Kong, UAE, Ireland, Germany, Canada, and Australia.
The male riders also include two domestic stars in the form of eight-time Saudi champion Camilo Ospina, and current title holder Adel Alfouraidi.
The female jockeys include France's Maryline Eon, who in 2017 was the first female to participate in the Prix de Diane (G1), a year after being voted the country's top female rider. She is joined by New Zealand's returning Lisa Allpress who starred in 2020 when she became the first woman to win a flat race in Saudi Arabia. Allpress is a four-time leading rider in her home country, with further antipodean interest coming from the Sydney-based Alysha Collet—who boasts more than 700 wins to her name.
Current French champion jockey Maxime Guyon and Japan's Ryusei Sakai, a jockey no stranger to success in Saudi Arabia having steered Bathrat Leon to victory in last year's 1351 Turf Sprint (G3), will also take part in King Abdulaziz Racecourse's fifth IJC.
Rachel Venniker rode 70 winners in the 2021-22 season to become South Africa's champion apprentice and is currently the only woman riding in that jurisdiction. The KwaZulu-Natal native will line-up alongside Brazil's Victoria Mota. Mota, the 24-year-old daughter of top Brazilian jockey Alex Mota, won on her very first ride and was champion apprentice the 2016-17 season and has now ridden more than 250 winners.
Britain's Saffie Osborne is the final name to be announced and the daughter of U.K. trainer and former jockey, Jamie Osborne. She has more than 160 wins to her name and was part of the female team that triumphed at last year's Shergar Cup competition at Ascot.
This press release has been edited for content and style by BloodHorse Staff.
