Elite Power, Gunite Face 2022 Winner in Riyadh Sprint

The days may be running out on the second month of the year but on Feb. 25 about as good of a dirt sprint stakes as 2023 will produce will take place in the desert setting of Saudi Arabia.

With a jumbo $1.5 million pure as the lure, Saturday's Riyadh Dirt Sprint (G3) attracted, among others, the winner of the 2022 edition by 5 3/4-length margin, the reigning champion sprinter in the United States, and a 4-year-old with the potential to be a top candidate for the 2023 Eclipse Award.

"It's a good field but we'll give it a try," said Bill Mott, trainer of Juddmonte's Elite Power , the Eclipse Award-winning male sprinter of 2022 after winning the Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1) in the fall.

The field for the Dirt Sprint (11:45 a.m. ET) also includes grade 1 winner Gunite  from the United States and Japan's Dancing Prince, the 2022 winner of the rich 1,200-meter (about six furlongs) stakes at King Abdulaziz Racecourse, meaning Juddmonte's son of Curlin   will need to be razor sharp against an international array of eight rivals in his first race since the Nov. 5 Breeders' Cup Sprint at Keeneland.

"I would want to think you're confident when you ship a horse all the way over there," Mott said. "A major piece of running in a race like this is the shipping. He shipped over well. (Assistant trainer and exercise rider) Neil Poznansky went with him, and the horse had a nice blowout after he got there. It takes about 23 hours to go there stall-to-stall, but that is not much different than the van ride from Florida to New York.  There's a different time zone and climate there, but Neil said it's been cool at night."

The 5-year-old Elite Power, who has won five of eight starts and earned $1.4 million, enters Saturday's race with five straight wins, capped by his 1 1/4-length victory in the Breeders' Cup. The champion sprinter was bred by Alpha Delta Stables in Kentucky and bought for $900,000 from the Lane's End consignment at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale.

Winchell Thoroughbred's Gunite, a 4-year-old homebred son of Gun Runner  , punched his ticket to the Middle East after winning the six-furlong King Cotton Stakes at Oaklawn Park by four lengths in 1:08.89 over a sloppy, sealed track Jan. 28.

"We're excited about running (Saturday) and pleased with the way he ran (in the King Cotton)," said David Fiske, racing manager for Winchell Thoroughbreds. "He hadn't run in a six-furlong sprint in a while but ran very fast, and that allowed us to make the decision to run over there."

Gunite's only other six-furlong race was a June 26, 2021, maiden win at Churchill Downs. He has excelled at seven furlongs, winning the Hopeful Stakes (G1) at age 2 and finishing second in the H. Allen Jerkens Memorial (G1) at 3. He closed out 2022 with a fourth in the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1) around two turns.

"He, like most horses, as he gets older, he looks more mature and carries his weight better," Fiske said about the 4-year-old who may try the March 25 Godolphin Mile (G2) at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai if he turns in a strong effort Saturday. "He's just a bigger, better version of himself now."

The 7-year-old Dancing Prince gave Japan back-to-back victories in the Dirt Sprint last year and won in a front-running manner, making him highly formidable in Saturday's edition. A winner of five of his last six starts, the son of Pas De Trois is 11-for-16 overall with earnings of $2.7 million.

He is one of four Japanese entrants among the field of nine.

A third American-based horse could emerge a threat to Dancing Prince on the front end.

Maitha Salem Mohammed Belobaida Alsuwaidi's Meraas  won the Al Shindagha Sprint (G3) at Meydan last February, then was sent to trainer Chad Summers' barn in New York. In his third U.S. start, the 6-year-old Oasis Dream  gelding notched a gate-to-wire 2 1/4-length victory in a Dec. 30 allowance optional claimer at Aqueduct Racetrack, leading through a half-mile in :44.85 and finishing in 1:10.39—both times faster than the clockings in the Gravesend Stakes later in the card.