The King Faisal Cup for Arabian Horses is a Saudi race for three-year-old purebred Arabian horses, run over a 1,600 m sand track. Its first edition closed the Taif Summer Racing season in 2021 and the winner collected SAR1 million after the race was upgraded to listed status.
The first edition of the King Faisal Cup for Arabian Horses
The opening edition took place at King Khalid Bin Abdulaziz Square in Hawiyah, Taif, on September 10, 2021. The full title of the event is the King Faisal Cup for Purebred Arabian Horses, and the race was staged on a sandy 1,600 m track as the main event of the day.
Taif has a long association with Arabian horse breeding, described in our overview of Arabian horses in Taif.
Listed status and classification
Approval to upgrade the cup to listed status was issued in August 2021, during the first edition, after the horse racing club submitted a request to IFAHR, the International Federation of Arabian Horse Racing Authorities. It was the first upgrade of its kind in the country’s racing history and raised the competitive standard of racing in the Kingdom.
The trophy
The trophy was made of pure gold and finished in gold and silver. It stands about eighty cm long and about seventy cm high, with a separate base of ten cm, and it was designed by the oldest international design agency in Italy.
Race card of the 2021 meeting
The twenty-third ceremony of the horse racing calendar on September 10, 2021 at King Khalid Square carried eight rounds.
| Round | Race | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| First | Open round | 2,000 m |
| Second | Open round | 2,000 m |
| Third | Open round | 1,400 m |
| Fourth | Open round | 1,200 m |
| Fifth | Taif Cup, three-year-olds | 1,600 m |
| Sixth | Taif Cup, open grade, three-year-olds | 1,600 m |
| Seventh | King Faisal Cup, three-year-olds, listed | 1,600 m |
| Eighth | Okaz Cup | 2,000 m |
Why the race matters
A listed classification places a race on the international grading ladder, which affects the value of winning bloodlines and attracts stronger entries. Details of the meeting were reported by the Saudi Press Agency.
Equestrian events sit inside a much larger sports build-out, from the venues described in our piece on Prince Faisal Bin Fahd Sports City Stadium to the capital deployed through Surj Sports Investment. Traditional animal husbandry remains part of the same cultural picture, as our guide to the Arabian camel shows.
Key takeaways
- First edition: September 10, 2021, King Khalid Square, Hawiyah, Taif
- Distance: 1,600 m on sand, for three-year-old purebred Arabian horses
- Prize: SAR1 million for the champion
- Listed status approved by IFAHR in August 2021, a first for the Kingdom
Season dates and supporting events are usually announced ahead of the summer meeting, and the wider calendar appears in our roundup of Saudi festivals and events.
