Romantic Warrior, the richest racehorse of all-time, will try to win the world's richest race when he leaves the starting gate in the 2025 Saudi Cup on Saturday at King Abdulaziz Racecourse in Riyadh. The 7-year-old Irish bred, who has been campaigned almost exclusively in Hong Kong, has earned $22.8 million in his career. On Saturday, he will try to win the sixth running of the Saudi Cup, which features the most lucrative purse in horse racing at $20 million. Romantic Warrior is 5-2 in the 2025 Saudi Cup odds. Forever Young is the 8-5 favorite in the 14-horse 2025 Saudi Cup field. Post time is 12:40 p.m. ET. The latest 2025 Saudi Cup forecast is calling for mostly cloudy skies and temperatures in the 70s.
With some of the world's best horses set to enter the starting gate on Saturday, you'll want to see what Santa Anita-based racing reporter and insider Michelle Yu, who is in Saudi Arabia to cover the race, has to say before making any 2025 Saudi Cup picks.
Few people in racing are as well-connected as Yu. An on-air host and reporter who has provided racing analysis for TVG, HRTV and the Breeders' Cup, Yu has spent a lifetime in racing. Prior to her television career, she worked for trainers Steve Asmussen and Ron Moquett. She also is married to Santa Anita-based trainer Ryan Hanson.
Yu also has tremendous handicapping chops. In a wide-open Kentucky Derby in 2021, she gave out Medina Spirit, who crossed the finish line first, as the winner at 12-1. In Pool 5 of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager three years ago, she suggested a play on All Other 3-Year-Olds, which cashed at a whopping 18-1 when Rich Strike won the Derby.
Last year, she correctly called National Treasure to win the Pegasus World Cup, predicted Stronghold's upset win in the Santa Anita Derby and smashed the exacta in the Apple Blossom Handicap. On the Belmont Stakes undercard, she nailed National Treasure's win in the Met Mile and had the winner and exacta in the Woody Stephens Stakes. She closed out the year by hitting the exacta in the Breeders' Cup Classic, and she started off 2025 by correctly going all-in on Citizen Bull to win the Robert B. Lewis Stakes. Anyone who has followed her is way up.
For the 2025 Saudi Cup, Yu has made her picks and constructed her bets. One surprise: Yu is fading Rattle N Roll, even though he is one of the top favorites! "The Clark Handicap winner dominated in his local debut last time out, and trainer Kenny McPeek has been thrilled with the way he has been training since," Yu told Sportsline. "He appears to be full of run in the mornings, but I don't think he's quite international caliber."
Instead, Yu is high on a horse with a strong pedigree that everyone is sleeping on! She is including this horse in her 2025 Saudi Cup bets, and so should you. You ABSOLUTELY NEED to see her picks before locking in any of your own.
So who wins the 2025 Saudi Cup? And how has Yu constructed her wagers? ... Join SportsLine right now to get Michelle Yu's 2025 Saudi Cup picks, all from the racing insider who nailed the Breeders' Cup Classic!
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