������Ƶ

RIYADH: Horseracing resumes at King Abdulaziz Racecourse in Riyadh next month after the new season schedule was revealed by the Jockey Club of ������Ƶ, culminating with the $20 million Saudi Cup on Feb. 14, 2026.

The new campaign gets underway on Oct. 16 and is the first of 50 meetings for thoroughbred and purebred Arabian horses, which for the first time will end with The Saudi Cup meeting.

The change in schedule is to accommodate Ramadan, which falls around Feb. 28, 2026

The seventh running of The Saudi Cup coincides with a significant moment for ������Ƶ as the 41st Asian Racing Conference, titled “Honouring Tradition — Shaping The Future”, takes place in the country from Feb. 9 and closes at The Saudi Cup.

The season finale gets underway on Feb. 13 and features the popular International Jockeys’ Challenge, The Sarawat and Tuwaiq Cups and builds to the $1.5m Group 1 Al Mneefah Cup for purebred Arabians held over 2,100m on the turf course.

Nine races will be held the following day as The Saudi Cup enters its seventh year with the G2 Neom Turf Cup, G2 Riyadh Dirt Sprint and the Red Sea Turf Handicap offering a host of opportunities on turf and on dirt for the world’s best equine athletes.

Before that, the new Riyadh season begins next month and will be staged in its familiar format with 12-race cards taking place every Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

The most significant meeting outside the season finale is the Saudi Cup trials weekend on Jan. 16-17, which features The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Cup and King Abdulaziz Cup.

American challenger Rattle N Roll landed The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Cup for trainer, Kenny McPeek and jockey Joel Rosario to qualify for The Saudi Cup in 2025, and the winner of the Group 3 next January will also guarantee themselves a starting position in the world’s richest race.

Qualifiers for The Neom Turf Cup, 1351 Turf Sprint, Red Sea Turf Handicap, Riyadh Dirt Sprint and the G1 Obaiyah Classic and G1 Al-Mneefah Cup will also be held over those two days.

Other significant events on the calendar are the Royal Cups on Dec. 26-27, featuring three domestic G1 races — the 1,600m King Fahad Cup for juveniles, the 1,800m King Khaled Cup for three-year-olds and the King Saud Cup over 2,000m for older horses.

Another domestic G1 will be staged on Dec. 5 with The Crown Prince Cup for local bred horses over 2,400m, alongside the Listed Crown Prince Cup.

Both races carry a purse of SR1 million ($266,000) and feature some of the best Saudi-trained horses, with the latter race last won by the French entry Wootton’sun, who went on to finish third to Rattle N Roll and take his chance in The Saudi Cup itself.

India’s Supreme Court on Monday asked the government to respond to a plea seeking an independent investigation into the Air India plane crash on June 12 that killed 260 people.
The top court was responding to a public interest litigation filed by NGO Safety Matters Foundation, marking its first examination of the probe being carried out by Indian authorities into the incident.
In a hearing on Monday, lawyers for the NGO questioned the inclusion of officials from the aviation safety regulator on the probe panel, saying it created a “conflict of interest“
“The investigation necessarily involves a critical examination of DGCA’s own regulatory actions and possible lapses,” the NGO’s plea said.
The Air India-operated Boeing 787 crash killed all but one of the 242 people on board and 19 others on the ground, after the plane lost thrust shortly after takeoff from the Ahmedabad airport.
A preliminary investigation report released earlier by the Indian government showed pilot confusion in the cockpit shortly before the crash after the plane’s fuel engine switches had almost simultaneously flipped from run to cutoff just after takeoff.
The report appeared to exonerate Boeing and engine maker GE Aerospace (GE.N), but some family groups have criticized investigators and the press for being too focused on the pilots’ actions.
“Three of the members are the serving officers of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (flight safety regulator), which creates a very serious conflict of interest,” the NGO’s lawyer Prashant Bhushan told the judges.
The court said it will review the demand for a “fair, impartial, and independent, and expeditious” investigation and it has asked the government to respond.
The case comes just days after a separate case was filed in the United States by families of four passengers against Boeing and Honeywell, which made the switches.