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TAIF: Star names are on show for the penultimate meeting of the Taif racing season, and none are bigger than multiple Grade 1 winner Tilal AI-Khalediah (������Ƶ), who heads the field for the Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Cup at King Khalid Racecourse.

The final two races on Friday both carry purses of $266,000 and are open to Purebred Arabian horses, with the Listed Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Cup over 2,000 meters and the Group 3 King Faisal Cup over the shorter 1,600 meters.

Tilal AI-Khalediah, trained by Nasser Mutlaq and ridden by Adel Alfouraidi, has twice shone on Saudi Cup night with victories in the 2023 Obaiyah Arabian Classic and in this year’s Group 1 renewal of that race.

He will make his first start since his second in Dubai’s Kahayla Classic last April.

The 15-time winner towers above his rivals with chief opponents appearing to be last week’s winner and former stablemate Turki Al-Khalediah II (������Ƶ) and the hattrick-seeking Bint Ghaliat Al-Khalediah (������Ƶ) — both trained by Mousa Almasaodi.

Almasaodi also holds strong claims in the Group 3 King Faisal Cup, restricted to 3-year-olds, as he sends out the top-rated filly Gista (France) who is unbeaten in two runs, and the mount of Fahad Alfouraidi takes on the reopposing Wshmih Alsraya (������Ƶ) under Abdullah Alsaedi.

Also in the lineup are the once-raced and unbeaten pair of Monsieur De Faust (France) and RB Next OF Kin (US) who will be ridden by Alfouraidi and Abdullah Alhussain respectively.

Friday’s main supporting event is the $18,660 Okaz Cup Sponsored by Boutique Group over 2,000 meters with many of the 13-strong field having done battle already this season.

Trainer Nicolas Bachalard’s pair of the Alexis Moreno-ridden Almurtajiz (US) and Tariq Almansour’s Henry Q (US) clashed on Aug. 1 with the latter coming out on top before being beaten later in the month, while Almurtajiz built on his eighth-place finish to land the Alashfa Cup.

The Abdullah Abdulaziz-trained Mr Trinket (Ireland) was third on that occasion but may have been in need of the run on his return to action. He boasts top-class form having been fourth to Rattle N Roll in The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques’ race, and third to Scotland Yard in the Tuwaiq Cup in Riyadh.

Thirteen will go to post in the Taif Cup Fillies Open Sponsored by Saudi National Bank including the storming near 14-length winner of the trial for this 1,600-meter event in the shape of the Aseel Alsarhani-ridden Deem (US).

The Fillies Mile runner from Saudi Cup weekend takes on a high-quality field including the third and fourth from that race — the White Stable’s King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz & Sons’ Fallat Kheir (������Ƶ) and the Thamer Aldaihani-trained Gharamy (Ireland).

Fifteen have been declared for the colts and geldings equivalent, the Taif Cup Open Sponsored by NHC, with the Aldaihani pair of Saudi Derby third Mhally (Great Britain) and Mhalhal (US) setting a decent standard, but they were held last time out by the White Stable’s Jeddah Beach (US) in the Taif Derby.

The White Stable team also send out a fascinating contender in Zend (US) who will have the assistance of Camilo Ospina after making a striking impression when winning his only start in maiden company over 1,400 meters.

Ospina also appears to have good claims in the Taif Cup Local Bred Fillies Open Sponsored by ZOOD Realty over 1,400 meters for juveniles as he rides Taqaarir (������Ƶ) who is unbeaten in two starts and won recently by over 10 lengths.

And in the Taif Cup Local Bred Open Sponsored by Lucid for the males he is again onboard Aatakum (������Ƶ) after they won for the White Stable last month. And they take on Hziz (������Ƶ) who was also a first-start winner and has since been purchased by Prince Faisal bin Khaled bin Abdulaziz.

Saturday’s feature is the marathon $133,000 2,400-meter National Day Cup which has assembled a cast of 12 topped by recent course-and-distance winner Jack Red Cloud (Ireland) for Prince Faisal’s Red Stable, who also send out Mashmookh (������Ƶ) and Mon Choix (Great Britain).

NEW YORK: Bjorn Borg starts his new memoir, “Heartbeats,” with a story about being rushed to a Dutch hospital in the 1990s after overdosing on “alcohol, drugs, pills — my preferred ways of self-medication,” and the Swedish tennis great closes it by revealing that he was diagnosed with prostate cancer.

“It’s good,” Borg, 69, said in a recent video interview with The Associated Press from his home in Stockholm, “to have a good beginning and a good ending.”

In between, the 292-page book, which will be released in the US by Diversion Books on Sept. 23, contains revelations about his love life, various adventures and regrets, and the 11-time Grand Slam champion’s detailed recollections of particular matches.

Bjorn Borg quit tennis at age 25 because he stopped caring when he lost

Famously private, Borg kept a lot to himself during his days on tour — as well as since he surprisingly retired in his 20s.

He brings readers back to when, having lost the 1981 Wimbledon and US Open finals to rival John McEnroe, Borg realized he was done.

“All I could think was how miserable my life had become,” he writes.

He was 25 and, while he would briefly return to tennis, he never competed at another Grand Slam event.

After the 1981 final at the US Open, a tournament he never won, Borg grabbed some beers and sat in the pool at a house on Long Island, where friends planned a party to celebrate a victory.

“I was not upset or sad when I lost the final. And that’s not me as a person. I hate to lose,” he told the AP.

“My head was spinning,” he said, “and I knew I’m going to step away from tennis.”

Bjorn Borg wasn’t always calm on a tennis court

Borg writes about his childhood and his relationships with his parents (and, later, his children).

He writes about earning the nickname “Ice-Borg” for calmness on court — often contrasted by fans to the more fiery McEnroe and Jimmy Connors. And Borg writes that did not come about “organically,” but rather via “the bitter experiences” of a 12-year-old kid.

“I behaved so badly on the tennis court. I was swearing, cheating, behaving the worst you can imagine,” he recalled in the video interview.

He said his hometown tennis club banned him for six months and, when he returned, “I did not open my mouth on the tennis court, because I was scared to get suspended again.”

“Boiling inside? Yes,” Borg told the AP. “I had to control my feelings. ... You cannot do that in one week. It took years to figure out how I should behave on the court.”

Borg discusses cocaine and 2 overdoses that landed him in the hospital

Borg writes about panic attacks and his drug use, which he says started in 1982.

“The first time I tried cocaine,” he says in the book, “I got the same kind of rush I used to get from tennis.”

He also writes about “the worst shame of all,” which he says came when he looked up from a hospital bed in Holland to see his father. Borg also clarifies that an earlier overdose, in 1989 in Italy, was accidental, not a suicide attempt.

“Stupid decision to be involved with this kind of thing. It really destroys you,” he told the AP about drugs. “I was happy to get away from tennis, to get away from that life. But I had no plan what to do. ... I had no people behind me to guide me in the right direction.”

Borg name-drops Trump, Arafat, Warhol, Hefner, Tina Turner in his memoir

In all, Borg paints the picture of quite a life.

There was a water-skiing shoulder injury before 1977 US Open. Death threats during the 1981 US Open. Getting paid in cash ... and getting robbed at gunpoint. A woman claiming he was the father of her son. Coin-throwing by spectators in Rome that led him to never return.

This is not the typical sports autobiography: There is a reference to getting a message to Yasser Arafat and, five pages later, the phrase ”Andy Warhol was someone easy to like” appears. There are name-drops of Donald Trump, Nelson Mandela, Tina Turner and “my old friend Hugh Hefner,” among many, many others.

“People will be very surprised what really happened,” Borg told the AP. “For me to come out (after) all these years, all I went through — I went through some difficult times — (it’s) a relief for me to do this book. I feel so much better. ... No secrets anymore.”