Sport

Saudi Cup witholding €18m prize money as winner faces drug investigation

Maximum Security’s trainer Servis among two dozen trainers in US accused of doping

Maximum Security (R) won February’s Saudi Cup. Photograph: Fayez Nureldine/Getty/AFP

Tue Apr 14 2020 - 16:29

The organisers of the inaugural Saudi Cup, the world’s richest horse race, are withholding the $20 million (€18m) in prize money while they investigate whether the winner, Maximum Security, was aided by performance-enhancing drugs. Last month, the trainer of the colt, Jason Servis, was among more than two dozen trainers, veterinarians and drug distributors accused, by federal prosecutors in the United States in a series of indictments, of secretly doping horses and cheating the betting public.

Servis has pleaded not guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit drug adulteration and misbranding. The colt’s owners, Gary and Mary West, were due to collect a $10m (€9m) cheque after Maximum Security held off a hard-charging Midnight Bisou to capture the Saudi Cup on February 29th at King Abdulaziz Racetrack in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. On March 9th, prosecutors announced the indictments.

In a statement, the Jockey Club of Saudi Arabia acknowledged it had been investigating the allegations made in the indictments and said its work had been slowed by the restrictions brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. “JCSA is conducting its own investigation in respect of the allegations, and until that investigation is concluded, JCSA will withhold payment of prize money due to all connections of horses placed in prizewinning positions,” the statement said, also noting that all owners of horses in the race had been notified.

The purse structure for the Saudi Cup called for paying $3.5m (€3m) to the runner-up, $2m (€1.8m) to the third-place finisher and $1.5m (€1.3m) to the fourth-place finisher. The rest of the field was to be paid from $1m (€900,000) down to $200,000 (€180,000) for the 10th-place finisher. If Maximum Security were to be disqualified, or “taken down,” Midnight Bisou would pick up the $10 million and every other finisher would move up and collect a bigger check.

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Last May, Maximum Security crossed the finish line first at the Kentucky Derby, only to be disqualified for almost knocking over a rival horse and slowing the momentum of others. Country House, a 65-1 shot, was named the winner. Maximum Security went on to win four of his next five races, including the Saudi Cup. - NYT

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