Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has crowned Japan’s Panthalasa as the winner of the 4th edition of the Saudi Cup 2023, the richest global horse racing event which was held at the King Abdulaziz Racecourse in Riyadh.
During a ceremony on Saturday, the Crown Prince awarded Naoki Yoneyama, president of Hiroo Race Co Ltd and owners of Panthalassa, the Saudi Cup.
Panthalassa was trained by Yoshito Yahagi and strode away with the championship, covering a distance of 1,800 meters in a time of 1:50:80, in the most valuable race in the world.
The Crown Prince congratulated trainer Yahagi, and the jockey, Yutaka Yoshida.
Saudi Cup 2023 race activities began on Friday, with a total prize pool of $35 million, divided into 16 rounds, with the participation of 243 horses from 16 countries.
In the closing race, Panthalasa outperformed 13 of the world’s best horses.
Other final round prizes for the Saudi Cup were won by Country Grammar, Cafe Pharoah, Geoglyph, Crown Pride and Emblem Road.
Japanese teams won prize money amounting to $14 million in the last round, 10 million of which went to the champion, two million to the third, one and a half million dollars to the fourth, and one million dollars to the fifth.
