COLLETT AT THE TOP OF HER GAME AS AN INTERNATIONAL ASSIGNMENT BECKONS

By Graham Potter | Monday, January 31, 2022

If she needed a confidence booster as she starts to prepare for an upcoming international assignment, Samantha Collett has got that detail covered.

Seven winners in the last nine days will do that for you.

A New Zealand Jockey Premiership winner who is now making waves in Queensland, Collett is one of fourteen riders invited to compete in the stc International Jockey’s Challenge Day to be held at the King Abdulaziz Racecourse in Riyadh in Saudi Arabia on Friday February 25, 2022.

While other International Jockey’s Challenges do take place around the world, the stc International Jockey’s Challenge Day is billed as a unique event as it the only event of its kind to feature equal numbers of men and women … with seven international female and seven international male jockeys competing as individuals in the Challenge.

They will all be riding locally trained horses over a series of four races, worth US$400,000 each, with the winner of the Challenge being decided on a points system basis.

Collett will be aiming to follow in the footsteps of her compatriot Lisa Allpress who became the first woman to win a horse race in Saudi Arabia when she guided Matmon to victory in the opening leg of Saudi Arabia’s inaugural International Jockeys' Challenge two years ago.

After taking part in the Jockey’s Challenge on the Friday, Collett will also be on hand the next day for the running of the richest race in the world, the USD$20m Saudi Cup, the highlight the two-day Saudi Cup Carnival.

And Aussie interest in the two-day festival won’t stop there.

Glen Boss, who announced his retirement from riding at the end of November before receiving a ‘too good to refuse’ invitation to ride in the stc International Jockey’s Challenge Day will also take his place in the line-up.

Boss’s much hoped for Grand Finale result didn’t go to script when the well fancied Spanish Mission could only finish third in the Zipping Classic back in November … but on February 25 Boss will be at it again … albeit for one last throw of the dice … and you wouldn’t put it past him ultimately go out with that closing race victory.

In all, the two days of Saudi Cup racing will host sixteen races offering a staggering, combined prize -money pool of US$35.1m.

Not surprising then that the 2022 Saudi Cup meeting has attracted over 700 entries … including 71 international Group 1 winners … from twenty-two different countries!

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