The biggest moment of David Egan's career to date came when he steered Mishriff to Saudi Cup success 12 months ago.
And the Kildare native will be hoping he can do so again this weekend when he gets back on board the John Gosdon-trained five-year-old.
Reflecting on last year's win in the $20million race, Egan said: “The Saudi Cup meeting has obviously had a huge impact on my life. Prince Faisal, who has been in the racing industry for so long, and to be able to win it with a horse he bred must have been very special for him. For me to be able to deliver that was very heartwarming.”
The jockey was speaking in a short film entitled The Story of Mishriff, which was commissioned by the Jockey Club of Saudi Arabia.
Mishriff will become the highest earning racehorse of all time if he successfully defends his crown in The Saudi Cup on Saturday.
Owned and bred by Prince A A Faisal, Mishriff has competed at the first two Saudi Cup meetings and in the film his owner-breeder tells presenter Nick Luck that he looked “horrible” when he first saw pictures of him as a foal before turning into “a proper horse”.
The horse has extra significance for Prince Faisal having been named after his former trainer, Mishriff, who taught him the “Arab way of looking at a horse”. After being reared at Coolmore, Mishriff was sent to Gosden, who Prince Faisal describes as “the best trainer in the world”.
Gosden says he needed time to fill into his frame when he first came to the yard, but he had a tremendous three-year-old year before showing his versatility by being able to cope with the American pace in The Saudi Cup and then going on to land the Sheema Classic on turf over a mile and a half (2400m).
He said: “The plan has always been to come back again for The Saudi Cup, and it looks a mighty tough field but so it should be.”
Finally, Prince Faisal explains the love he has for horses: “Nobody loves racing and horses like Arabs. I just love the horse and I think that people who don’t love horses shouldn’t have anything to do with racing. This is the whole thing, if you don’t enjoy it, leave it.”
The Story of Mishriff was filmed and produced by Equine Productions.
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