Churchill Downs Update: Cox Looking Forward to Getting Saudi Crown Back to Churchill Downs for Hanshin Stakes

Jun 28, 2025

FMQ Stables’ Saudi Crown, a multi-millionaire and Grade I-winning 5-year-old, returns to action Sunday at Churchill Downs with trainer Brad Cox confident he can add another victory to his resumé in the 72nd running of the $300,000 Hanshin presented by JRA (Listed).

“I’m very happy with the way he’s been training at Churchill going into this race,” Cox said. “I think the race sets up well for him and should be able to handle the one-turn mile. He has a win over this track a couple years ago and we’re looking forward to getting him back to his home track on Sunday.”

Saudi Crown, listed as the 9-5 favorite in Sunday’s race, has banked more than $3.4 million through 15 starts with seven victories including the 2023 Pennsylvania Derby (GI). As a 4-year-old, Saudi Crown’s campaign sent him to both Saudi Arabia for the Saudi Cup (GI) and Dubai for the Godolphin Mile (GI). Following unsuccessful efforts in both races, he returned stateside and finished 13th in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile (GI). In his last start, the son of Always Dreaming bounced back to the winner’s circle with a hard-fought, gate-to-wire victory over Kentucky Derby 150 hero Mystik Dan in the Lake Ouachita Stakes at Oaklawn.

“I think it just depends on the horse on how they bounce back after shipping overseas,” Cox said. “We sent Knicks Go over to Saudi Arabia and his first start back in the Met Mile (GI) didn’t go well but went on to win the Cornhusker (GIII), Whitney (GI), Lukas Classic (GII) and Breeders’ Cup Classic (GI). With Saudi Crown, he competed in both Saudi Arabia and Dubai. He came back to Kentucky and was able to win his first start in the Cowboy Jones at Ellis.”

The Hanshin, run as Race 8 of 11, will share the Sunday spotlight with the $250,000 Maxfield (Listed); $225,000 Bashford Manor (Listed); $225,000 Debutante (Listed); and $175,000 Anchorage Overnight Stakes.

Post time for the Hanshin is 4:23 p.m. (all times Eastern). First post is 12:45 p.m.

The field for the Hanshin from the rail out (with jockey, trainer and morning line odds):

Banishing (Jose Ortiz, David Jacobson, 2-1)
Judge Miller (Antonio Fresu, Mark Glatt, 6-1)
Best Actor (Mario Gutierrez, Ed Moger Jr., 20-1)
Saudi Crown (Geroux, Cox, 9-5)
Tumbarumba (Luis Saez, Brian Lynch, 10-1)
Extra Anejo (Flavien Prat, Steve Asmussen, 6-1)
Will Take It (Brian Hernandez Jr., Dallas Stewart, 10-1)
Cagliostro (Irad Ortiz Jr., Cherie DeVaux)
Cox entered Saturday’s card in the heat of the leading trainer race at the 43-day Spring Meet. His 17 victories were two behind Joe Sharp. Steve Asmussen loomed in third with 14 wins.

Along with Saudi Crown in the Hanshin, Cox had nine horses entered across seven races Saturday and Sunday. Sharp had seven horses entered across five races while Asmussen had 17 horses in 13 races.

With Sunday being the final day of the meet at Churchill Downs, there will be mandatory payouts in all wagers, including the 20-cent Derby City 6 Jackpot which will span the final six races on the card.

Sunday’s wagering menu also will include a special $3 All Turf Pick 3 that includes the trio of turf stakes contests: a five-furlong allowance event in Race 5 with 11 fillies and mares; $175,000 Anchorage Overnight Stakes in Race 9 with nine fillies and mares; and an over-subscribed field of 12 3-year-old fillies plus three also-eligibles in a 1 1/8-mile maiden special weight in Race 11. The bet will have a horseplayer friendly 15-percent takeout.

Fans can watch and wager on all the action at www.TwinSpires.com, the official wagering provider of Churchill Downs Incorporated.

TWINSPIRES OFFERS EXCLUSIVE PAYOUT GUARANTEE ON DERBY CITY 6 JACKPOT – TwinSpires, the official online betting provider of Churchill Downs Incorporated, is guaranteeing the Derby City 6 Jackpot single-ticket payout up to $3 million on Saturday, an exclusive offer for a single-ticket winner who bets the sequence through TwinSpires.com, the TwinSpires iOS application, or TwinSpires Android application.

Saturday’s Derby City 6 Jackpot stood at a massive $1,314,893. If there is a unique winning ticket belonging to a TwinSpires customer, that lucky bettor’s payout will be boosted to $2 million (subject to any applicable tax withholding).

Saturday’s sequence: (with field size as of 10:30 a.m.)

Race 7 (3:52 p.m.): $500,000 Fasig-Tipton Fleur de Lis (GII), f&m, 1 1/8 M (five runners)
Race 8 (4:25 p.m.): $250,000 Tepin (Listed), 3yo f, 1 M (T) (eight runners)
Race 9 (4:58 p.m.): $250,000 Kelly’s Landing (GIII), 3&up, 6 ½ F (eight runners)
Race 10 (5:31 p.m.): $500,000 Wise Dan (GII), 4&up, 1 1/16 M (T) (nine runners)
Race 11 (6:03 p.m.): $1 million Stephen Foster (GI), 4&up, 1 1/8 M (six runners)
Race 12 (6:32 p.m.): $250,000 American Derby (Listed), 3yo, 1 1/16 M (T) (10 runners)
Track conditions were Fast/Firm as of 10 a.m. with the temporary rail on the Matt Winn Turf Course set in Lane 1.

The Derby City 6 Jackpot tests bettors to correctly select all six winners, and if they have the only winning combination, they will take down the entire jackpot. If there are multiple winning combinations, 90 percent of the day’s pool is paid out with the other 10 percent going to the carryover. If there are no correct combinations, the entire day’s pool will be added to the jackpot.

Sunday’s card will feature mandatory payout in all wagers.

SPECIAL ALL TURF PICK 3 OFFERED CLOSING WEEKEND – A special $3 All-Turf Pick 3 has been added to the wagering menu for Saturday and Sunday’s cards at Churchill Downs, the final two days of the 43-day Spring Meet.

The $3 All-Turf Pick 3 will have an all-stakes sequence for the Saturday’s card and feature the $500,000 Wise Dan (Grade II), $250,000 American Derby (Listed) and $250,000 Tepin Stakes (Listed).

The bet will have a horseplayer-friendly 15-percent takeout and be available to bet on track at Churchill Downs, simulcast and ADW outlets across North America and www.TwinSpires.com, the official wagering provider of Churchill Downs Incorporated.

The Saturday sequence will begin with the Tepin Stakes in Race 8 at 4:25 p.m. (all times Eastern). First post is 12:45 p.m.

Sunday’s wager begins in Race 5 at 2:46 p.m. The sequence includes a wide-open field of allowance horses (Race 5, 11 entries), the $175,000 Anchorage Overnight Stakes (Race 9, nine entries) and an uber-competitive cast in a maiden special weight (Race 12, 12 entries plus three also-eligibles).

Along with the $3 All-Turf Pick 3, the closing day will include mandatory payouts in all wagers.

For more information about the Churchill Downs Spring Meet, visit www.churchilldowns.com

FUTURE STARS OFTEN EMERGE FROM CHURCHILL DOWNS’ CLOSING DAY 2-YEAR-OLD MAIDEN – The first six-furlong $120,000 maiden special weight for 2-year-olds on the year at Churchill Downs is Sunday’s fourth race on closing day. The winner of the race has gone on to win a graded stakes event eight times in the last 19 years, including 2005 Hopeful (GI) winner First Samurai; 2009 Forego (GI) winner Pyro; 2009 Iroquois (GIII) winner Theskyhasnolimit; 2010 Sanford (GII) winner Maybesomaybenot; 2014 Dominion Day (GIII) winner Sky Captain; 2016 Sanford (GIII) winner Bitumen; 2021 Hopeful (GI) winner Gunite; and 2022 Saratoga Special (GII) winner Damon’s Mound. Last year’s winner was the Dale Romans-trained Keep It Easy ($48.58), who’d finish last of eight after a bad stumble in the Saratoga Special (GII) at 5-2. He’d go on to win the $225,000 Ed Brown Stakes by 5 ¼ lengths last fall. The favored fifth-place finisher in last year's six-furlong maiden was Sandman, who later won this year’s $1.5 million Arkansas Derby (GI) before finishing seventh in the Kentucky Derby and third in the Preakness.

DOWN THE STRETCH – Jockey Corey Lanerie became the second all-time leading rider in Churchill Downs history Friday, recording his 1,233rd victory beneath the famed Twin Spires aboard Taylor’s Version in Race 11. Lanerie passed Calvin Borel’s mark of 1,232 victories at Churchill Downs and needs 1,249 more wins to reach Pat Day’s all-time mark of 2,482. … For more information on the Churchill Downs Spring Meet, visit www.churchilldowns.com.