Nabucco Al Maury Has Second Crack at Riyadh Group 1

FRENCH CHALLENGER AIMING TO GO ONE BETTER IN AL MNEEFAH

Image: Nabucco Al Maury (right) finishes second in the 2025 G1 Al Mneefah Cup at King Abdulaziz Racecourse. Credit: Jockey Club of Saudi Arabia / Neville Hopwood.

French raider Nabucco Al Maury (FR) will return to Riyadh on February 13 hoping to go one better than last year when finishing runner-up to the reopposing RB Kingmaker (USA) in the USD$1.5m Group 1 Al Mneefah Cup, presented by Ministry of Culture.

Trained in 2025 by Hamad Al-Jehani, the 6-year-old son of Assy (QA) joined the yard of Xavier Thomas-Demeaulte in Mont-de-Marsan last spring where he has continued to thrive.

Although he has not quite managed to reach the top step of the podium in the last couple of seasons, he has remained a model of consistency. His last run in the G1 HH The President Cup in December in Abu Dhabi behind local champion, HM Alchahine (FR) was particularly eye-catching.

“That was a really good performance,” confirms the French handler, who will also saddle the mare, Lacaro du Croate (FR) in the 2100m turf race.

“I didn’t train Nabucco Al Maury when he came to Riyadh last year. He arrived in my yard in the spring, and we have progressively worked our way to the top. He has improved with each of his runs. His second place behind HM Alchahine was very good. We beat RB Kingmaker quite easily, which we hadn’t done before, so that was a great result.”

The Helal & Tahnon Alalawi-trained RB Kingmaker (USA) will once more feature amongst his opponents in the Al Mneefah Cup, but Thomas-Demeaulte admits that he hasn’t really looked at the field yet.

“I know that he is in it” said the trainer. “We beat him quite easily in Abu Dhabi, but he probably needed that race and we know he runs well in Riyadh. Maybe, he will transform himself there. And I know that there is the very good mare of Alban de Mieulle, RB Mary Lylah (USA), in the field, so we shall see.”

The only French-based trainer with runners in the two events for Purebred Arabians this year, he is also looking forward to saddling the five-year-old mare Lacaro du Croate in the Al Mneefah.

A winner of the G1 Criterium des Pouliches – Wathba Stallions at La Teste in France last July, she has just made her seasonal reappearance in a conditions race at Pau where she finished second to dual Triple Crown champion, Al Ghadeer (FR).

“It was a good performance,” added the trainer. “She only saw Al Ghadeer’s behind but that was to be expected. He did his job, she did hers. In fact, she did what we asked her to do.”

With exceptionally heavy rainfalls continuing to sweep across the southwest of France, their trainer decided last week to take both contenders to the Pau racecourse for a final blow-out.

“It’s just terrible how much rain we have had. Last weekend I was supposed to go away but then decided, no, I’m taking my horsebox and I’m going to drive to Pau to work them properly. Luckily, the jockeys were great and went along with my plan. They enjoyed a good gallop and are in good order.”

While Nabucco Al Maury and Lacaro du Croate had to brave the difficult weather conditions in France, Moshrif (FR), who is Thomas-Demeaulte’s runner in the $2m G1 Obaiya Arabian Classic, presented by Al Hammadi Hospitals, has enjoyed the ambient temperatures in Riyadh.

“He has been in Riyadh for a while,” confirms his trainer. “We took him there for the prep race on January 9, where he finished fifth. I hadn’t worked him a lot since he won his race in Morocco last year, so he wasn’t a hundred per cent fit yet, but it was still a good performance.”

Th 8-year-old is a regular in Riyadh where he was the runner-up to the greatn Tilal Al Khalediah in the 2024 running of the Al Mneefah Cup, but this time he will tackle top-class opposition on dirt.

“He proved when ran in January that he can handle the dirt. He has been in Riyadh since that last run and I went out there ten days ago to see how he was. He is in good form and I was very happy with him,” added Thomas-Demeaulte.

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