A big step forward for racing in the Middle East - and a big worry back home

You might not think the launch of the most valuable fixture in world racing would have major ramifications on much lower-rated horses in Britain and Ireland, but I fear you'd be wrong.

At a series of media events last week to announce that prize-money for the two-day Saudi Cup fixture in 2022 had increased to $35.1 million, it was also revealed that talks to create a coordinated racing calendar in the Gulf for international runners were gathering pace, with ultra-valuable meetings in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain now aligned with the Dubai Carnival. Furthermore, the three jurisdictions are discussing even more joined-up scheduling and simpler quarantine measures.

Saudi Cup organisers outlined this ambition when I travelled to Riyadh for the inaugural running in 2019, when it could have been waved off as the bold claims of an ambitious new project desperately seeking global relevance, but it is now becoming a reality and one that has worrying implications for British and Irish racing.