Rattle set to Roll in US$20 million Saudi feature
Time and not as much vigour in training has helped US trainer Kenny McPeek slide Rattle N Roll towards a start in the Group 1 Saudi Cup on Saturday.
McPeek sent the six-year-old to Saudi Arabia two months ago and is seeing that as a wise move for how well the stallion has settled into his surroundings before taking on the world’s richest race.
“This is a horse that has rewarded us with the time that we have given him and he is a graded winner at two, three, four, five, and six-years old,” McPeek said.
“We’ve approached him a little bit differently, the older he’s become.
“I, admittedly, was pretty aggressive with him as a 3-year-old and even ran him back on seven days’ rest.
“He should have won both if not for a little traffic issue.”
Rattle N Roll took out the Grade 2 Clark Stakes at Churchill Downs over the same 1800-metre trip as this weekend’s assignment before setting off from the USA for the Middle East.
Time to acclimate helped deliver a first win for the son of US sire Connect last month in the Group 3 The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Cup (1800m) at Riyahd.
“He won in impressive fashion in November,” McPeek said.
“We could have taken him to The Pegasus at Gulfstream Park in Florida but we were approached by local ownership about bringing him to Saudi Arabia.
“One more step here and then hopefully we can make it to Dubai.”
With eleven wins in his career so far, McPeek knows he has a horse that can be competitive wherever he starts.
“He really is an intelligent horse,” he added.
“He knows how to run and he knows how to finish. You can’t train that into them and he has handled anywhere we’ve taken him.”
McPeek admits that Rattle N Roll would likely have a higher profile among racing fans had he gained a start in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Classic but missed out on a run as first emergency.
Coincidentally, the horse missed a start in the 2023 Grade 1 Kentucky Derby – a race that McPeek won a year later – for the same reason.
Rattle N Roll, with jockey Joel Rosario aboard, will start from barrier seven while race favourite Romantic Warrior starts from barrier three.
