Daniel and Claire Kubler’s Astro King will fly the flag for his upwardly-mobile stable in the Neom Turf Cup at Riyadh on Saturday.

The gelding had a successful campaign last season, winning two good handicap pots in both the Sky Bet Finale at York and the Cambridgeshire at Newmarket.

There was also a near-miss as the horse was narrowly outdone in the John Smith’s Cup on the Knavesmire in July, and at the end of the season he headed out to the Middle East to contest the Group Two Bahrain International Trophy.

The seven-year-old had a luckless passage through the race when trapped on the inside rail, but he still ran with credit in sixth and set a precedent for further travel after taking the journey in his stride.

With that in mind, his first start this year will be in the Neom Turf Cup at the Saudi Cup meeting, a race upgraded from Group Three to Group Two status and run for an exceptional prize fund of $2million.

Daniel Kubler reports the bay to have landed in the desert in good form and though his draw in stall 11 is less than ideal, he is still hopeful the horse will do the yard proud at the meeting.

“He travelled over to Saudi last Saturday and he seems to have travelled very well,” he said.

“We’re looking forward to it, I understand he’s been drawn in stall 11 and we would have preferred a bit lower but there’s not much we can do about it.

“We haven’t overly pushed him but we’re happy with how he’s trained going into it, his preparation has been pretty similar to when he went to Bahrain and we were pretty happy with how he ran there.

“He was a little bit unlucky with how the race panned out but hopefully he’ll have a bit more luck in running this time and he can come home with some prize-money – the money out there is pretty ridiculous!”

This year’s Bahrain International Trophy looks like being the strongest to date with a strong international contingent lined up.

The contest has been upgraded to Group Two level following last season’s renewal and the prize money, which has been increased to $1million, has attracted runners from five different countries.

Among them is John and Thady Gosden’s Israr, a Shadwell owned and bred colt who has been in good form all year.

The four-year-old was second in a Group Three at Newbury and the Listed Ebor trial at York before winning the Group Two Princess of Wales’s Stakes at Newmarket in July – beating 2021 Derby winner Adayar.

He finished his domestic campaign with another second-placed run, this time in the Cumberland Lodge at Ascot, and now heads out to Bahrain in hope of collecting more prize money there.

John Gosden, who trains Israr alongside his son, Thady, said: “We are confident Israr will run a really nice race over the mile and a quarter, it’s a very competitive field but so it should be.

“It’s an exciting, lovely race, well timed in the calendar and the prize money has been increased so that makes it even more attractive. We’ve been second in it, so we are itching to win it one day.”

Of Shadwell’s fortunes throughout the season, Gosden added: “They have had an incredibly successful year. It is a huge achievement on the part of everyone at Shadwell to be leading owner and a lot of that success has been down to the older, homebred horses, such as Israr.

“Since Sheikh Hamdan died, his daughter Sheikha Hissa has taken hold of the operation and her father would be extremely proud of her.”

Also set to represent the UK in the race is Richard Fahey’s Spirit Dancer, co-owned and bred by former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson and the winner of the Group Three Strensall Stakes at York.

Daniel and Claire Kubler have an entrant in Astro King, twice a winner this season including in the 34-runner Cambridgeshire at Newmarket in late September.

Above The Curve has been entered by Joseph O’Brien whilst his father Aidan could saddle Point Lonsdale, with Noel Meade putting forward a further Irish runner in Layfayette.

There are two French-trained horses on the list in Andre Fabre’s Birr Castle and Andreas Schutz’s French 2000 Guineas winner Marhaba Ya Sanafi, whereas the home team is represented by Fawzi Nass’ Calif and Qaader.

Finally, there is a significant Godolphin challenge for the race as Charlie Appleby intends to run Canadian International winner Nations Pride and Highland Avenue and Saeed bin Suroor will saddle last year’s winner Dubai Future and Real World.