Emblem Road was a hugely popular but shock winner for the home team in the $20million Saudi Cup in Riyadh on Saturday.

Trained locally by Mitab Almulawah and ridden by Wigberto ‘Wiggy’ Ramos, Emblem Road is a prolific winner in his homeland but was expected to be up against it taking on the best performers from America, Japan and Europe.

Sent on his way at 80/1, Emblem Road was only seventh turning into the straight when it looked like the huge prize-money was sure to head to America.

Bob Baffert’s Country Grammer and the Steve Asmussen-trained Midnight Bourbon looked set to fight out a famous finish with Making Miracles, who won the 2019 Chester Cup for Mark Johnston, just behind them.

However, Emblem Road, a stablemate of Making Miracles, was beginning to hit top gear down the centre of the track.

Even with half a furlong to run and with Emblem Road still over a length down, the result began to look inevitable and the home crowd started to go wild.

Ramos began his celebrations on crossing the line and he looked as dumbfounded as the rest. Country Grammer was second with Midnight Bourbon third.

There were some big disappointments, including last year’s winner Mishrif for John and Thady Gosden, Brad Cox’s Mandaloun and the Japanese star T O Keynes.

Lemaire dominates

The rest of the card was dominated by jockey Christoph Lemaire, who won four races, all for different Japanese trainers.

He started off by dominating the Neom Turf Cup on Authority, trained by Tetsuya Kimura.

Pyledriver was the big hope for Europe but having been drawn out wide he could fare no better than 11th.

The Japan Cup runner-up had the race wrapped up from some way out.

Lemaire said: “I could settle the pace the way I wanted without any pressure and then he used his long acceleration. He did the same in Japan. His strength made the difference.

“I knew he could stay the trip very well. The ground is firm and drawn two I knew I he would be very relaxed over the 2100 metres.

“The Japan Cup is one of the best races in the world and he was beaten by a very good horse (Contrail).”

The winner now heads for the Dubai Sheema Classic.

Songline then won the 1351 Turf Sprit for Toru Hayashi, battling on gamely to see off Bill Mott’s Casa Creed with Richard Hannon’s Happy Romance in third.

Lemaire made it a hat-trick on a famous night for the rider and Japan as Stay Foolish galloped his rivals into the ground in the Red Sea Turf Handicap.

Once again employing front-running tactics aboard Yoshito Yahagi’s runner, Lemaire bossed the one-mile-seven-furlong contest with Irish raider Princess Zoe one of the few to keep tabs on him through the early stages along with Nayef Road.

They both paid for those efforts as they dropped away quickly, leaving the Charlie Appleby-trained Siskany, who appeared to be travelling well, to throw down the only real challenge.

When Lemaire asked for a bit more though, Stay Foolish lengthened again and he had no trouble holding the finishing flourish of the Johnny Murtagh-trained Sonnyboyliston.

Lemaire said: “I thought Authority and Stay Foolish would be my best rides. I was very confident with Authority as he had the best credentials.

“Then Stay Foolish, I rode him two years ago but I rode him on Wednesday morning at the track here in Riyadh and he gave me a great impression so I could see he was in great condition. I thought he could be a good challenger.

“It is fantastic because it is great for jockeys and trainers to be part of these international meetings. It is always very exciting and a big challenge. If you have the chance to win a race you are the happiest man on earth.”

Lemaire racked up a remarkable four-timer for Japanese-trained runners when storming to victory on Dancing Prince in the Riyadh Dirt Sprint.

The six-year-old, from Keisuke Miyata’s stable, burst clear in the straight to win emphatically from Good Effort, who is trained in Newmarket by Ismail Mohammed.

Lemaire said: “Unbelievable. I don’t realise it right now, but it’s real.

“He is a bit high tension and going into the gate I was a bit worried because it took time at the start. Fortunately he jumped well, I could take the lead, reduce the pace and then let him go.”

Baffert winner

Bob Baffert’s Pinehurst made every yard of the running to win the Saudi Derby.

Having broke smartly from the stalls – as is the case with the majority of the US-trained runners – Pinehurst was soon in the box position under Flavien Prat.

He was able to dictate at his own pace for the majority of the race, although Consigliere and Sovereign Prince were always within striking distance.

Briefly Pinehurst looked in a spot of trouble but he dug deep to keep finding.

He had to hang on in the final 100 yards as the Japanese challenger Sekifu sprouted wings, having been a long way behind entering the straight, but the finishing post came just in time for Pinehurst.

Baffert’s assistant Jimmy Barnes said: “We came over with a serious horse and he seemed to handle everything well.

“He handled the ship over, the paddock, the preliminaries and the gate. He left the gate running so we couldn’t be happier.

“I didn’t know if he would hang on. It’s a closer’s track and luckily he had enough heart and stamina to hold off the Japanese horse.

“The plans were probably to go forward for the UAE Derby as long as he comes out of the race well.”

Prat said: “I thought his last race was a good set up for this race. He has shown he is a good horse today. It is just a matter how much he can improve so we’ll see.”