Saturday sees the annual Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup taking place at Ascot racecourse. Now in its 15th year, the Shergar Cup is named after the 1981 Derby winner Shergar and this years renewal sees four teams battling it out for glory.
Like last year, every race is shown live on TV. The first 2 races are shown on More4 (the 12.55pm and 1.30pm) and the rest are shown on Channel 4 (2.05pm through to 3.50pm). Each race has “Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup” in the name so they are easy to spot!
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© Dubai Duty Free – Picture from the 2012 Shergar Cup
The Shergar Cup sees four teams of three jockeys riding in six races – each team of jockeys wears their colours, as you can see above. Owners silks aren’t worn.
Each of the afternoons six races are limited to ten runners and each jockey must ride in at least five of the races. The six races are over varying distances ranging from 5 furlongs to 2 mile.
The team with the highest number of points after the six races is the winner of the Shergar Cup. There is also the Silver Saddle trophy awarded to the individual jockey with the most points after the six races.
Points are awarded to the first five horses home in each of the six races, with the points allocated as follows –
1st place – 15 points
2nd place – 10 points
3rd place – 7 points
4th place – 5 points
5th place – 3 points
The teams announced for this years Shergar Cup are –
Great Britain & Ireland – Jamie Spencer (Captain), Pat Smullen, Adam Kirby
Europe – Olivier Peslier (Captain), Vincent Cheminaud, Adrie De Vries
Girls – Emma-Jayne Wilson (Captain), Hayley Turner, TBC
Rest of the World – Kerrin McEvoy (Captain), Blake Shinn, Yutaka Take
Frankie Dettori was named as captain of the Europe team but due to picking up a ban for excessive use of the whip in last months King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes, he will now miss Saturday. Irish jockey Cathy Gannon was due to ride for the Girls team but has had to withdraw due a collarbone injury. A replacement is due to confirmed over the next couple of days.
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Europe are the current holders of the Shergar Cup having won it in both 2013 and 2014. Victory last year was secured by only one point over the Girls team and another keenly contested competition is expected this year.
Olivier Peslier will be looking to retain the Silver Saddle trophy, having secured victory last year with an impressive 42 points, two points ahead of Emma-Jayne Wilson.