The Shergar Cup is an annual horse racing event held at
Ascot Racecourse
Ascot Racecourse ("ascot" pronounced , often pronounced ) is a dual-purpose British racecourse, located in Ascot, Berkshire, England, which is used for thoroughbred horse racing. It hosts 13 of Britain's 36 annual Flat Group 1 horse races a ...
, usually during early August. The race is named in honour of
Shergar
Shergar (3 March 1978 – ) was an Irish-bred, British-trained Thoroughbred racehorse. After a very successful season in 1981 he was retired to the Ballymany Stud in County Kildare, Ireland. In 1983 he was stolen from the stud, and a ransom of ...
, the horse that won the
1981
Events January
* January 1
** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union.
** Palau becomes a self-governing territory.
* January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...
Derby
Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby g ...
and was killed in an IRA kidnap, and was originally sponsored by Shergar's owner, the Aga Khan. The event is currently sponsored by
Dubai Duty Free
Dubai Duty Free (DDF) is the company responsible for the duty-free operations at Dubai International Airport and Al Maktoum International Airport.
Founded in December 1983, DDF recorded first-year sales of US$20 million and has grown into one ...
.
The event was first held in 1999 at
Goodwood Racecourse
Goodwood Racecourse is a horse-racing track five miles north of Chichester, West Sussex, in England controlled by the family of the Duke of Richmond, whose seat is nearby Goodwood House. It hosts the annual Glorious Goodwood meeting in la ...
, but has been held at Ascot since 2000 (except in 2005, when Ascot was closed so the grandstand could be redeveloped). Unusually, for a horse racing event, it is a team competition, with jockeys invited to join the teams (two teams from 1999 to 2004; four teams from 2006) divided by their presenting countries or region, or their gender, and the winning team determined by their overall performance across six races. The winning team is presented with a silver trophy of Shergar, donated by the Aga Khan. Described as "racing's most popular event", it attracts around 30,000 spectators each year, and is recognized for attracting families and other new spectators beyond the usual race-going demographic.
History
The event was championed by the British Horseracing Board chairma Peter Savill with the aim of creating a competition similar to the Ryder Cup in golf.
The inaugural competition was held at Goodwood in May 1999, between two teams of horses with owners from Europe (led by
Robert Sangster
Robert Edmund Sangster (23 May 1936 – 7 April 2004)
) against owners from the Middle East (led by Sheikh
Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum ( ar, محمد بن راشد آل مكتوم, links=no; ; born 15 July 1949) is the vice president, prime minister, and minister of defence of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as well as the ruler of Dubai ...
and his family, including 12 horses from the
Godolphin Racing
Godolphin (Arabic: جودلفين) is the Maktoum family's private Thoroughbred
The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of ...
stable).
The competition moved to Ascot in 2000, and the Middle East team became a "Rest of the World" (ROW) team. The event was blighted by a dearth of runners; some European-owned horses were transferred to the ROW team to balance the numbers, but only one race had a full field of ten runners, and two set off with fields of only five or six runners. The low turnout was attributed to the races being unclassified.
From 2001 to 2004, the membership of the teams was based the origin of the jockeys rather the ownership of the horses, with two teams of six jockeys each: one team of jockeys from Great Britain and Ireland (GB&I), and one from ROW. It was suggested in 2002 that team racing tactics used by GB&I captain
Kieren Fallon
Kieren Francis Fallon (born 22 February 1965 in Crusheen, County Clare, Ireland) is a retired Irish professional flat racing jockey and was British Champion Jockey six times.
Career
Stable jockey to Henry Cecil
I ...
contravened th Rules of Racing (he ran a two-mile race hard to tire the opposition, and then let his teammate
Pat Eddery
Patrick James John Eddery (18 March 1952 – 10 November 2015) was an Irish flat racing jockey and trainer. He rode three winners of the Derby and was Champion Jockey on eleven occasions. He rode the winners of 4,632 British flat races, a f ...
through to win). The controversy led to Stewards' enquiry Fallon's explanation that he took up the pace in a slow race was accepted, but there were complaints from
Hughie Morrison
Hughie Morrison is a British racehorse trainer who specialises in training horses competing in Flat racing.
Morrison is the son of James Morrison, 2nd Baron Margadale, and was educated at Eton College. He was advised by the trainer Henry Cecil t ...
who trained Fallon's ride, and later clarificatory changes to the Rules. Fallon was quoted as commenting laconically: "They told me it was an individual team thing. I know I am from the west of Ireland but someone is going to have to explain that to me."
Ascot Racecourse was closed in 2005 for renovations, and the format was changed again when the competition resumed in 2006, with the number of teams increased from two (or six jockeys each) to four (of three jockeys each), representing: Great Britain, Ireland, Europe, and ROW.Coasting to launch Shergar Cup in style ''Daily Telegraph'', 11 August 2007
Since 2012, the Great Britain and Ireland teams have been merged, so that three of the teams represent geographical areas – GB&I, Europe, and ROW – and the fourth team is an all-women "Girls'" team of female jockeys from around the world.Sammy Jo Bell wins two Shergar Cup races and lifts Ascot's Silver Saddle ''The Guardian'', 8 August 2015 The jockeys in each team wears silks dominated by distinctive colours: green for GB&I, blue for Europe, yellow for ROW, pink for the Girls.
The event now fills a weekend between
Glorious Goodwood
Goodwood Racecourse is a horse-racing track five miles north of Chichester, West Sussex, in England controlled by the family of the Duke of Richmond, whose seat is nearby Goodwood House. It hosts the annual Glorious Goodwood meeting in late ...
in late July, and the Ebor Festival in late August. There are activities between races to keep both adults and children entertained, which may include a fairground rides,
extreme sports
Action sports, adventure sports or extreme sports are activities perceived as involving a high degree of risk. These activities often involve speed, height, a high level of physical exertion and highly specialized gear. Extreme tourism overl ...
demonstrations, and musical performances. At the end of the day, a concert is held for race-goers. Concert performers in 2015 included
Blue
Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when ...
,
Lulu
Lulu may refer to:
Companies
* LuLu, an early automobile manufacturer
* Lulu.com, an online e-books and print self-publishing platform, distributor, and retailer
* Lulu Hypermarket, a retail chain in Asia
* Lululemon Athletica or simply Lulu, ...
,
Rick Astley
Richard Paul Astley (born 6 February 1966) is an English singer, songwriter and radio personality, who has been active in music for several decades. He gained worldwide fame in the 1980s, having multiple hits including his signature song " Ne ...
and
Razorlight
Razorlight are an English indie rock band, formed in 2002 in London by lead singer and guitarist Johnny Borrell. Along with Borrell, the current line-up of the band is composed of founding members Björn Ågren on guitar and bassist Carl Delemo ...
.
Competition format
In its current format, the competition has six flat races of differing lengths and classifications, all run as handicap races:
* Dash (5 furlongs, for 3-year-olds or older, Class 2)
* Stayers (2 miles, for 4-year-olds or older, Class 2)
* Challenge (1 mile 4 furlongs, for 4-year-olds or older, Class 3)
* Mile (1 mile, for 4-year-olds or older, Class 2)
* Classic (1 mile 4 furlongs, for 3-year-olds, Class 3)
* Sprint (6 furlongs, for 3-year-olds, Class 2)
Each jockey rides in five races, and each team has either two or three members riding any given race, which is balanced out over the six races so all teams have an equal number of races for the day. The team with the highest points is the winner, with points for the first five places: 15, 10, 7, 5, and 3. If a horse does not run and cannot be replaced with a reserve animal, the jockey who is unable to ride is awarded 4 points for the race in question. At the end of the day, in addition to the Shergar Cup trophy, the Alistair Haggis Silver Saddle award and a £3,000 cash award is given to the individual jockey with the most points. There is also a "ride of the day" award given for the most outstanding performance in a single race.Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup, Media Guide 8 August 2015
Fields are limited to 10 horses and two reserves. Horses to run are declared an hour before the race, and if there is a withdrawal, a reserve has 15 minutes to be brought up. Horses must be entered by the Monday prior to the race, and on the Thursday prior, entries are made final. The top 10 horses by their BHA ratings are scheduled to run, with entrants in 11th and 12th place selected as reserves, who are also expected to be at the racecourse and ready to run. The entries in each race are then ranked 1 through 10 by the official
handicapper
Handicapping, in sport and games, is the practice of assigning advantage through scoring compensation or other advantage given to different contestants to equalize the chances of winning. The word also applies to the various methods by which th ...
. A complex formula is then applied to give each of the four teams a balanced mix of high and low-rated horses, and to ensure all jockeys on each team similarly have a balanced mix of horses across all five rides. Once this is set, then a random draw is held to assign jockeys to the proper group of horses.
The incentives for owners to provide horses include free entry fees for the horses and a £30,000 purse for each race, with £369 for last place, so all entrants get a portion of the prize money, essentially guaranteeing that any owner will make back enough money to cover their expenses.
ITV Racing
''ITV Racing'' is a programme produced by ITV Sport for races shown on ITV or ITV4 in the United Kingdom. The programme is referred to as ''Racing on STV'' in Northern and Central Scotland on STV. In its previous incarnation, the show was an ...
covers some races, and the owners of horses in those races earn a "saddle cloth" £50 to the owner of every runner in ITV-televised races. All are run as handicap races. All horses entered as reserves but not able to run a race are given a £500 travel allowance. In addition, owners and trainers have free food and drink all day.
Horse groom
A groom or stable boy (stable hand, stable lad) is a person who is responsible for some or all aspects of the management of horses and/or the care of the stables themselves. The term most often refers to a person who is the employee of a stable ...
s also have free food all day and also have a chance to win money. Awards of £200 each are given to the groom of each winning horse and to the groom of the best turned-out horse in each race. Grooms of the horses placing 2nd through 5th in each race earn £100.