Stars from home and abroad set to shine in £270,000 Dubai Duty Free Shergar
Cup
Embargoed until 20:00, 23rd April 2017
Frankie Dettori, Jamie Spencer, Kerrin McEvoy and Emma-Jayne Wilson have been
confirmed as team captains for the 2017 Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup; the world’s premier
international jockeys’ competition at Ascot Racecourse on Saturday 12th August.
All six races are handicaps worth £45,000 bringing the total prize money to £270,000. Each
participant will get five rides as they bid to win the Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup for their
team.
Last year saw the Rest Of The World team lift the trophy for the sixth time when they
claimed two of the six races.
Emma-Jayne Wilson, who captained the Girls team to victory in 2015, is back and will be
joined by Michelle Payne from Australia, and 2016 Champion Apprentice Josephine Gordon.
Payne made history in 2015 when becoming the first female to win the Melbourne Cup, on
the 100-1 shot Prince of Penzance, while Gordon became the third female to be crowned
British flat racing Champion Apprentice in 2016 after Hayley Turner and Amy Ryan.
Wilson is Canada’s most successful female jockey having ridden over 1,000 winners. This
will be her sixth Shergar Cup appearance.
Wilson said: “I am so proud to have been part of the first Girls team to win in 2015 and I am
looking forward to being back at Ascot this year. The Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup provides
a great opportunity for us girls to prove we are as good as some of the world’s best male
jockeys and I can’t wait to team up with Michelle and Josephine.”
Payne, added:
“I am so excited about riding in the Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup, especially after the
disappointment of not being able to last year due to my injury. We have a great team and I’m
really hopeful that we can do the fans proud and take back the cup!”
Frankie Dettori is a Shergar Cup veteran having taken part eight times. He said:
“I always look forward to the Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup as it is a great day with a fantastic
atmosphere. We were so close last year, hopefully we can win this time.”
He will be partnered by Shergar Cup debutant Alexander Pietsch from Germany and Adrie
De Vries. Pietsch was Champion Jockey in 2015 and runner up in 2016. It will be his first
Shergar Cup but second time riding at Ascot having ridden in the Queen Alexandra Stakes at
Royal Ascot in 2016. De Vries won the 2016 Qatar Derby on Noor al Hawa and earlier this
year won the Dubai City of Gold on Prize Money.
2016 Melbourne Cup winner Kerrin McEvoy will captain the Rest Of The World team.
McEvoy commented: “I am very honoured to captain the Rest Of The World team and am
really looking forward to my second Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup. It’s a unique competition
that brings something different to racing.”
Joining him will be two new recruits to the competition – the South African Anthony
Delpech who this year has already won the Majorca Stakes (Gr.1) on Nightingale and the SA
Fillies Classic (Gr.1) on Orchid Island and the 2016 Victoria Mile (Straight Girl) winner,
Keita Tosaki.
Tosaki also won the 4th leg of the Longines International Jockeys Championship at Happy
Valley last year upon Big Bang Bong. This will be the first-time riding in the UK for both.
Tosaki said: “It has always been my dream to ride in England and to do it for the first time at
the Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup is something I am really looking forward to. It is a great
opportunity to ride against some of the most successful jockeys in the world.”
Jamie Spencer will captain the Great Britain and Ireland team where he will be joined by the
four-time British Champion, Ryan Moore, and Ireland’s Neil Callan.
“I really enjoy the Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup, it is fun to ride as part of a team and the
atmosphere at Ascot on the day is great,” Spencer revealed. “The crowd really get behind
their favourite team and I am excited to be captaining the Great Britain and Ireland team
this year.”
Dubai Duty Free has been associated with the Shergar Cup since its inception, Colm
McLoughlin, Executive Vice Chairman & CEO of Dubai Duty Free, said:
“We are very much looking forward to this year’s Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup, the 17th
renewal that we have supported at Ascot.
“The line-up of jockeys for this year’s event demonstrates that the competition continues to
command the attention of top riders from all over the world and places in any one of the four
teams are highly sought after.”
There is a £3,000 prize as well as the Alistair Haggis Silver Saddle Trophy on offer to the
highest points-scoring jockey of the day. Points are awarded 15, 10, 7, 5, 3 for the first five
horses home with 4 points for a non-runner.
Nick Smith, Director of Racing & Communications at Ascot Racecourse, added:
“The jockeys riding in this year’s Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup are among the best
ambassadors the sport has to offer. Amongst them is the international phenomenon which is
Canada’s Emma-Jane Wilson, the perennial champion at Woodbine and Michelle Payne,
who made history in 2015 when she won the Melbourne Cup. We all wait with excitement to
see which team will come out on top and whether the Rest of the World can retain their
crown.”
Queen Anne Enclosure tickets start from £33 in advance. Winning Post Enclosure and King
Edward VII Enclosure tickets start from £45 and £65 in advance respectively. Fine dining is
also available from £189 + VAT.
Accompanied children under 18 years of age gain free entry at all Ascot race meetings.
To book tickets and for further information, please call 0844 346 3000 or visit
www.ascot.co.uk.
Ends
For further information and images, please contact:
Ashley Morton-Hunte, Corporate & Racing Communications Manager, Ascot Racecourse
[email protected], 01344 878508
BIOGRAPHIES
Emma-Jayne Wilson 35, from Brompton, Ontario. He first major win was the 2007
Queen’s Plate (Canada’s most prestigious race) on Mike Fox. In 2012 she rode her 1,000th
winner and her most recent Grade 1 success was in the 2015 Northern Dancer aboard
Interpol. She has ridden in the Shergar Cup in 2006, 2011, 2014, 2015 and 2016. She was
part of the victorious girls’ team (alongside Hayley Turner and Sammy Jo Bell) in 2015. She
has ridden three winners in the competition including a double in 2014. She and her partner
had twin girls, Avery and Grace, in January 2017.
Michelle Payne 32, from Ballarat, Australia. Her mother died in a car accident when she
was 6 months old which meant that her father, Paddy, brought up 10 children alone. In
2009 she rode her first Group 1 winner, Allez Wonder in the Toorak Handicap and later that
year rode him in the Melbourne Cup. In 2010 she rode Yosel to victory in the Thousand
Guineas (Gr.1) at Caulfield. She made worldwide headlines when she won the 2015
Melbourne Cup on Prince of Penzance at 100-1. She became the first female to win the
Melbourne Cup in its 155-year history. In May 2016, she suffered abdominal injuries in a
fall at Mildura. She now mixes riding with training near Ballarat.
Kerrin McEvoy 36, born in Streaky Bay, Australia. Originally came to prominence when he
won the 2000 Melbourne Cup on Brew. He subsequently won the 2016 Melbourne Cup on
Almandin. He has spent a large proportion of his career riding for Godolphin and some of
the European Group 1s he won include 2004 St Leger (Rule of Law), 2005 St James’s Palace
Stakes (Shamardal) and Prix Jacques le Marois (Dubawi), 2007 Racing Post Trophy (Ibn
Khaldun), 2008 Premio Presidente della Republica (Saddex) etc. Upon returning to
Australia he has won many Group 1 races including, most recently, 2015 Stradboke
(Srikandi), Emirates Stakes (Turn Me Loose), 2016 Ranvet (The United States), Sydney Cup
(Gallante), Doomben Cup (Our Ivanhowe), Thousand Guineas (Global Glamour), etc. In
2017 his feature wins include Legacy Stakes (Gr.1) on Foxplay) and Galaxy (Gr.1) on Russian
Revolution. Kerrin’s sister in law is Michelle Payne. He won the 2015 Shergar Cup Dash on
Secretinthepark for Robert Cowell.
Keita Tosaki 36 from Mibu, Japan. His feature Group 1 wins include 2011 Yasuda Kinen
(Real Impact), 2014 Arima Kinen (Gentildonna), 2015 Victoria Mile (Straight Girl), Sprinters
Stakes (Straight Girl), 2016 Victoria Mile (Straight Girl). He also won the 4th leg of the
Longines International Jockeys Championship, at Happy Valley in 2016 upon Big Bang
Bong. This will be his first time riding in Britain.
Anthony Delpech 48 born in Seychelles and now riding in South Africa. First came to
international prominence with his riding of Vengeance of Rain the Champion horse in Hong
Kong. Group 1 races on him included 2005 AP QEII Cup, and Hong Kong Cup, 2007 Hong
Kong Gold Cup and Dubai Sheema Classic. He has also ridden for Mike de Kock through
most of his career. He rode the brilliant Igugu to victory in the 2011 Wollavington 2000 and
the Duban July and the 2012 J&B Met. In 2017 he has already won the Majorca Stakes
(Gr.1) on Nightingale and the SA Fillies Classic (Gr.1) on Orchid Island. This will be his first
time riding in Britain.
Alexander Pietsch, 44 from Germany. Champion jockey in Germany in 2015 and runner
up in 2016. Best known for his association with Vanjura on whom he won 9 races including
Group 2 races in Germany, Italy and twice in Istanbul. This will be his first time in the DDF
Shergar Cup but he did ride in the Queen Alexandra Stakes at Royal Ascot in 2016.
Adrie de Vries 47 from Netherlands. Champion jockey in Germany in 2014. Group 1 wins
include 2005 Oaks d’Italia (Gyreka), 2009 Grosser Preis von Baden (Getaway) and
Rheinland Pokal (Campanologist), 2013 Preis von Europa (Meandre), 2014 Preis von Europa
(Empoli), 2015 Prix Jean Romanet and Premio Lydia Tesio (Odeliz for Karl Burke). He also
won the 2016 Qatar Derby on Noor al Hawa. In 2017 he had a successful relationship with
Saeed bin Suroor in Dubai which included victory in the Dubai City of Gold on Prize Money.
Rode in the DDF Shergar Cup in 2014 and 2015 and won the 2012 Tercentenary Stakes
(Gr.3) at Royal Ascot on Energizer.