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What’s your opinion on this event? Is it really any good or is just a title for another high profile days racing?
Honest answers please – How many of you really care which team of jockeys wins The Shergar Cup?
It’s a million miles from something like The Ryder Cup, where the best individual golfers get together as a team and try and prove which team are the best as a team. The Shergar Cup is just another racing fixture, with 6 or 7 races with a mix of jockeys from around the world all wearing the same coloured briefs and hats just to make it harder to pick out your selection.
If i’m not wrong, the team captains for the jockeys have been people like Kevin Keegan and the likes. I mean, why the hell do jockeys, who have their rides already booked, need an ex footballer to be their captain? What’s that all about lol.
Seriously though, The Shergar Cup means nothing to me, I take no interest in which team of jockeys finishes up with the most points etc – all I am bothered about is trying to pick the individual winners of each race, as per usual.
I know The Shergar Cup is something different, but does anyone really take an interest in who wins it, or are you all like me and would rather concentrate on which horse wins each race.
All the best,
Mike
There is probably a place for it in the racing calendar. To be honest I can’t be bothered about it at all its gimicky and reminds me of a school sports day.
I think it is meant to be a fun day which markets the sport in a different way to a wider audience.
We (the more ‘hardcore’ racing fans) tend to pour scorn on things like this which are a bit gimmicky – other examples being Haydock’s football day, and the provision of after-racing entertainment at evening meetings during the summer.
We also like to complain about poor quality racing, and low levels of prizemoney, and the reliance of shop-based bookmakers on FOBT revenue.
We reckon the coverage the sport gets on terrestrial television is weak and we generally find fault in the programmes provided by the two dedicated racing channels. In particular, we don’t like racing programmes to include para-racing items or to focus on the less technical aspects of the sport.
So we are a bit picky and a bit cliquey really.
If we aren’t prepared to allow racing to try different things out or explore a variety of more widely popular marketing angles, the sport is never going to raise its profile or public value.
And without more interest from the populus, we will be moaning about the same old things for years and years to come…
Looks to me like they tried for some kind of Breeders Cup type event but ended up with a load of foreign jockeys, a load of British one’s and a stack of handicappers.
If they where to stage Group races on the card would be much interesting, instead my eyes will be on the Sweet Solera and the Rose of Lancaster this weekend
Looks to me like they tried for some kind of Breeders Cup type event but ended up with a load of foreign jockeys, a load of British one’s and a stack of handicappers.
If they where to stage Group races on the card would be much interesting, instead my eyes will be on the Sweet Solera and the Rose of Lancaster this weekend
Same here. Handicappers are all very well and good but you get them every single day of the week. If you’re going to have a high profile event you need high profile races and quality.
It’s Flat racings equivalent of "It’s A Royal Knockout".
Each can decide for themselves whether this is a good or a bad thing.
I think Vinnie Jones was Captain once.. Does my memory serve me correctly? I think it just a gimmicky thing. Don’t care who wins. Any other ideas for possible future captains? What about the posh one from the apprentice cos she looks like a horse?
I’ve got Salute entered in the 2M Shergar Cup race and he’ll be declared on Thursday in the hope of getting a run – he’s currently #20 in the weights and only 10 can run, plus two reserves.
Personally, I’ve no interest in, or enthusiasm for, the jockeys contest – Salute is there purely because opportunities to run for £35,000 total prize money are few and far between for a horse with his rating.
If we get into the race, he’s guaranteed a four figure sum as all ten runners collect prize money and his lad and the head lad also get £100 each. If he’s a reserve, we get paid £500 for taking him 40 minutes down the road and keeping him in the stables for a couple of hours.
The races have to be handicaps for several reasons – the money isn’t enough for Group races, they couldn’t ensure enough runners for better races halfway between Goodwood and York, and in theory, you need tight handicaps to give all the teams and jockeys an equal chance.
With over a thousand fixtures every year, I can’t see much wrong with one meeting like this – even if it’s not your cup of tea, who does it hurt?
AP
Ascot inherited a flawed concept from Goodwood – that of a team competition based on nationality of owners.
The only way to keep it going as a team event was to focus on the jockeys and to try and encourage the top riders to come over from around the world as a showcase for their talents.
With the previous backing of Blue Square there were celebrity team captains and a free concert after racing. With the new sponsors, Dubai Duty Free, those celebrities have long since gone, but the band – this year it is Madness – remains.
This year Ascot have tried a new iniative of having 4 teams – GB/Ireland/Europe/Rest of the World which hopefully may try to put to bed
the idea of team tactics – which I only believe reared it’s ugly head once.In the early years of it’s development there were high class races, some worth 100,000 pounds and contested by the bigger yards like Ballydoyle.
However bigger prizemoney often means less competitive racing – and even less than full fields – and sometimes demands from trainers for particular jockeys which could not be granted.
This year all the races have the same value so that jockeys are not missing out on superior prizemoney when they sit out their compulsory one ride.
There have been tweaks to the race conditions – especially the Distaff – to try and raise the minimum weight to avoid jockeys putting up over weight.
The main conditions change this year see the previous 2yo conditions race – over with a very strong favourite – being replaced by a nursery. It is hoped that enough high weights run (or that the weights go up a little) so that the minimum weight isn’t too low.
It is a fun day aimed at a new racing audience. As well as the band there are autograph signings before racing – extremely popular – and the jockeys are encouraged to interact with the crowd and to be available for the media outlets throughout the day.
Established racing fans can be snooty about it but I’ve generally found that if people actually attend the meeting they have had a really good day out.
I agree, it doesn’t hurt anybody and it’s simply a one off.
But you answered the question yourself by saying you have entered your horse purely for the opportunity to race for a nice sum, and you have no interest or enthusiasm for the jockey’s challenge. Thats my point, it seems nobody has any enthusiasm for the jockey’s challenge and it’s just another days racing.
Incidentally, if your horse does get into the race, do you have a say on who rides your horse or is it all done on a ‘names in a hat’ basis?
Mike
Mike,
Jockeys are allocated by a team of pundits in a London hotel on Thursday who are supposed to try to ensure everyone has a fair mix of favourites and longshots.
Sounds a bit like the process of picking teams in the playground and I suspect old Salute will be the last one chosen in his race. The owner and trainer have no say in it at all.
If he’s a reserve and something drops out, you just get the jockey that was due to ride the non runner.
AP
Mike,
Owners and trainers get lots of incentives to run their horses in Shergar Cup.
However they cannot choose their jockeys.
A panel of experts try to make sure that the quality of the horses are spread evenly across the 4 teams and then it is luck of the draw who rides what. Each jockey sits out one of the 6 races.
Of particular interest will the first appearance of the fantastic Aussie jockey Darren Beadman. This event has been very popular with the Australasians like Damien Oliver, Shane Dye, Glen Boss etc in the past and Darren is probably the one iconic Aussie name yet to ride in the event.
Any chance the foot and mouth could put this meeting in jeopardy?
I know this meeting hasn’t been popular, but releasing foot and mouth from the research centre down the road from Ascot seems a bit of a severe measure to get it canned…
Of particular interest will the first appearance of the fantastic Aussie jockey Darren Beadman. This event has been very popular with the Australasians like Damien Oliver, Shane Dye, Glen Boss etc in the past and Darren is probably the one iconic Aussie name yet to ride in the event.
In sharp contrast to Greg ‘The Butcher’ Hall who was so laughably incompetent in the 2000 event that it took a lot of believing in our office that he wasn’t a ringer put in as a joke by the organisers.
They reckon they have sold 25000 tickets…as many as the Diamond stakes day
Surpising maybe and its not my cup of tea, but its not as if we are short of racing to follow in this country and York is nearly upon us.
Adrian and AP,
Thanks for your detailed replies regardig jockey allocations.
I have to say, I started this thread on the back of previous Shergar Cups and wasn’t aware of the revamped format (4 teams, close knit handicaps etc) so I am now quite looking forward to it
I will still maintain that I won’t be cheering any particular team and I don’t really care who wins, as long as my horse picks do well, but I will have more interest this year than in previous years.
Thanks to all you guys for wetting my appetite
Mike
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