A crowd of more than 27,500, the biggest outside of the Royal Meeting, flocked to Ascot Racecourse, UK, to see the Ladies’ Team successfully defend their Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup title for a second consecutive year on Saturday, 10 August.

The unique concept and record prize money of GBP 500,000 across the event’s six races ensured the support of many of the sports leading owners and trainers and drew a star-studded line-up of domestic and international riders.

Four teams contested the world’s premier international jockeys’ competition which for the first time featured an equal representation of male and female riders with the Rest of the World team made up of international women jockeys from Australia, Japan and South Africa.

They faced the formidable Ladies Team, and two teams of three riders each representing Europe and Great Britain & Ireland.

There were so many stars, perhaps the brightest being Ladies’ Team captain, Hayley Turner, who last month racked up her 1000th winner and ahead of the 2024 renewal, already acknowledged as the event’s most successful participant leading the tables for most winners and most points scored in the sixteen years she has taken part.

The opener, the five furlong Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup Dash, went to South Africa’s only professional female rider and Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup debutante Rachel Venniker.  Holkham Bay was her first ride in the UK though she had been getting acquainted with scene riding out for leading trainer William Haggas in Newmarket. And with Japan’s Nanako Fujita finishing fourth on Adaay In Devon the Rest of the World were off to a flying start.

Venniker was joined at the head of the table after the next race, the longest of the day the Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup Stayers over two miles when Hayley Turner added to her totals with a dynamic ride on Ranch Hand. He would normally wear the Mill Reef black and yellow colours of the Kingsclere Racing Club – here it was the pink and black of the Ladies Team.

Ranch Hand’s trainer, Andrew Balding, who took over at Kingsclere from his father Ian, was full of praise for Turner’s ride. “She comes down every week to ride work and I’ve found a good few opportunities for her to ride the lighter weights. Ranch Hand was carrying the burden of 9st 11lbs – but it’s hard to stop Hayley at this meeting,” he said.

It was victory for the yellow and black of the Rest of the World team, sported by yet another female rider, Rachel King on Insanity in the next race, the Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup Challenge, a performance which was to earn her the Dubai Duty Free Ride of the Day. Rachel King was riding for trainer Alan King and though they are not related she took her early experience of riding for Alan to Australia where her career has blossomed.

Rachael said how much it meant to achieve a winner for her former mentor. King was equally delighted. “I think she last rode for me sixteen years ago,” said the dual purpose trainer. “And that was in a hurdle!”

Rachel King had to be at her strongest to win the battle with runner up Dream Harder for Europe and Spanish rider Jose-Luis Borrego. This was another pulsating finish and the crowd was now really involved cheering the Great Britain & Ireland team, neck and neck at the top of the points table with the Rest of the World.

But the fifteen points for a win and ten for second means that the league table can change in a heartbeat – and so it would, right up to sixth and final race.

Former champion apprentice Billy Loughnane has continued his meteoric rise through the fully fledged jockeys ranks. The youngest rider on all the teams, and the tallest, he followed up his Royal Ascot successes with a straightforward victory for Great Britain & Ireland with Jarraaf, owned by H.H Sheikh Ahmed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, in the Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup Sprint.

“Jarraaf is going places,” said Loughnane. “Remember I’m only eighteen and Hayley has been doing this for seventeen years. It’s her gig.”  He may not have realised how prophetic his words were to be.

The result brought radical changes in the standings. The Great Britain & Ireland team surged clear, as did Loughnane for the individual jockeys’ trophy, the Silver Saddle.

With two races to go next up was the Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup Classic over twelve furlongs and it appeared that Great Britain & Ireland had the Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup in their grasp. And yet the Classic illustrated both the competitive nature of the whole concept and its international standing.

The winner was Going Remote, trained by celebrated Irish trainer Mrs Jessica Harrington, and ridden by Kazakhstan jockey Bauyrzhan Murzabayev, four times champion jockey in Germany. This was another raging battle as Going Remote and Houstonn fought one another almost to a standstill, with Champagne Prince finishing fast to separate them.

Going into the final race, the Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup Mile, Europe and Great Britain & Ireland were inseparable at the top of the table with 55 points apiece, with the Ladies Team in last place and Turner only in fifth in her aim for the Silver Saddle.

All was to change with Turner getting up in the final stride aboard New Image to pip her team mate Joanna Mason on Ian Williams’ Yantarni and their combined efforts took the Ladies’ Team to their fourth Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup victory in six years and handing the Silver Saddle Trophy to Turner.

Dubai Duty Free Managing Director, Ramesh Cidambi said, “Once again the Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup has delivered thrilling racing and truly international competition.  Hayley’s contribution to the Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup and the promotion of female riders in the sport has been outstanding and I congratulate her and also thank all those who took part for making this a truly memorable event.”

Final team standings:

  • Ladies Team 71 points
  • Europe 60 points
  • Rest of the World 58 points
  • Great Britain & Ireland 55 points