All eyes will be on Britain’s leading female jockey Hayley Turner when the Shergar Cup returns to Ascot Racecourse Saturday for the 16th edition of the event.
The 33 year-old will be making a comeback despite announcing she was quitting race-riding at the end of last season, though insists she has no plans to return to the saddle full time.
“I had a complete break from November until the first of April, when I started riding out again,” Turner told reporters. “Everyone keep asking me whether I will come back permanently but I have no plans to. I don’t feel I have the urge to do so at the moment.
“One aspect of race riding I certainly don’t miss is all the traveling. I really enjoyed coaching the jockeys for the Magnolia Cup at Goodwood and I was very proud with how well they all rode on the day.”
After helping the all female team to victory in 2015, Turner is hoping they can successfully defend their title. This year, she is joined by captain Emma-Jayne Wilson, Ireland’s Cathy Gannon and Josephine Gordon, who is set to make her debut in the competition as she looks to clinch Britain’s Apprentice Jockeys’ Championship title.
Jamie Spencer, who was expecting to captain the British and Irish team, will miss out after being handed a three-day ban for clashing with Ryan Moore at Ascot in a heated finish last Friday.
Joe Fanning will now take on the role as captain, leading Martin Harley, who won the 2015 King’s Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot on Goldream, and in form Oisin Murphy.
Frankie Dettori returns as the captain of Team Europe and is somewhat of a veteran of the world’s premier international jockey’s competition, having taken part in the event on seven previous occasions.
This year Dettori has the services of France’s leading jockeys in Pierre-Charles Boudot and Thierry Jarnet, who are taking part in the event for the first time.
Brazilian Silvestre de Sousa will captain the Rest Of The World team, who are looking for their first Shergar Cup win since 2012. Completing the line up alongside Britain’s Champion Jockey of 2015 is South Africa’s Gavin Lerena and Japan cup-winning jockey Kenichi Ikezoe.
“I have watched racing from Ascot many times on television,” said Ikezoe. “It is very popular back at home, especially Royal Ascot.”
But who was the the horse that gave this Cup its name? Shergar was a retired champion race horse, owned by billionaire businessman the Aga Khan.
He was famously kidnapped by hooded gunmen on 8 February 1983, with the IRA, New Orleans Mafia and the Libya’s Colonel Gaddafi all linked as potential suspects.
Shergar was owned by a syndicate of 34 people, each with a share worth £250,000 ($394,000). The syndicate refused to pay the ransom, fearing it would encourage other kidnappings.
