Multiple Classic winner Seamie Heffernan, Royal Ascot-winning teenager Billy Loughnane and French Group 1 scorer Marie Vélon are among the 12 jockeys today confirmed to ride in Saturday's Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup at Ascot.
Nine countries will be represented across the four teams, while new ground is broken this year with an equal number of male and female jockeys for the first time in the history of the Shergar Cup.
Vélon, the first French female jockey to win a French Group 1 race with her victory in the 2022 Prix Royal-Oak, will join the Ladies' team which is captained by Hayley Turner as she makes a record-extending seventeenth appearance in the competition. The team is completed by Saffie Osborne whose final race heroics secured the title for the Ladies last year.
The Rest of the World team will be captained by Australian-based five-time Group 1 winner Rachel King. The team will also feature Japanese rider Nanako Fujita, who made her Shergar Cup debut in 2019 and became the first female JRA jockey to compete in a Group 1 when doing so the same year. South African jockey Rachel Venniker, successful in over 250 races already at the age of just 23, completes the line-up.
Bauryzhan Murzabayev, from Kazakhstan and a four-time champion Flat jockey in Germany, captains the European team. He will be joined by Italian Alberto Sanna, who has ridden over 400 winners, notably winning back-to-back editions of the Italian 2,000 Guineas in 2021 and 2022. Spaniard Jose-Luis Borrego, victorious in Classics in his home country and the winner of nearly 500 races, also makes his debut in the competition.
The Great Britain & Ireland team, led by Dubai World Cup-winning jockey Tadgh O'Shea, will see 18-year-old Loughnane make his Shergar Cup debut, returning to the scene of his first two Royal Ascot victories back in June. Loughnane's youth will be combined with Heffernan's experience, the 52-year-old bringing over 1,000 career victories, including both the Derby and the Oaks at Epsom.
A record £500,000 will be available in prize-money across the six race programme, with prize-money paid down to tenth in each race. £25,000 in stable bonuses is also available, split between the three leading yards.
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