Shergar Cup takes some swallowing

Aug 9 2008 by Doug Moscrop, The Journal

HOW many punters will be that interested in which jockey, from whatever part of the world, is the top rider at Ascot today or which team from four will lift the trophy at the end of the day?

I guess, not a lot. To many, the Shergar Cup is a one-off occasion when the action interests only those who are likely to benefit financially and doesn’t appeal from a betting point of view.

Backing horses has always been a risky business but those who get involved accept the challenge because they believe they know their four-legged friends and those humans who are perched on top. In normal circumstances, trainers book the best jockeys available and go out of their way to secure the services of one that has already won on a particular animal or knows and gets on with him or her well.

Not today, though. For example, who would dream of putting up Canadian-born Russell Baze, who represents the Rest Of The World team, on any of the home-trained contenders when he has never ridden right-handed or on an undulating track, while the straight seven furlongs at Ascot will be new to him as will riding in a two-miler. That’s not all. We have the farcical situation of Frankie Dettori switching from the European side to become a member of the Great Britain trio.

That has come about because Ryan Moore has to ride at Haydock for his retained stable of Sir Michael Stoute.

Even accepting that Dettori has lived in this country for the last 25 years and has been champion jockey three times, he is an Italian by birth and was in the European line-up last year.

I accept that Dettori is one of racing’s ambassadors as far as promoting our sport in other countries and I can understand the Ascot authority’s determination to have him in action as the jockey who created history by riding all seven winners on the Saturday card at the September festival in 1996.

The Shergar Cup will cater for the autograph-hunting youngsters and first-time racegoers rather than the dedicated followers of the sport.

And the huge crowd, predicted to be in excess of the attendance for the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes, may be largely down to a two-hour pop concert that follows the racing.