|
The Shergar Cup is an annual horse racing event held at Ascot Racecourse, usually during early August. The race is named in honour of Shergar, the horse that won the 1981 Derby, and was originally sponsored by Shergar's owner, the Aga Khan. The event is currently sponsored by Dubai Duty Free. The event was first held in 1999 at Goodwood Racecourse, but has been held at Ascot since 2000 (except in 2005, when Ascot was closed so the grandstand could be redeveloped). Unusually, for a horse racing event, it is a team competition, with jockeys invited to join the teams (two teams from 1999 to 2004; four teams from 2006) divided by their presenting countries or region, or their gender, and the winning team determined by their overall performance across six races. The winning team is presented with a silver trophy of Shergar, donated by the Aga Khan. Described as "racing's most populist event", it attracts around 30,000 spectators each year, and is recognised for attracting families and other new spectators beyond the usual race-going demographic. == History == The event was championed by the British Horseracing Board chairman Peter Savill, with the aim of creating a competition similar to the Ryder Cup in golf. The inaugural competition was held at Goodwood in May 1999, between two teams of horses with owners from Europe (led by Robert Sangster) against owners from the Middle East (led by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum and his family, including 12 horses from the Godolphin Racing stable).〔Shergar Cup is cause for celebration, The Independent, 8 May 1999〕 The competition moved to Ascot in 2000, and the Middle East team became a "Rest of the World" (ROW) team. The event was blighted by a dearth of runners; some European-owned horses were transferred to the ROW team to balance the numbers, but only one race had a full field of ten runners, and two set off with fields of only five or six runners. The low turnout was attributed to the races being unclassified.〔Shergar Cup fails to lure runners, The Times, 11 Aug 2000〕 From 2001 to 2004, the membership of the teams was based the origin of the jockeys rather the ownership of the horses, with two teams of six jockeys each: one team of jockeys from Great Britain and Ireland (GB&I), and one from ROW.〔(Shergar Cup explained ), BBC Sport, 2 August 2003〕 It was suggested in 2002 that team racing tactics used by GB&I captain Kieran Fallon contravened the Rules of Racing (he ran a two-mile race hard to tire the opposition, and then let his teammate Pat Eddery through to win). The controversy led to a Stewards' enquiry; Fallon's explanation that he took up the pace in a slow race was accepted, but there were complaints from Hughie Morrison who trained Fallon's ride, and later clarificatory changes to the Rules. Fallon was quoted as commenting laconically: "They told me it was an individual team thing. I know I am from the west of Ireland but someone is going to have to explain that to me." 〔Shergar Cup ends in row, The Scotsman, 12 Aug 2002〕 Ascot Racecourse was closed in 2005 for renovations, and the format was changed again when the competition resumed in 2006, with the number of teams increased from two (or six jovkeys each) to four (of three jockeys each), representing: Great Britain, Ireland, Europe, and ROW.〔(Coasting to launch Shergar Cup in style ), Daily Telegraph, 11 August 2007〕 Since 2012, the Great Britain and Ireland teams have been merged, so that three of the teams represent geographical areas - GB&I, Europe, and ROW - and the fourth team is an all-women "Girls'" team of female jockeys from around the world.〔(Sammy Jo Bell wins two Shergar Cup races and lifts Ascot’s Silver Saddle ), The Guardian, 8 August 2015〕 The jockeys in each team wears silks dominated by distinctive colours: green for GB&I, blue for Europe, yellow for ROW, pink for the Girls. The event now fills a weekend between Glorious Goodwood in late July, and the Ebor Festival in late August. There are activities between races to keep both adults and children entertained, which may include a fairground rides, extreme sports demonstrations, and musical performances. At the end of the day, a concert is held for race-goers.〔 Concert performers in 2015 included Blue, Lulu, Rick Astley and Razorlight. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Shergar Cup」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|