Shergar Cup at Ascot

Russell Baze and Jorge Ricardo may not be household names in the U.K. or Europe, but they are in fact the most successful jockeys in the history of horseracing, both with over 10,000 winners to their credit. Amazingly they have never met before, Baze being active mainly in N. California and Ricardo in Brazil, and it is a great coup for Ascot that they are both taking part in today´s Shergar Cup , where they together with Japanese superstar Yutaka Take form the Rest of the World team. Neither ha ridden a straight mile before and only rarely on a right-handed track, but jockeys with their experience and strike-rate can be expected to adapt quickly enough to these stranger conditions. They have however both been unlucky with the draw for mounts, and their team may have to rely on Take if they are to take the competition trophy from the opposing teams of England (Hayley Turner/ Frankie Dettori (!?)Seb Sanders), Ireland (Jamie Spencer/ Kevin Manning/ Richard Hughes), and Rest of Europe (Mirco Demuro, Gerald Mossé, Halis Karatas). Karatas, the leading jockey in Turkey, is another newcomer to Britain but has drawn some good mounts and is one of the favourites to win the individual trophy. All six races have ten runners and are class 2 handicaps and each looks exceptionally difficult. Our very speculative suggestions:

14.10 CET 5 furlongs: Strike up the Band (Take)
14.45 7 furlongs (fillies): Nans Joy (Take)
15.20 6 furlongs (3yo): Shifting Star (Mossé)
15.55 2 miles: Akarem (Demuro)
16.30 1 1/2 miles: All the Good (Karatas)
17.05 1 mile: Gold Sovereign (Hughes)
overall individual winner: Take