Rosie Napravnik, one of
North America's leading jockeys, and Lisa Allpress, the best female jockey that
New Zealand has ever produced, will join Britain's best, Hayley Turner
(Captain), in the Girls Team for the 2013 Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup at Ascot
on Saturday 10 August.
Meanwhile Gary Stevens (Captain), one of the USA's greatest ever
jockeys, will be joined on the Rest of the World team by Japanese ace Yasunari
Iwata, who has won three Japan Cups including the last two on Buena Vista and
Gentildonna, and Brazilian star Joao Moreira, who is currently re-rewriting the
record books in Singapore.
Colm McLoughlin, Dubai Duty Free Executive Vice Chairman, welcomed the
news:
"The Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup is truly deserving of its status
as a major international horseracing event. We are delighted to be bringing
together a group of top international riders and creating a unique opportunity
for the public to see them in action on the same stage.
"We look forward to revealing the European contingent who will
complete the line-up (Teams Europe and Great Britain and Ireland) after the
Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby at the end of June."
Napravnik, 25, is currently ranked second in wins and fifth in earnings
on the North American leader board. She finished eighth in the
jockeys' earnings lists last year, which was the highest place ever by a female
jockey. She became the first female jockey to win the prestigious 2012
Kentucky Oaks on Believe You Can and won the Breeders' Cup Juvenile on Shanghai
Bobby.
Last weekend, following her third consecutive meet title at the Fair
Grounds Race Course in New Orleans, she finished fifth on Mylute in the
Kentucky Derby and rode a double - both Grade Two winners - at Churchill Downs
over the weekend.
Allpress, 37 and a mother of two, was the first female to pass 1000
winners in New Zealand. She won the New Zealand premiership last season with
159 winners after finishing second with 145 winners the year before. She has
ridden over 90 Group and Stakes winners and will take up a three-month contract
in Singapore later in the year.
Allpress said about her Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup appearance: "It
is a fantastic opportunity. I have always wanted to go to England... and to go
there and ride at Ascot, well that is just so wonderful."
Hayley Turner, 30, a Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup regular who has ridden
four winners in the competition in the past, will captain the Girls Team.She said: "I'm
really looking forward to captaining the Girls Team again in an event I always
enjoy and hopefully we can win it this year."
Stevens, 50, made an unexpected return to the saddle in January of this
year after retiring in 2005. He did not take long to notch up a first Graded
victory, taking the Grade 2 San Marcos Stakes aboard Slim Shadey on 10
February.
Prior to his initial retirement, he became the youngest rider to surpass
$100 million in earnings in 1993, was inducted into racing's Hall of Fame in
1997, won the Eclipse Award as the nation's top jockey in 1998 and won three
Kentucky Derbys and eight Breeders' Cup races. He also won the Dubai World Cup,
Japan Cup and had a very successful spell in the UK in 1999, including riding a
winner for The Queen at Royal Ascot on Blueprint. He
also starred in the 2003 film, Seabiscuit.
Iwata, 39 was awarded Japan Racing Association's most winning-jockey title
in 2011 and 2012, determined by races won and money earned. As well as three
Japan Cups, he also struck gold on his very first ride overseas in 2006 when he
travelled to Australia and won the Melbourne Cup on Delta Blues. He took part
in the 2010 Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup in which he was beaten a short head in
the Shergar Cup Classic.
Iwata said: "For Japanese jockeys, the Shergar Cup is
undoubtedly one of the most prestigious and aspired to competitions in the
world and it is a great privilege for me to be able to participate as a
representative of Japanese racing.
"I very much look forward to competing with so many world-class
jockeys including my great team mates, Gary and Joao. I can hardly wait for the
race day!"
Moreira, 29, the Brazilian-born champion jockey in Singapore for the
last three years, won last year's championship by a staggering margin, riding
206 winners against the second place total of 72. He also won the Hong Kong
International Jockeys competition at Happy Valley last December.
Moreira added: "It is an honour to be invited to participate in the
Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup.
"This will be my first visit to ride in the UK and to do so at such
a prestigious racecourse is a dream come true. I am really looking forward to
the event."
Nick Smith, Head of
International Racing at Ascot, concluded:
"We set the bar
really high in 2012 with our first all female team, with Chantal Sutherland and
Emma-Jayne Wilson competing alongside Hayley. So we are particularly pleased in
year two to have arguably the two outstanding riders in their countries - of
any sex - in Rosie and Lisa, joining Hayley this year.
"The Rest of the
World Team is also as strong as usual with Gary captaining a new face in Joao,
who is simply in a league of his own in Singapore, and Yasunari,
who has won the last two Japan Cups."
No comments:
Post a Comment