The European team
virtually guaranteed victory in the 2013 Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup after
taking the first three places in the fifth race, the Pagegroup Shergar Cup
Challenge.
Mark Johnston, celebrating
his second winner of the afternoon, welcomed in Star Lahib (Ioritz Mendizabal -
EUR) to the winner's enclosure.
The winning jockey said:
"I am very happy because it's my first win at Ascot, which is very
important, and my filly is incredible.
"Today, there was a
good pace and she had a very good finish. She is a very easy filly and very
easy to ride. When I ask her to go, she goes, when I ask her to stop, she
stops."
Mendizabal is Johnston's
jockey of choice in France so it was a lucky coincidence that the two linked up
with the four-year-old filly.
Johnston said:
"Another winner and another second - I cannot complain. She has been a
great horse all season; there have been a couple of wee hiccups but generally
she is very consistent. She gets the trip well and runs well when there is a
strong pace.
"I know the jockey
quite well - he would be my jockey of choice in France. He was ideal for me and
had two rides for me today.
"He won on Baileys
Jubilee for us last year in France. Though he is not as well known as some of
the other French jockeys in Britain, numerically he does very well and
especially in the provinces.
"He is good to us
because he can ride a British-style race. We also use Gerald Mosse and they
would be the jockeys we are happiest with in the Shergar Cup."
A GOOD
DAY GOT BETTER FOR MOSSE, DESPITE DEFEAT
He has travelled from Hong
Kong, but the journey to Ascot for Frenchman Gerald Mosse is proving well worth
the effort.
His Europe team took the
first three places in this contest, more or less sealing victory in the Dubai
Duty Free Shergar Cup, while Mosse himself is now well clear in the race for
the Silver Saddle, given to the leading rider. He picked up ten points in this
race after finishing second on Sadler's Risk, beaten four and a half lengths by
Ioritz Mendizabal who rode Star Lahib. Trainer Mark Johnston had saddled the
first three in the previous race, and on this occasion he was responsible for
the first two.
With Europe's tally now 90
points and Great Britain and Ireland on 61 points, the home team need to score
a one, two, three in the closing event and hope Europe fails to score.
Similarly it will take a win by James Doyle to deprive Mosse of the cherished saddle.
Doyle trails Mosse by 15 points, but would draw level if he takes the last race
and would be the winner by virtue of more victories on the card.
However, Mosse has been
awarded the 'Ride of the Day' by former jockeys Joe Mercer and John Reid, who rated
his all-the-way win on Royal Skies in the Keltbray Shergar Cup Classic as the
pick.
Mosse refused to think of
victory until it is sealed, but said: "I told you before, we never give
up. We're still not past the winning post, but we are very well placed.
"It has been a really
good day for me and I'm very happy to be here - it's such fun. My horse
[Sadler's Risk] was so honest."
TEAM GB
& I NOT DEAD YET!
A one, two, three for
Europe gave them the whip hand in the race for the Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup
in the fifth race of the day but a similar result for Team Great Britain &
Ireland in the last would give the home team a chance, and if Europe
failed to score in the last that would be enough to hand GBI the cup.
Kieren Fallon, team
captain for Team Great Britain & Ireland, who finished a valuable fourth on
Willie Wag Tail taking five points for the team in the Pagegroup Shergar Cup
Challenge, said: "So we are not dead - but were on the machine!"
asked if a rousing team talk would take place he added "I will have to
give them more than that!"
Fallon also reflected on
his ride saying: "He just stays - workmanlike. He stayed on nice, I
thought he was going to do something turning for home but he levelled
off."
There was a sting in the
tail for Fallon when he picked up a ban for his ride on Bushel in the Keltbray
Shergar Cup Classic. The stewards found that Fallon had used his whip above the
permitted level and suspended him for four days - August 24, 25, 26, 27.
Cathy Gannon, who came
home in fifth on Haylaman and picked up three points for the Girls said:
"He didn't really come off the bridle - they went plenty quick and the
ground has gone a bit loose on him."
3.15pm PageGroup Shergar Cup Challenge
£30,000 total prize fund. For 4yo+, rated 76-95 (also
open to such horses rated 75 and below), 1m 4f. Weights: highest weight 10st;
minimum weight 8st 9lb. Penalties: after August 3rd, each race won 3lb. Penalty
value 1st £14,754.00 2nd £5,166.00 3rd £2,361.00 4th £1,842.00 5th £1,623.00
6th £1,182.00
1) STAR LAHIB (Jaber Abdullah) Mark Johnston 4-9-11
Ioritz Mendizabal EUR 5/1
2) SADLER´S RISK (Roger Brookhouse) Mark Johnston
5-9-12 Gerald Mosse EUR 10/1
3) ICEBUSTER (The Links Partnership) Rod Millman
5-9-05 Andrasch Starke EUR 16/1
4) WILLIE WAG TAIL (Qatar Racing Limited) Ed Walker
4-9-07 Kieren Fallon GBI 3/1 Fav
5) HAYLAMAN (Dr Marwan Koukash) David Simcock 5-9-13
Cathy Gannon GIRLS
6) USTURA (Godolphin) Saeed bin Suroor t4-9-12
Yasunari Iwata ROW
7) SCATTER DICE (Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed Al
Maktoum) Mark Johnston 4-9-08 Lisa Allpress GIRLS
8) JUPITER STORM (Heart Of The South Racing) Gary
Moore 4-9-05 Rosie Napravnik GIRLS
9) BEAUFORT TWELVE (Tony Foster & John Kelsey-Fry)
William Jarvis 4-9-06 Kevin Manning GBI
10) CRY FURY (A E Dean) Gary Moore 5-9-07 Gary Stevens
ROW
10
ran
Non-runners: Communicator (Self Cert - Temperature
(Rosie Napravnik rode 11R Jupiter Storm))
Time: 2m 31.34s
Distances: 4½, 1¼, ¾, 1¼, 3¾, 1¾, ½, 18, 12
Tote Win
£5.20
Place £1.90 £3.70 £5.20 Exacta £48.50
Ioritz
Mendizabal
Born: May 2,
1974, Oiartzun, Basque region of Spain Background: Mendizabal comes from
a Spanish family with no racing history. His father worked in a bank and his
mother was a teacher. He first learned to ride in his village on ponies and
quickly wanted to become a jockey as he knew he was light enough. Due to there being
no apprentice establishment in Spain, Mendizabal persuaded his parents to let
him go to apprentice school at Mont de Marsan in France at the age of 14,
despite not speaking any French at the time. He was originally apprenticed to
Michel Laboarde in Dax and rode his first winner in 1990 on Ninive la Douce at
Gemozac. In 1991, Mendizabal joined trainer Jean-Claude Rouget and has been
with him since. In 2004, Mendizabal became French champion jockey for the first
time with a then national record of 220 wins from 969 rides. Mendizabal has
been French Champion jockey three more times 2008 (202), 2009 (180) and 2010
(170). Winner of the World Super Jockeys competition at Hanshin Racecourse in
December, 2008. The 5'10" jockey is married to amateur jockey and trainer
Caroline Brunaud and has a particular fondness for chocolate Accolades: French
Champion Flat Jockey (2004, 2008, 2009 & 2010). French Classic Wins: Prix
du Jockey Club (2008 Vision D'Etat). Other big race wins: Prix Ganay
(2009 Vision of State). Prix de l'Opera (2010 Lily of the Valley), Prix
Saint-Alary (Ask For The Moon 2004 and Germance 2006), Arlington Million (2008
Spirit One) Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup debut in 2013 (1 win).
First Ascot winner.
TEAM POINTS AFTER FIFTH RACE:
EUR - 90
GBI - 61
ROW - 28
GIRLS - 25
INDIVIDUAL POINTS AFTER FIFTH RACE:
Gerald Mosse (EUR) - 46
James Doyle (GBI) - 31
Kieren Fallon (GBI) - 30
Ioritz Mendizabal (EUR) - 27
Joao Moreira (ROW) - 25
Andrasch Starke (EUR) - 17
Lisa Allpress (GIRLS) - 12
Cathy Gannon (GIRLS) - 8
Rosie Napravnik (GIRLS) - 5
Gary Stevens (ROW) - 3
Yasunari Iwata (ROW) -
Kevin Manning (GBI) -
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