the shergar cup: an example of good innovation.

​The Shergar Cup is one of my favourite flat meetings of the season, if not my actual favourite. Whoever first proposed the idea should be congratulated as it is the best example of innovation within racing for many a long day?
The meeting works because it is a simple and easily followable formula and it allows people, if they choose, to take a position on which team they would like to have win. Obviously, because they are thought to be the underdogs, the female team get a bigger slice of support and I suspect that will always be the way no matter how many times they win the cup. I dare say anyone of Irish extraction tip their hat in that direction and anyone from abroad will favour an international team. But overall, it is an afternoon of good, clean fun that even the jockeys seem to enjoy. 
In its twenty-years of existence it has gone from novelty to a looked-for date in the calendar. And with so many jockeys of ‘foreign parentage’ riding in this country, I would prefer if only one visiting jockey was brought over to make up a team of international riders. If Sean Levey was used on a regular basis he might become as much a Shergar stalwart as Hayley Turner. If I have one small criticism, it is that the jockeys riding are not given enough screen time as this is an opportunity to see a more relaxed jockey, to get to know them as the characters they are. Certainly, Sean Levey’s smile and sense of humour was a pleasure to witness.
Anyone who has visited this website on even a sub-regular basis will know that I am a fan of Nicola Currie. She is a greatly under-rated jockey and her success in becoming leading rider in this year’s renewal of the Shergar Cup warmed the cockles of my old heart. Hopefully, from this day forth, trainers will give her more opportunity to prove her worth and it seems Mark Johnston was impressed enough to suggest he will use her in the future. And with her ever-present sense of humour, she is someone who given the right opportunities can help promote the sport to the non-racing public.
And this, to me, is the main selling point of the Shergar Cup. Not only does it give foreign jockeys an opportunity to display their skills to a whole new audience but it can be a window of opportunity for jockeys of the calibre of Nicola Currie, who for whatever reason have faded from the limelight. Though it is the luck of the draw, it gives them a chance to get on good handicappers for owners and trainers who ordinarily would not think to have them ride their horses.
Although you couldn’t advocate a greater spread of such events during the season, and not on the exact lines of the Shergar Cup, it is concept that could be exploited on other occasions throughout the season. A gender challenge might be a way to go, six female jockeys versus six male jockeys might provide an edge. Or if you wanted three teams it could be female, male and apprentice, which might work well on the all-weather during the winter season. And then what about Northern trainers versus Southern trainers, that certainly might have an edge to it especially if it staged on a northern racecourse?
It seems Ascot are planning a ‘reboot’ for the event next season. I hope it is nothing too radical and it would be a mistake not to have a female team, even if the woke society, and even female jockeys themselves, do not care for the definition of female jockey, preferring to be known simply as jockey. As innovations go, the Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup is leaps and bounds a better proposition than the truly awful Racing League, the rank dangerous City Street Racing and though the Sunday series has potential, it rides a coach and horses through the mantra of making life easier for stable staff as the late Sunday finish is the complete opposite of what is required. Did they never consider an earlier start time, say 11.30 am?