Ascot hosts the Shergar Cup meeting on Saturday and the organisers of the event are over the moon that some of the best jockeys in the sport have agreed to race at the meeting including Daniel Tudhope, Hayley Turner and Japanese star Nanako Fujita.
The meeting is a prestigious one at the Ascot track and it will be Tudhope and Fujita's first time in the event. The Japanese female jockey heads to England off the back of a successful season around the globe winning this year's Women Jockeys’ World Cup at Bro Park in Sweden.
Danny Tudhope is no stranger to the Berkshire track having a superb Royal Ascot this season landing four winners including a Group 1 in the first race of the festival with Lord Glitters in the Queen Anne Stakes.
The Scotsman is sat second in the Flat jockeys’ championship just two wins behind the current leader Oisin Murphy but Tudhope has had over 100 less rides than the Irishman and is in the form of his life this year.
(Credit At The Races) Nick Smith, director of communications and racing at Ascot, said: “I think the Shergar Cup has always been about trying to capture the now and the moment, and we have two key people in that respect in Danny Tudhope and Nanako Fujita.
“Both riders have been very much in the news with what they have been doing on the track and it is great to have them on board.
“I’m very happy with the teams we have got as we have some new names there and some familiar ones. It is like building a cricket team, you want a mixture of experience and new blood and I think we have done that.”
Hayley Turner has been involved in the meeting before and last season took the silver saddle prize to help the girls team win the competition last season and Nick Smith it would be no surprise to see her and the girls do well again.
Smith added: “The girls team over the last couple of years has been very strong and they have a good team again with Jamie Kah joining Hayley and Nanako.
“It is worth remembering that when the event introduced the female team, there was genuine concern that it would be the same team every year as there would not be enough strength in depth.
“It has, in fact, gone the complete opposite way and you could have almost have an Australian ladies’ team.”
There is an expected 20,000 spectators said to flood to Ascot on Saturday for the Shergar Cup meeting which is outstanding for a race-card that does not include any Group races.
Smith feels the meeting has come at a perfect time in the calendar and added: “Although the jockeys will be taking the races seriously, a meeting like this on a quiet weekend on the calendar gives riders the chance to let their hair down a bit.
“At the end of the day it might not be for everyone, but it certainly lends itself to the calendar.”