Shergar Cup: Date, venue, schedule, teams, history and more

Horse racing's equivalent to the Ryder Cup, the Shergar Cup is a unique fixture on the calendar as four teams battle it out for supremacy at Ascot.

Europe, Great Britain & Ireland, Ladies and the Rest of the World contest six races at the famous Berkshire circuit and whoever accrues the most points at the end of the card is crowned champion.

There are also individual awards on offer, with a cast of 12 international jockeys vying for the Alistair Haggis Silver Saddle, which is awarded to whoever finishes top of the table upon conclusion of the event.

Check out everything you need to know about the Shergar Cup.

Shergar Cup date

Staged annually, this year's Shergar Cup will take place on Saturday 10th August 2024.

Shergar Cup venue

First run at Goodwood in 1999, Ascot racecourse has been the home of the Shergar Cup since 2000.

The Berkshire circuit hosts a number of prestigious events, including the famed Royal Ascot meeting in June.

Shergar Cup teams

As mentioned above, there are four teams that contest the Shergar Cup. Each team is represented by three jockeys and this year there's an even split of male and female jockeys.

The teams for the Shergar Cup 2024 are as follows:

Europe (Bauryrzhan Murzabayev (c), Jose-Luis Borrego, Alberto Sanna)

Great Britain and Ireland (Tadhg O’Shea (c), Seamie Heffernan, Billy Loughnane)

Ladies (Hayley Turner (c), Marie Velon, Saffie Osborne)

Rest of the World (Rachel King (c), Rachel Venniker, Nanako Fujita)

Shergar Cup races

The Shergar Cup consists of six races, which are all Class 2 Handicaps and range from 5f to 2m.

13:35: Shergar Cup Dash
14:10: Shergar Cup Stayers
14:45: Shergar Cup Challenge
15:20: Shergar Cup Sprint
15:55: Shergar Cup Classic
16:30: Shergar Cup Mile

Shergar Cup scoring system

The maximum field size per each race is 10 and each jockey will run in five races.

The first five home in each race receive points in the following order:

1. 15 points
2. 10 points
3. 7 points
4. 5 points
5. 3 points

If a declared horses is a non-runner, there are reserve horses available to be brought into the race.

If it is too late for a reserve horse to fill a vacant slot, the jockey who is without a ride is awarded four points.

Shergar Cup history

The inaugural competition was held at Goodwood in 1999 and was initially contested between Europe and the Middle East.

Transitioning over to Ascot in the following year, the Middle East were renamed to Rest of the World and it remained a two-team competition until 2006 when Great Britain and Ireland were introduced.

In 2012, the GB and Ireland team merged, enabling the Ladies team to be formed.

Since then, the Ladies team have been the most successful in the Shergar Cup, winning on four occasions in 2015, 2018, 2021 and 2023.

Rest of the World have the most wins in Shergar Cup history having triumphed in seven different meetings.

Frankie Dettori is the most successful captain in the event with four wins, the last of which came in 2014.

Three jockeys have won the Silver Saddle award more than once, including Richard Hughes, Fran Berry and Hayley Turner.