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Ascot Racecourse announces today that the Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup (Saturday 10th August) will be run for £360,000, a total increase of £90,000.

Each race will be run for £60,000 (2018: £45,000) and as normal, there are no entry fees to run. 

Tadhg O'Shea, Filip Minarik, Yuga Kawada and Hayley Turner have been confirmed as team captains for the 2019 Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup. Hayley, who captained the Girls team to victory, is back, and will be joined by Jamie Kah from Australia, and recent Women Jockeys' World Cup winner Nanako Fujita. 

Last year saw the Girls team lift the trophy having amassed 76 points during the day, six clear of Team Europe on 70 points, whilst Hayley Turner won the Alistair Haggis Silver Saddle trophy with 39 points.

The teams as they stand:

Ascot Racecourse will be making 200 complimentary Queen Anne Enclosure tickets available to racing staff. Delivered in partnership with the National Trainers Federation (NTF), through RacingGroom.com, the offer will enable signed up members of RacingGroom.com to apply for tickets for Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup day which includes a post-racing, fully live headline concert from Jessie J, with DJ set by Tinie Tempah and performance from Go West.

Full details of how racing staff can apply will be confirmed shortly. Racing staff, active on the day with runners, will continue to benefit from special prizes worth over £5,000, more than any other raceday in Britain. 

Nick Smith, Director of Racing and Communications at Ascot, said:

"The Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup takes place at a competitive time of year in the ratings band in which we operate.

"Framing races to provide quality horses, appropriate to the quality of riders we invite to ride in the event, is important, and we hope that £60,000 handicaps, in limited fields of 10, with prize money down to last place, and no entry fees to pay, will add further appeal for owners and trainers.

"Jockeys ride for total event prize money of £20,000 in addition to their race prize money percentages. 

"We are conscious that owners allow us to allocate jockeys on their behalf, and horses run in team colours as opposed to their own, so we want to make running financially attractive as well as providing first class race day hospitality.

"This year, we will be extending our thanks to racing staff, who are fundamental to keeping the show on the road, by making 200 Queen Anne Enclosure tickets available through the RacingGroom.com scheme in addition to the £5,000 prizes available to those participating.

"The jockey line up is looking strong, and will be confirmed as soon as retainer commitments are known. We are delighted with the domestic and international line up. In Danny Tudhope, who leads the British jockeys' championship and rode four winners at Royal Ascot, and in star Japanese jockey, Nanako Fujita, that nation's highest profile female rider ever and winner of the recent Women Jockeys' World Cup at Bro Park in Sweden, we have two of the most 'of the moment' jockeys riding at present."

Colm McLoughlin, Dubai Duty Free Executive Vice Chairman & CEO, said:

"The Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup continues to grow in stature and importance year-on-year and we are delighted to have played a part in the development of this unique raceday since its inception.

"As a global brand, the international element of the competition is important to Dubai Duty Free and we are delighted that the event has once again attracted top names from around the world."

THE 2019 DUBAI DUTY FREE SHERGAR CUP - SHORT BIOGRAPHIES

GBI 

Tadhg O'Shea 

*37 years old.

* Champion Irish apprentice in 2001.

*Most successful jockey of all-time in the United Arab Emirates. 

*The 2018/19 season also saw O'Shea land a seventh jockeys' championship in the UAE, equalling the record set by Ted Durcan.

*One Royal Ascot success - Ouqba, 2009 Jersey Stakes. 

*Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup debut. 

Danny Tudhope

*33 years old.

*Enjoying a fabulous 2019 and currently leads the Stobart Champion Flat Jockeys' Championship (as of July 16).

*Partnered 1,000th winner at Thirsk in on June 3, 2019.

*Has ridden six Royal Ascot winners, including four in 2019 headed by Lord Glitters in G1 Queen Anne Stakes.

*Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup debut. 

EUR

Filip Minarik

*44 years old.

*Born in Prague, Czech Republic and based in Germany since 2000.

* Has been champion jockey in Germany on four occasions - 2005, 2011, 2016 and 2017 (when he shared the title with Alexander Pietsch).

*Has partnered over 1,500 winners in Germany, including 14 at G1 level.

*Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup debut. 

ROW

Yuga Kawada

*33 years old.

*Gained over 1,200 winners in Japan, including 12 at G1 level.

*One of only eight riders in JRA history to have won all five Classic races in Japan.

*Rode in the UK in 2018 when based with Newmarket trainer Roger Varian - four wins from 30 rides.

*Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup debut. 

Vincent Chak-Yiu Ho; rides as C-Y Ho

*29 years old.

*Spent time in New Zealand at start of career, partnering 44 winners.

*Hong Kong Champion Apprentice in 2010/11 with 39 wins.

*Had short spell in UK in 2018, making a winning UK debut on the Mark Johnston-trained X Rated at Haydock Park (August 9) - one UK win from five rides.

*267 Hong Kong victories & finished fourth in the 2018/19 championship with 55 successes.

*Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup debut.

GIRLS

Hayley Turner

*36 years old.

*The most successful female jockey in Britain ever, setting records.

*Joint champion apprentice in 2005.

*Biggest UK wins came in 2011 G1 Darley July Cup (Dream Ahead) & 2011 G1 Nunthorpe Stakes (Margot Did).

*Became only the second female rider to partner a winner at Royal Ascot when successful on Thanks Be in 2019 Sandringham Handicap.

*Has made more Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup appearances than any other jockey - 12 in total.

Jamie Kah

*23 years old.

*From an equestrian background and was riding trackwork before the age of 15.

*Won 2012/13 Adelaide Jockeys' Premiership while still an apprentice. Won the same title again in both 2016/17 and 2017/18.

*Spent time in UK in 2015, riding work for Sir Michael Stoute and Jeremy Gask.

*She set a new record for the most wins by a female jockey in an Australian season in 2016/17 - 129 as against 111 previously.

*The Melbourne-based jockey enjoyed her first G1 success on Harlem in the 2019 Australian Cup at Flemington on March 9. She has partnered nearly 800 winners.

*Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup debut. 

Nanako Fujita

*21 years old.

*She obtained her Japan Racing Association jockey's licence in 2016 - the first female to do so for 16 years.

*Became the most successful female jockey in Japan in August, 2018, when recording her 35th career victory.

*Set another record when becoming first female JRA jockey to ride in a G1 race - she finished fifth on Copano Kicking in the February Stakes at Tokyo on February 19, 2019. 

* Top jockey at the third running of the Women Jockeys' World Cup at Bro Park in Stockholm, Sweden on June 30, 2019 with two successes - her first in Europe.

*She has enjoyed a total of over 60 winners in Japan.

*Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup debut.