Shergar Cup Profiles

The Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup is back at Ascot on Saturday - here's a guide to the jockeys that make up the four teams.

GREAT BRITAIN & IRELAND

Jamie Spencer (Captain)

One of the most talented riders of his generation needs no introduction to racing fans having been at the top of this game for many years.

Last season saw the shock announcement of his retirement but a change of heart saw him remain in the saddle in a campaign that has yielded big race victories at Royal Ascot and Glorious Goodwood among others. His first winner was Huncheon Chance for trainer Ian Ferguson at Downpatrick, Northern Ireland, on May 11, 1996. Sprang to prominence by winning the Irish 1000 Guineas in 1998 Tarascon at the age of 17 when apprenticed to Liam Browne, through whose hands jockeys Mick Kinane, Mark Dwyer, Tommy Carmody and Stephen Craine had also passed. A raft of big race wins even include one at the Cheltenham Festival, the Weatherbys Champion Bumper on Edward O’Grady's Pizarro. 

Pat Smullen

Stable jockey to Dermot Weld since 1999, he has been crowned Ireland's Champion Jockey on no fewer than seven occasions.

He can number Classic successes on both sides of the Irish Sea among his tally, including four consecutive Irish St Leger's aboard Vinnie Roe. A former show-jumper and eventer, he served a four-year apprenticeship with local trainer Tommy Lacy, enjoying first success aboard Vicosa in an apprentices’ handicap at Dundalk on June 11, 1993. It was Lacy’s suggestion that he rode for trainer Erwan Charpy in Dubai in the winter of 1997 and he went on to become one of leading riders in the Middle-East. Spent two years with trainer Tommy Stack, who gave him first Group win when Tarascon won 1997 Moyglare Stud Stakes, before joining Weld.

Graham Lee

Famously won the Grand National on Amberleigh House for the legendary Ginger McCain in 2004 during a career as a jump jockey which spanned more than 20 years and over 1,000 winners, including several at the Cheltenham Festival.

He switched to the Flat in 2012 after a serious hip injury and hasn't looked back since with a first Group One success coming this season when Trip To Paris won the Gold Cup at Royal Ascot. Started out on the Irish pony-racing circuit and left school at 15 to join Noel Meade before moving to England and the yard of Mary Reveley when he was 18. Still based in the north of England, he has partnered 108 winners in 2012, 127 in 2013, 159 in 2014 and is riding high in the jockeys' table this year with over 50 on the board.

EUROPE

Olivier Peslier (Captain)

The son of a stonemason, he started pony riding at a young age. and served his apprenticeship with Patrick Biancone and Nicolas Clement with his first winner coming aboard Cavalo d’Oro at Rouen in 1989.

Sprang to prominence in 1996 when winning his first jockeys' title with 163 winners and he has gone on to add three more titles, in 1997 with 154 successes, 1999 (147 wins) and 2000 (162 wins). He soon became an international jockey of renown and has ridden winners at the highest level all around the world with his association with Goldikova, on whom he won 17 times, including 14 at Group One level, attracting the most headlines. He's also won the 2000 Guineas and the Derby in England as well as two races at the Shergar Cup!

Adrie de Vries

Part of last year's winning team, the Dutchman rode his first winner on Go at Duindigt racecourse, near Rotterdam, in 1985 and has gone on to enjoy success all over the world in both Thoroughbred and Arabian racing.

He partnered over 600 winners in The Netherlands and dominated the jockeys’ championship winning it 12 times while he also collected the Dutch Derby five times between 1991 and 1999. He moved to Germany after the turn of the century and was retained by Germany’s leading owner Gestut Schlenderhan between 2009 and 2014, winning the jockey's title in 2014. As well as last year's Shergar Cup success, he has a victory at the Royal meeting to his name courtesy of Energizer in 2012.

Vincent Cheminaud

The reigning champion jump jockey is a rising star of the Flat scene in France.

The son of a successful jump jockey, he joined the racing school at Mont de Marsan and then completed his apprenticeship with jump trainer Emmanuel Clayeux. Started working for leading handler Arnaud Chaille-Chaille at 16 and had his first ride in March, 2010. Went freelance in 2013 after losing his claim and enjoyed first Grade One win on Guillaume Macaire-trained Storm Of Saintly in May of that year and went on to win the prestigious 2014 Grand Steeple Chase de Paris aboard the same horse. Switched his attentions to the Flat this year with support of Andre Fabre and has ridden over 30 winners this season, including the Prix du Jockey Club (French Derby) aboard New Bay.

THE GIRLS

Emma-Jayne Wilson (Captain)

Made a huge impression on last year's Shergar Cup winning two races as The Girls came within one point of winning the Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup while she just missed out on the Silver Saddle Award for the leading rider.

The winning-most female jockey of all-time in Canada, she is one of only two female Canadian jockeys to have ridden over 1,000 winners and, early in her career, she also became only the second woman to win the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Apprentice Jockey in North America following a season which saw her crowned as leading jockey at Woodbine as well as claiming a first Stakes race success. Since 2005, she has finished in the top 100 jockeys by earnings every year in North America. This will be her fourth Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup. 

Hayley Turner

The joint champion UK apprentice in 2005 with 44 winners, she has become the most successful female jockey in British racing history.

Her success that season led to her being awarded a Lester for apprentice jockey of the year, the first woman ever to gain that accolade while she was only the fourth to ride out her claim. She spent 13 years with Michael Bell's stable with highlights including victory in the Nunthorpe Stakes aboard Margot Did, a second Group One success of her career and of 2011 following the July Cup win on Dream Ahead. A regular at the Shergar Cup, she has been a captain on three occasions and has ridden four winners at the event.

Sammy Jo Bell

She grew up around horses and spent six months working for Jim Bolger after leaving school.

She then moved on to the stables of Kevin Prendergast, where she worked for three and a half years, enjoying a first winner on just her third ride as Celtic Dane won a Leopardstown handicap in 2011. She rode nine more winners in Ireland before moving to the UK at the start of 2013 to ride for Richard Fahey, in search of greater opportunities. Has ridden 22 winners this year (as of August 3) and is just off the lead in this year’s champion apprentice title. Rides under the name on her birth certificate – Samantha Bell – but is known universally as Sammy Jo Bell.

REST OF THE WORLD

Kerrin McEvoy (Captain)

The Australian is a familiar figure on the British racing scene having spent five seasons here - with his victories including a St Leger success.

He returned to Australia in 2008 to take up the position as number one ride for Sheikh Mohammed’s Darley operation. Father Phillip was a jockey, as were his uncles Peter and Tony, he started out as an apprentice to his grandfather Bill Holland in 1997 and in 2000, his first year as a senior rider, he became the second youngest jockey to win the Melbourne Cup at the age of 20. A regular in jockeys’ contests, notably in Hong Kong where he won the 2013 event, he will be looking to add to his three Royal Ascot winners on his Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup debut.

Blake Shinn

Started competing in gymkhanas at the age of five and duly became apprenticed to his stepfather Lee Hope, with a first major victory coming on Demerger in the 2005 Adelaide Cup.

Left Victoria for Sydney at 19 to become stable jockey for the powerful Gai Waterhouse stable and gained a first victory in Australia's most famous race, the Melbourne Cup, aboard Viewed in 2008. A raft of big race victories have followed, including the BTC Cup, Doomben Cup and Vinery Stud Stakes this calendar year. Will be having his first rides in the UK.

Yutaka Take

A superstar in his native Japan where he is one of the country's top sporting figures.

He is the son of legendary jockey turned trainer Kunihiko Take, who was known as the ‘Magician of the Turf’. He rode his first winner in 1987, and won 69 races when champion apprentice that year, a record for a first-season rider. He has gone on to add a remarkable 18 jockeys' titles to his tally, winning a record 212 races in 2012 and in 1991 he became the first Japanese rider to win a Pattern race overseas when successful in the USA and he did the same in Europe, when landing the 1994 renewal of the Prix du Moulin, and in Britain, when winning the July Cup in 2000. A regular at the Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup, he has ridden four winners at the meeting.