Sporting Life
Celebration time for the Ladies Team

No Ladies team at Shergar Cup as changes made to format for 2025

By Sporting Life
Horse Racing
Mon May 12, 2025 · 7M ago

Ascot have revealed there will not be a Ladies team at this year's Shergar Cup, with female riders fully integrated across the new line-ups which now includes an Asia team.

Shergar Cup teams

  • Great Britain & Ireland
  • Asia
  • Europe
  • Rest of the World

Jockeys from across the globe including Hollie Doyle, Ryusei Sakai and Karis Teetan will headline the Dubai Duty Free-sponsored event in 2025 which features a new-look team format.

Doyle will make her fourth appearance at the Shergar Cup as she captains the Great Britain & Ireland team in the popular event which takes place at Ascot on Saturday August 9.

Japanese jockey Ryusei Sakai will be the star attraction in the newly-created Asia team. Sakai is already a household name on the international scene through his partnership with the globe-trotting Forever Young, the world’s highest-rated horse currently, and Shin Emperor.

The Asia team replaces the Ladies team in the competition for 2025, recognising that female jockeys compete on a level playing field with their male counterparts. The Ladies team was first established in 2012, after the format had expanded to four teams in 2007. The Ladies team won four of the six most recent editions of the Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup including last year’s dramatic victory secured with Hayley Turner’s success in the final race aboard New Image.

Doyle, who became the most successful female rider in Britain when recording her 1023rd victory on Saturday at Ascot, will be joined in the GB & Ireland team by Robbie Dolan, winner of the Lexus Melbourne Cup in November on Knight’s Choice. Dolan also gained wider public attention when reaching the quarterfinals of the Australian version of The Voice in 2022, when he was coached by Rita Ora, who headlined the Shergar Cup concert in 2018.

Sakai will be joined in the Asia team by compatriot Mirai Iwata who won the World All-Star Jockeys title in 2023, while Suraj Narredu from India will captain the team. They will wear red silks, replacing the pink of the Ladies.

Ten-time Swedish champion jockey Per-Anders Gråberg will make his first appearance in the Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup since 2018 when he captains Europe. Gråberg’s teammates will be Switzerland’s Sibylle Vogt, the first female rider to win the German 1,000 Guineas on board Novemba in 2021, and Italy’s Dario Di Tocco, who has ridden over 850 winners in his home country including partnering Goldenas in last year’s Derby Italiano.

Rest of the World will be captained by Mauritian jockey Karis Teetan, who has ridden over 700 winners in Hong Kong including the likes of top-level stars Romantic Warrior and Ka Ying Rising. The remaining two jockeys for Rest of the World and the final rider for GB & Ireland will be confirmed closer to the time.

Nick Smith, Director of Racing and Public Affairs at Ascot Racecourse, said: "We’re pleased to have secured top talent from across the world to compete at the Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup with at least eight different countries set to be represented already.

"We feel now is the time to move away from a Ladies only team, and this new evolution of the format keeps the event fresh."

Great Britain & Ireland captain, Hollie Doyle, added: "The Ladies team over the years has had great success, but the new changes that have been made which include integrating the male and female jockeys on the same team is a nice reminder that we as jockeys complete on a level playing field internationally."

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