The Shergar Cup is an annual horse racing event held at Ascot Racecourse, usually during early August.
The event was championed by the British Horseracing Board chairman Peter Savill, with the aim of creating a competition similar to the Ryder Cup in golf.
The inaugural competition was held at Goodwood in May 1999, between two teams of horses with owners from Europe (led by Robert Sangster) against owners from the Middle East (led by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum and his family, including 12 horses from the Godolphin Racing stable).
[6] The jockeys in each team wears silks dominated by distinctive colours: green for GB&I, blue for Europe, yellow for ROW, pink for the Girls.
There are activities between races to keep both adults and children entertained, which may include a fairground rides, extreme sports demonstrations, and musical performances.
If a horse does not run and cannot be replaced with a reserve animal, the jockey who is unable to ride is awarded 4 points for the race in question.
Horses to run are declared an hour before the race, and if there is a withdrawal, a reserve has 15 minutes to be brought up.
Once this is set, then a random draw is held to assign jockeys to the proper group of horses.
[7] The incentives for owners to provide horses include free entry fees for the horses and a £30,000 purse for each race, with £369 for last place, so all entrants get a portion of the prize money, essentially guaranteeing that any owner will make back enough money to cover their expenses.