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Ladies land Shergar Cup

3 minute read

Hollie Doyle, Saffie Osborne and Hayley Turner teamed up to give the Ladies team their fourth victory in the annual international team event at Ascot.

Royal Ascot 2023 at Ascot Racecourse. Picture: Getty Images

The Ladies team, successful in 2015, 2018 and 2021, ended with a final tally of 78 points, five clear of the Rest of the World.

Europe finished third on 54 points, with Great Britain & Ireland last on 35 points.

Saffie Osborne, who wrapped up the proceedings by landing the concluding contest on Ed Walker's Dark Trooper, said: "We [The Ladies] had quite a nice book of rides but you can only dream. It has been a great day."

On Hayley Turner drawing a blank, Osborne joked: "We had to carry her today! She is one of my best friends in the weighing room. I live with her in Newmarket her for half a week and we have a good amount of banter. She is great."

Hollie Doyle also gained the honours of the Alistair Haggis Silver Saddle as she ended the day with 48 points, while teammate Osborne tied with Chadwick on 30 points.

The first leg of Doyle's double came when she produced Jessica Harrington's The Very Man from off the pace to land the Stayers contest, with James Tate-trained Regal Empire battling on well to take the Classic later on the card.

Doyle said: "I haven't won the Silver Saddle before, so it's great to have that on my CV!

"I got to ride in the Shergar Cup first when I was an apprentice, and it did let me showcase myself on a wider stage internationally. I rode a winner for Clive Cox, actually, and after that, I ended up riding out for him and had quite a few winners for him - I rode him a Listed winner, actually - so something really did come of that opportunity, so I think it is important in that regard. It's a very good meeting and Ascot does a great job."

Winning captain Hayley Turner added: "It has been good fun again; it is nice to have all the family here now. This has been the best ladies' team we have had; I did not get any points at all, they carried me. It has been great fun!"

"I hope I can do this for many years."

Final team standings
LADIES  78
ROW  73
EUR  54
GBI  35

Final Alistair Haggis Silver Saddle standings
Hollie Doyle LADIES   48
Matthew Chadwick ROW   30
Saffie Osborne LADIES   30
Kazuo Yokoyama ROW  25
Thore Hammer Hansen EUR  23
Luke Morris GBI  21
Joao Moreira ROW  18
Olivier Peslier EUR  17
Frankie Dettori EUR  14
Declan McDonogh GBI  11
Tom Marquand GBI  3
Hayley Turner LADIES   0