Vincent Ho Chak-yiu will captain the Hong Kong Jockey Club’s first team to ever compete in the Shergar Cup in August, with the UK’s world-renowned competition set to be run under the World Pool banner for the first time.
The club announced the initiative in its “global racing engagement” on Friday, with the team of three spearheaded by the city’s leading home-grown rider Ho replacing last year’s Asia team.
First staged in 1999, this year’s Shergar Cup will feature six races with the Jockey Club team set to take on established squads Great Britain and Ireland, Rest of the World and an all-female team.
“The Hong Kong Jockey Club is excited to be represented with our own team at the 25th running of the Shergar Cup at Ascot this year, especially when Vincent Ho, a world-class product of our renowned Apprentice Jockeys’ School in Hong Kong and the regular rider of former champion Golden Sixty, will captain the Hong Kong Jockey Club’s side,” Andrew Harding, the HKJC’s executive director of racing, said.
“The introduction of a Hong Kong-licensed jockeys’ team reflects both the depth of star riders in our jurisdiction and the club’s continued commitment to contributing to the global development of premier racing events.
“It is also exciting to see the Shergar Cup run under the World Pool banner for the first time, and we here in Hong Kong are very much looking forward to the event.”
Ho tasted success in the 2019 Shergar Cup, contributing to the Rest of the World team’s overall victory and winning the Shergar Cup Mile on Power Of Darkness.
World Pool, which was established eight years ago by the Jockey Club, is powered by a collaboration of more than 20 international wagering partners who commingle into a single betting pool operated by the Jockey Club.
In other news, Hong Kong-based jockey Karis Teetan will ride Wodeton in the Group One Newmarket Handicap at Flemington on March 7.
Teetan will also be in action overseas this weekend when he rides Hong Kong galloper Sing Dragon in the Group Three Mahab Al Shimaal on the Meydan dirt in Dubai.
