Bell Leads All-Female Team to Shergar Cup Win
Description:
An all-female team of Emma-Jayne Wilson, Hayley Turner, and star apprentice Sammy Jo Bell, won the Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup international jockey competition for the first time Aug. 8 at Ascot.
Bell fininshed as the leading rider, accruing 35 points for two victories and a fourth in the six-race event, putting her clear of Kerrin McEvoy and Jamie Spencer with 30 points each. The Girls Team had 80 points overall to win the competition.
Finishing second with 67 points was the Great Britain & Ireland Team (Spencer, Graham Lee, Pat Smullen). Third (66 points) was the Rest of the World Team (McEvoy, Blake Shinn, and Yutaka Take), and the Europe Team (Olivier Peslier, Adrie de Vries, and Vincent Cheminaud) garnered 27 points to round out the placings.
Canadian-based Wilson, who captained the winning team, couldn't disguise her delight after the final race.
"I've got champagne all over me but that's exactly what I wanted at the beginning of the day," she said. "We did it, we nailed it—we got the job done!"
Wilson, who won the ride of the day accolade for her victory aboard Missed Call in the Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup Challenge, added 23 points, and Turner, who is based in Great Britain, had 22.
"It's a team effort. Sammy had an absolute rock star day—I know how she feels right now—and we pulled it all together," Wilson said. "Hayley got the job done and we got the points on the board in last race."
Bell a last-minute stand-in for the Girls Team when Cathy Gannon sustained an injury, won the Alistair Haggis Silver Saddle for the day's leading rider. A native of Northern Ireland she moved to Great Britain in 2013 to ride for trainer Richard Fahey.
Wilson wanted to pay tribute to the late Alastair Haggis, who worked tirelessly on the Dubai Duty Shergar Cup and first came up with the idea of having an all-female team.
"Alistair Haggis was instrumental on the first year I came and I rode against Hayley. It brings tears to my eyes to see the trophy-he would have wanted this, and this is for him," Wilson said.
Wilson was making her fourth appearance at the Shergar Cup, having participated in the competition in 2006, 2012, and in 2014 when the Girls Team came within one point of winning the competition.