{"id":1141321,"date":"2026-08-10T10:00:37","date_gmt":"2026-08-10T10:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1141321\/"},"modified":"2026-08-10T10:00:37","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T10:00:37","slug":"shergar-cup-2026-hong-kong-duo-win-horse-races-on-ascot-debut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1141321\/","title":{"rendered":"Shergar Cup 2026: Hong Kong duo win horse races on Ascot debut"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ryan Moore was done for the day. Left behind in the Ascot jockey\u2019s room were the green and white silks he had worn all afternoon for two wins, earning the Silver Saddle as the Shergar Cup\u2019s leading rider, and the overall title for Team Great Britain and Ireland.<\/p>\n

Now he had on a blue suit \u2013 bag on his shoulder, water bottle under his arm, a cup of summer fruits in hand \u2013 ascending the steps of the Ascot parade ring towards the racecourse\u2019s wrought iron gates; ahead of him the High Street, his car parked beyond and then away to his family.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe last time I rode at the Shergar Cup I left here to go to my dad\u2019s 50th birthday, now he\u2019s 70,\u201d Moore told Idol Horse.<\/p>\n

Trainer Gary Moore became a septuagenarian on Friday, the day before this year\u2019s Shergar Cup. When he turned 50, on this Saturday back in 2006, his most famous son was 22, an exciting prodigy just a couple of weeks away from winning his first Group 1, the Juddmonte International at York on Notnowcato.<\/p>\n

Plenty has happened since then. Moore is 42 now, known far and wide as one of the greatest jockeys of all time, with a collection of global big-race wins too long to list here.<\/p>\n

Winning the Shergar Cup pales alongside his greatest achievements, but, for all his two-decade absence from the event, he recognises just how important it can be for a young jockey on the up: how his own development as a young rider was helped by participating in jockey challenges on the other side of the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was a kid, it was nice when I was riding in Hong Kong and Japan in those jockey challenges, riding with those different jockeys from around the world, that was a great experience for me when I was a kid,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the kind of thing the Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC) is banking on \u2013 in part at least. This year\u2019s Shergar Cup was the competition\u2019s 25th anniversary but it also felt like the dawning of a new era. This was the first time the HKJC had linked the event to its World Pool offering, with its mega commingled pool; and it was the first time Hong Kong had its own team.<\/p>\n

As far as the Club was concerned, Team Hong Kong was all about talented young jockeys advancing their race-riding development on a big stage in a new environment away from week-in-week-out Sha Tin and Happy Valley, against some of the world\u2019s best. Jerry Chau and Luke Ferraris were marshalled by their experienced, more senior captain Vincent Ho, outside of their comfort zone, up against rivals that included Moore and fellow legends Yutaka Take and Christophe Lemaire.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hong Kong has the International Jockeys Championship (IJC) at Happy Valley in December, of course, but just as a young Moore benefitted from going to that alien arena to develop, so too can Chau and Ferraris reap the learning from their first experience riding at Ascot.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a key part of our talent development,\u201d HKJC\u2019s Head of Racing Product Greg Carpenter told Idol Horse before racing began. \u201cIt\u2019s about World Pool, our partnership with Ascot Racecourse, but it\u2019s also very much about giving us a stage to showcase the development of our local talent and also to assist them in becoming better riders.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TeamJERRY CHAU, VINCENT HO, LUKE FERRARIS \/ Shergar Cup \/\/ Ascot \/\/\/ 2026 \/\/\/\/ Photo by Megan Rose Photography via Ascot Racecourse<\/p>\n

\"JerryJERRY CHAU, TUCO SALAMANCA & VINCENT HO, GOLD STAR HERO\/ Shergar Cup \/\/ Ascot \/\/\/ 2026 \/\/\/\/ Photo by HKJC<\/p>\n

It all started perfectly for Hong Kong. Jerry Chau rifled Tuco Salamanca to a win in the opener, the five-furlong Dash, with Ho second. Then in the second race, Ferraris produced his mount Dancing In Paris with a beautifully timed run to win the Stayers over two miles.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s critical, the things these young jockeys will learn from riding at a racecourse like Ascot,\u201d Ferraris\u2019 father, former Hong Kong trainer David Ferraris, told Idol Horse after the Stayers win.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, Hong Kong\u2019s its own schooling ground, and what they learn there is the most important thing, and that is the pace. It\u2019s the pace judgment. It\u2019s the counting of the sections and that is what wins races. That\u2019s what Hong Kong teaches these kids, that judgment of pace. It\u2019s vitally important.\u201d<\/p>\n

His son\u2019s judgement was impeccable over a distance far beyond anything he experiences in Hong Kong where its longest races \u2013 only three of them \u2013 are at a mile and a half. Ferraris said it had been about \u201cseven years\u201d since he rode a race as long. The win got him the award for \u2018Ride of the Day.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cToday was a beautiful example of sitting behind the leaders, getting sucked into the race at the right time,\u201d Ferraris senior said.\u00a0 \u201cLuke didn\u2019t move on him too early, because if you move on them too early, they\u2019re gone. Sit as long as you can. Beautiful.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe drummed it into him. Don\u2019t move too early. And Jerry Chau as well, I mean this will be massive for him. That kid has improved out of proportion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chau was very much the Hong Kong poster boy for this day, the homegrown kid stepping onto the European stage off a strong domestic campaign. Like Ferraris, he described winning his first ride at Ascot as being \u201ca dream\u201d outcome.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a lovely feeling, riding in this track, going up hills and down hills again. It\u2019s really an experience different than Hong Kong and that\u2019s important to have this experience,\u201d Chau said.<\/p>\n

World Pool up to this point had been hooked around the World\u2019s Top 100 Races as ranked by the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities (IFHA), so expanding to incorporate the Shergar Cup was a move into new ground.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are offering a wider suite of events, while still being very much focused on the top 100 races in the world,\u201d Carpenter said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBut there\u2019s opportunities to expand that. Ascot were our original partners in World Pool, this year is significant as the 25th running of the Shergar Cup, and we have been able to get an extension (from the Hong Kong government) to the number of races and race days that we are able to offer through World Pool.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the Shergar Cup, we\u2019re hoping today will show there\u2019s also an opportunity with a valued partner to create more interest beyond the top 100.\u201d<\/p>\n

World Pool offered an extra day at Goodwood recently and will also offer an extra day at the upcoming York Ebor Festival.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are looking and we have the ability to expand the number of races and race days that we offer,\u201d Carpenter continued, \u201cparticularly this time of the year, as everyone knows, when we\u2019re not racing back home.\u201d<\/p>\n

From the Ascot side, the involvement of World Pool brings in lucrative added revenue, while the inclusion of Team Hong Kong added a new dimension, which Ascot\u2019s Director of Racing and Public Affairs Nick Smith said was in keeping with how they approach the event.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an event that needs to change all the time to keep fresh,\u201d he said. \u201cChanging the team dynamics helps keep it fresh. We used to have a women-only team but that sort of had its day because the job of promoting women riders was sort of done, and now funnily enough without a women\u2019s team we have more women riding today than normally.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two of the women won: Norwegian Frida Valle Skar and the Britain and Ireland Team captain Saffie Osborne.<\/p>\n

\"LukeDAVID, PAM, LUKE & CAROLINE FERRARIS \/ Shergar Cup \/\/ Ascot \/\/\/ 2026 \/\/\/\/ Photo by Megan Rose Photography via Ascot Racecourse<\/p>\n

\"SaffieRYAN MOORE, SAFFIE OSBORNE \/ Shergar Cup \/\/ Ascot \/\/\/ 2026 \/\/\/\/ Photo by Megan Rose Photography via Ascot Racecourse<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Carpenter said the notion that World Pool and HKJC\u2019s involvement might lead to a linking of the world\u2019s top jockeys\u2019 challenges such as in Saudi Arabia in February, the World All-Star Jockeys in Japan at the end of August and HKJC\u2019s own IJC in December was \u201can interesting concept.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you had something that was linked riding events, that might be an opportunity to drive fan engagement, which is what the sport should be doing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

But Smith viewed such a linking up of jockeys\u2019 challenges as \u201cVery unlikely\u201d given that the top jockeys have retainers and riding commitments.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, the chance of getting Ryan Moore to ride in six jockeys\u2019 competitions is almost impossible,\u201d Smith said. \u201cThis has been mooted before, but it was impossible to take it forward because these top jockeys are committed to their rides at home all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moore\u2019s participation this time after so long was only possible because the Curragh in Ireland, a track whose executive works closely with those at Ascot, York, Goodwood and Leopardstown as key World Pool partners, moved its Group 1 Phoenix Stakes fixture to Sunday.<\/p>\n

Carpenter said there had been \u201cno conversation\u201d with the Curragh about that fixture shift.<\/p>\n

A fortuitous coincidence. But one that meant the 21,000 or so in attendance got to watch the master in action, and Hong Kong\u2019s young riders got to take on the masterful Moore on his home ground.<\/p>\n

It \u201cmassively\u201d lived up to Luke Ferraris\u2019 high expectations, the rider calling his win \u201cthe cherry on top\u201d of a memorable day.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery new experience is good for a young rider coming through and getting this sort of experience at Ascot is fantastic,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Hong Kong might have only taken second in the competition, but really, it was a win all-round for the Club and its promotion of its bright young talents. \u220e<\/p>\n

\"Caspar<\/p>\n

Michael Cox<\/p>\n

From The Himalayas To Happy Valley: How The Fownes Family Found A Home In Hong Kong<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Lemaire<\/p>\n

Michael Cox<\/p>\n

From Amateur To Icon: The Five Wins That Made Christophe Lemaire<\/p>\n

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