Moore and McMonagle add star quality to this year’s Shergar Cup

Ryan Moore will make just his second appearance in the Shergar Cup at Ascot on Saturday, which has also been boosted by news rising star Dylan Browne McMonagle will be in action.

Moore, who won the Silver Saddle award for leading rider in the team competition in his sole outing to date in 2006, has become available with no Flat racing in Ireland that afternoon, with the Phoenix Stakes instead taking place at the Curragh on Sunday.

Moore will ride for the Great Britain and Ireland team alongside Saffie Osborne and McMonagle, who won the Oaks aboard the Joseph O’Brien-trained Thundering On at Epsom in June and followed up with stablemate Johanna Walsh in the Irish version at the Curragh.

For the first time the Hong Kong Jockey Club has a team, captained by Vincent Ho, a winner of the Shergar Cup in 2019 when part of the successful Rest of the World team. He will be joined by Jerry Chau and Luke Ferraris.

Christophe Lemaire will captain Europe, alongside Marie Velon and Frida Valle Skar, while Jamie Melham (nee Kah) will return to lead the Rest of the Word. Partnering her will be by Japan’s Yutake Take and Suraj Narredu, who guided team Asia to victory last year.

Ascot’s head of corporate and industry affairs Will Aitkenhead said: “It’s absolutely fantastic to have Ryan and Dylan on board. Both had very strong Royal Ascots, with Ryan the leading jockey, and both had very good weeks at Goodwood.

“It’s really helpful the Phoenix Stakes has moved from the Saturday to the Sunday at the Curragh this year which frees them up and it’s great to have them board.

“We’d been in discussions with Oisin (Murphy) and Billy (Loughnane) earlier in the year and they were keen, but they just don’t know where they’ll be. Obviously Hollie Doyle would have been here, but she’s sadly injured.

“In previous years we’ve lined them up early which helps with the marketing and everything, but this year we were keen to get the strongest teams that we could so waiting until this week made sense.”

Regarding the overseas riders Aitkenhead said: “Jamie Melham returns as a Melbourne Cup winner, she’s huge in Australia and Yutake Take is the biggest name in Japan. We’ve got Christophe Lemaire and the Hong Kong team led by Vincent Ho as well so we’ve got some really strong teams.”