Shergar Cup

The Shergar Cup is an annual horse racing event held at Ascot Racecourse, in Ascot, about 25 miles west of London, usually during early August. The race is named in honour of Shergar, the horse that won the 1981 Derby and was killed in an IRA kidnap, and was originally sponsored by Shergar's owner, the Aga Khan. The event is currently sponsored by Dubai Duty Free. The event was first held in 1999 at Goodwood Racecourse, but has been held at Ascot since 2000 (except in 2005, when Ascot was closed so the grandstand could be redeveloped). Unusually, for a horse racing event, it is a team competition, with jockeys invited to join the teams (two teams from 1999 to 2004; four teams from 2006) divided by their presenting countries or region, or their gender, and the winning team determined by their overall performance across six races. The winning team is presented with a silver trophy of Shergar, donated by the Aga Khan. Described as "racing's most popular event", it attracts around 30,000 spectators each year, and is recognized for attracting families and other new spectators beyond the usual race-going demographic.