Win for Delpech on UK debut
SECOND PLACE IN THE FINAL RACE COST THE SOUTH AFRICAN THE SIVER SADDLE Jamie Spencer rides 2,000th winner on British soil.
Anthony Delpech might not have emulated the feat of Weichong Marwing in 2004 and walked away from the Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup at Ascot with the Silver Saddle, but he certainly had a memorable UK debut on Saturday.
The South African champion joined Australian Kerrin McEvoy and Japan’s Keita Tosaki to make up the Rest Of The World team and they finished in second spot behind Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
Delpech certainly was in line for the Silver Saddle trophy that goes to the jockey with the high- est points at the meeting and it all came down to the last race. The South African had earlier won Race 5 over 2300m on 8-1 shot Glenys The Menace, who beat 2-1 favourite Contango by 0.50 lengths with Bear Valley a further neck back in third place.
The horse appeared to be quite keen early on but in the straight he made headway on outside over the final 200m. He led close home and then stayed on well to get the better of the favourite.
With teammate McEvoy finishing second, it put the Rest Of The World in contention. It all came down to the final race in which Delpech rode 9-2 shot Lualiwa and had he won, he would have walked off Silver Saddle but it wasn’t to be for the South African as he ran second to Golden Apollo ridden by Fran Berry who took the title.
“It was a good finish from Lualiwa,” said Delpech. “it was a great ride, and everything went my way. I might have moved up just a little soon but I didn’t want to get squeezed out.”
That left him in fourth place Delpech on 30 points but the fivepoint difference between first and second gave Berry 37 points.
Berry continued his love affair with the Shergar Cup, maintaining his unbeaten record in the competition as part of the winning team for the third time.
Berry made a successful Shergar Cup debut in 2010, in the process winning the Silver Saddle for a first time when part of an Ireland-only team. He was also part of the winning Irish team the following year.
Saturday was his first appearance since, having been ushered off the substitutes bench to replace the absent Ryan Moore, and he played a starring role once more for the Great Britain and Ireland team, who edged out the Rest Of The World and Europe thanks to Berry’s last-race win on Golden Apollo.
“It’s been a fantastic day and I’m very thankful to get the call up,” said Berry, who combined with captain Jamie Spencer and Hong Kong-based Neil Callan.
“To ride a couple of winners is fantastic and to win the Silver Saddle is even better. You hope to ride one winner but this is great.”
The first of Berry’s two winners came on the Mick Quinn-trained Great Hall in the Challenge, but it was the last winner, aboard the Tim Easterby-trained Golden Apollo, that brought a punch of the air from the rider crossing the line.
He added: “It was such a tight competition and any one of three teams could have won it, so to hold on in the last was great.
“It’s been a lucky competition for me. I’ve been here three times and it’s always gone well and I’m just grateful for the opportunity. It’s a big day and you get a kick out of it - you work hard all week but it’s all about Saturday winners.
“It’s a full house and outside of Royal Ascot it’s the biggest crowd they get. It’s a big buzz.”
Spencer had got his side off to a flyer in the opener, the Dash, on the Dean Ivory-trained Stake Acclaim, in the process notching his 2,000th winner on the Flat in Britain.
“To be the winning team is great,” said Spencer. “It all went right and the team’s done a great job. The last race went well and that’s got us over the line.”
It was all to play for heading into the sixth and final race with Great Britain and Ireland holding a five-point lead over Europe, with the Rest of the World a further five points adrift but still in contention.
But along with Berry winning the race, Spencer finished third on Megan Lily, helping to put clear water between themselves and their rivals.
The Rest Of The World edged second by just three points from Europe, with The Girls last of four after a disappointing day.
The Ride of the Day award went to Holland’s Adrie de Vries for his stylish effort on Euchen Glen, who came from last to first to win the Stayers.