Maureen Haggas urges improvement in Shergar Cup jockeys

Maureen Haggas has called on Ascot to improve the overall quality of Shergar Cup jockeys, saying she felt the standard of riding was not “as high as it should be” during Saturday’s competition.

Haggas, who is assistant trainer to her husband William, saddled a winner for the yard at the fixture as Tenability was steered to a neck victory by French rider Delphine Santiago in the 12-furlong Classic.

Teams representing Great Britain and Ireland, Europe, Asia and the Rest of the World took part and Haggas believes some competitors were “inexperienced” for the task.

She told ITV Racing: “It’s a great experience for them all and it’s good money here today and we’re running nice horses. I just think there are some very good riders here but there are some riders that are inexperienced in this country, or inexperienced internationally.

“It is good money so it attracts nice horses and this horse (Tenability), for instance, is a very nice, young, progressive horse.

“It’s a great concept and you’d like to see more of the higher profile jockeys supporting it because it is a good concept and it’s good money and it’s good fun, but I’m just not sure that the standard of riding is as high as it should be.

“There are some very good riders here and Mirai (Iwata) who works for us is a lovely rider but young and very inexperienced and you can just see the way the races are run, they’re spread out all over the track.

“Everyone has got to learn and get experience and it’s all about experience but for this money, you need to keep the standard of horses up so you need to keep the standard of riding up as well.”

In response to Haggas’ comments, Ascot director of racing and public affairs Nick Smith said: “We’re really pleased with the new format and it’s great for awareness of the event that Asia won, given the media coverage in India and Japan in the run-up. Suraj (Narredu) winning ride of the day will only enhance that further.

“Once again both the team and jockey competitions went to the wire thanks to the draw formula that James Willoughby provides.

“As always with these things, there will be cases where lack of track experience and such like can play a part. We are sympathetic to that and will take all comments on board.”