Sammy Jo Bell is led back into the winner’s enclosure on Royal Signaller
PICTURE: Mark Cranham (racingpost.com/photos)
Brilliant Bell beats the best as Girls win Cup
Report: Ascot, Saturday
Shergar Cup day
A WEEK ago she was not even riding at the Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup, but injury to Cathy Gannon gave superstar apprentice Sammy Jo Bell her chance and boy did she seize it by winning the Silver Saddle and leading The Girls team to a historic first victory.
A 3lb claimer, riding against some of the world’s greatest jockeys, Bell beat them all with two winners and a fourth from her five rides for a total of 35 points, which was good enough for victory.
“It’s just absolutely amazing,” she said. “I just want to say how gutted I am for Cathy that she couldn’t ride, but I’m delighted to get the opportunity and I’m delighted. I was curled up in a ball watching the last race. It’s amazing and the whole lead up to the day and the atmosphere is incredible. I’ll remember this day for the rest of my life.”
‘Sammy had a rockstar day’
Bell also contributed heavily to The Girls team total of 80, with captain Emma-Jayne Wilson adding 23 and Hayley Turner 22 as they cruised to victory from the Great Britain and Ireland.
Wilson, who won ride of the day on Missed Call in the Challenge, said: “I’m just stunned. It was a great team effort. Sammy had a rockstar day but we won it together. We got the points on the board and we nailed it.”
How the Shergar Cup unfolded
The Rest of the World team had jumped into an early thanks to Kerrin McEvoy’s success aboard Secretinthepark, but The Girls worked their way back into contention with victories in the second and third races from Bell on Royal Signaller and the Wilson-ridden Missed Call.
It was the fourth race that proved pivotal, with Bell finishing fourth on Alfred Hutchinson to score the five points that proved to be her margin of victory.
Bell was in the winner’s enclosure again after the fifth when partnering Shell Bay to victory, for which she received a three day ban for careless riding, and in doing so leapfrogged McEvoy to sit at the top of the standings going into the final race.
The Girls registered a first team and individual victory in the Shergar Cup
PICTURE: Mark Cranham (racingpost.com/photos)
Anxious wait
However due to the competition it was Bell’s turn to sit out of the final race, in which McEvoy was the only rider who could deny her the biggest achievement of her short career.
As an added twist McEvoy was riding Grandad’s World, a horse Bell had ridden in his preparation for the Shergar Cup for her boss Richard Fahey.
But it was not to be, the long-time leader McEvoy finishing down the field and unable to make a winning return to Britain on the day his nation Australia also lost the Ashes. Great Britain and Ireland captain Jamie Spencer won the fourth and sixth races on Halation and Moonraker to steal second from McEvoy.
Who is Sammy Jo Bell?
Bell has burst onto the scene this season as one of the leading apprentices and as the winningmost female rider this season she received the call-up on Thursday when a collarbone injury ruled Gannon out.
Bell’s first rides were in Ireland in 2010 and she did not start riding in Britain until 2013.
Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup final standings:
Shergar Cup
The Girls 80
Great Britain and Ireland 67
Rest of the World 66
Europe 27
Alistair Haggis Silver Saddle
Sammy Jo Bell 35
Jamie Spencer 30
Kerrin McEvoy 30
Blake Shinn 24
Emma-Jayne Wilson 23
Hayley Turner 22
Graham Lee 20
Pat Smullen 17
Olivier Peslier 13
Yutaka Take 12
Vincent Cheminaud 11
Adrie de Vries 3
fonte : RacingPost
