Take in lineup for Shergar Cup at Ascot

The JRA's Yutaka Take will take on his seventh Shergar Cup this year, as he represents Japan as member of the Rest of the World team at the world-renowned Ascot Racecourse on August 8.

This year marks the fourth time the international jockeys' competition will feature a girls team, which competes alongside three male teams -- a Europe team, a Great Britain & Ireland team, and the Rest of the World team -- for the Shergar Cup trophy, which has been provided by His Highness The Aga Khan, who owned the champion horse Shergar, for whom the competition is named.

Take will join Kerrin McEvoy and Blake Shinn as they compete as 12 of the world's top riders participating in the unique championship.

The girls team in this year's Shergar Cup features Emma-Jayne Wilson, Hayley Turner and Sammy Jo Bell.

This year's Great Britain & Ireland team is made up of Jamie Spencer, Pat Smullen and Graham Lee.

Riding for Europe are Olivier Peslier, Vincent Cheminaud and Adrie De Vries.

The Shergar Cup consists of six races – the 1,000-meter Dash, the 3,200-meter Stayers, the 2,400-meter Challenge, the Mile, the Classic over 2,400 meters and the 1,200-meter Sprint. Each race is limited to 10 runners with either two or three horses racing for each team. Points are awarded on a 15, 10, 7, 5, 3 basis to the first five horses home (non-runners score 4 points). Subject to full fields, each jockey has five rides and the team with the highest total after the sixth race lifts the Shergar Cup. All six races are handicaps and all will be run with identical prize money of £40,000 per race.

Japanese riders in previous years were Masayoshi Ebina in 2000, Norihiro Yokoyama in 2001, Hiroki Goto in 2002, Hiroyuki Uchida in 2009, Yasunari Iwata in 2010 and 2013 and Yuichi Fukunaga in 2006 and 2014. Yutaka Take rode in 2003, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2011 and 2012. The tournament was won by the world team in 2001, 2003, 2004, 2007 and 2012.

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