Peço desculpas não ter tido tempo para traduzir. Para quem não lê inglês, os textos dão informações como:
O time do Resto do Mundo terá, além de Ricardo e Baze, o japonês Yutaka Take, que “é provavelmente a figura mais popular do país em todos os esportes”.
A melhor montaria de Ricardo é no segundo páreo, enquanto a de Baze, no quarto.
Ricardo foi muito elegante ao comentar a oportunidade de competir com seu maior adversário para o recorde mundial: “Estou muito honrado de estar no mesmo time de Baze. Será um prazer encontrá-lo”. (Ele recebeu um elogio por isso em comentário de leitor norte-americano que não reproduzo abaixo).
World's most successful jockeys meet at Ascot
As the winners of 20,000 races, Baze and Ricardo will spice up tomorrow's Shergar Cup, reports Greg Wood
• Greg Wood
• The Guardian,
• Friday August 8 2008
• Article history
On the basis that desperate events require desperate PR stunts to promote them, yesterday's launch of the Shergar Cup meeting at Ascot tomorrow did not get off to a promising start. As Jorge Ricardo and Russell Baze, the only jockeys in history to ride more than 10,000 winners, came face-to-face for the first time, they did so wearing boxing gloves and with Frank Bruno on hand in order to - as an Ascot press release put it - "keep the peace between the two world-record rivals". To no-one's great surprise, Baze and Ricardo did not come to blows.
In truth, there was no need for cheap tricks. The Shergar Cup is an event that many serious punters find difficult to love, on the basis that racing is not, and never will be, a team event. This year, though, the Cup does at least offer something truly unique, as Baze and Ricardo race against each other for the first, and perhaps only, time.
It is likely that neither man has registered on the radar of many British backers
before, since Ricardo compiled his extraordinary record of 10,299 winners - as of August 4 - in his native Brazil and more recently Argentina, while Baze has spent the majority of his career riding at some of America's lesser venues.
Both, though, have ridden twice as many winners as Sir Gordon Richards, who remains the British record holder with 4,870, and show no sign of stopping yet. It is the equivalent of winning one race a day, every day of the year, for 28 years.
Baze became the most successful jockey in history in December 2006, when his 9,531st victory overtook the mark set by Laffit Pincay jnr in 1999. He was in turn passed soon afterwards by Ricardo, who rode his 9,591st winner in February 2007, and it was Ricardo who then became the first man to reach 10,000 career winners, on January 9 this year.
Ricardo, Baze and Yutaka Take, who is possibly Japan's most popular figure in any sport, will form the Rest of the World team in Saturday's six-race event, which is designed to level the playing field as much as possible between both teams and individual riders.
The remaining teams, from Ireland, Europe and Great Britain, include Frankie Dettori - who will ride for Great Britain, rather than Europe - and another new face for British fans in Halis Karatas, the most successful jockey in one of the sport's emerging nations, Turkey.
For Baze, Ricardo and Karatas, unusual experiences on tomorrow's card will include riding over two miles and in a sprint on a straight track, while Baze has never ridden at a right-handed course before.
"I never thought that I would have so many winners when I started my career," Baze said yesterday, "so I am happy to be on a team with someone who has achieved even more than I have.
"I have had a few tips from Michael Dickinson before coming over and he sent me a DVD of last year's Shergar Cup. I've never been much more than a quarter of a mile without a bend, and I haven't ridden right-handed, but I'll try to keep an eye on where the line is [on the straight course].
"The horses are used to going right-handed and I don't think I'll have too many problems. I'm really looking forward to it, as it is such a departure from what I normally do."
Ladbrokes make the Irish squad of Jamie Spencer, Richard Hughes and Jimmy Fortune their favourites at 7-4 for the team event, while Hughes is 4-1 favourite to be the day's top points-earner, just ahead of Karatas on 5-1.
Baze and Ricardo, however, are both 16-1 chances. The American's best hope of a winner may well be Greenwich Meantime in the stayers' event, while Ricardo will have a solid chance on Steam Cuisine in the Shergar Cup Distaff.
Record breakers ready for Ascot showdown
The prolific pair of Jorge Ricardo and Russell Baze will add spice to the Shergar Cup at Ascot on Saturday
Julian Muscat
The Panama Canal, rather than the Berkshire sward, would have made a more suitable venue for the inaugural meeting between an American and South American jockey who are riding in the longest race of all. The two men stand alone in registering more than 10,000 winners apiece, which is almost double Lester Piggott's career tally. As of now, Jorge Ricardo, from Brazil, leads Russell Baze by 65.
Both are world record holders. Baze eclipsed Laffit Pincay's career mark in 2006 before Ricardo's 9,591st winner, in February last year, took him ahead of Baze. Now they are preparing to ride against each other in tomorrow's Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup at Ascot, where they met for the first time yesterday.
In fact, they will ride on the same side for the Rest of the World against teams from Britain, Ireland and Europe. The team score is what matters most in the international jockeys' challenge, but the competitive juices are such that personal pride is bound to play a part - despite Ricardo's insistence to the contrary.
“I don't see this as any kind of rivalry,” Ricardo said, “but as a great show. We are competing with some of the best jockeys in the world. For me, it is an honour to be on the same team as Mr Baze and a real pleasure to meet him.”
America's leading rider nine times, Baze, who turned 50 yesterday, was more forthright about his desire to post more winners than Ricardo, 46. “I check how he is doing on the internet perhaps twice a month,” he said. “I'd like to catch up with him again. It's a little bit of an incentive before I retire, but I'm having too much fun right now to think about that.”
In their formative years neither jockey expected to rack up quite so many winners. “It takes an awful lot of endurance and dedication,” Baze reflected, “but it's not hard to stay enthused. I'm just tickled to death to be here at Ascot, and happy to be on the same team as Jorge, who has achieved more than I have.”
The two men share much in common. Both sons of jockeys, they nominate their respective fathers as the greatest influences on their careers. Baze also has three cousins among the jockeys' colony in America. While he is accustomed to top-class racing in California, where he is based, Ricardo is unashamedly proud to have received the summons from Ascot. “It is a great and pleasant surprise to be invited,” he said. “My hope is that we will be victorious.”
Neither man expects to be fazed by riding over the straight seven-furlong course which, for Baze in particular, is like nothing he has previously encountered. “The furthest I have ridden in a straight line is a quarter of a mile [two furlongs],” he said. “I have also never ridden round right-handed bends, but I'm loooking forward to it. It's such a departure from what I usually do.”
In a good season Baze can expect to ride 250 winners; Ricardo around 400. Their presence at Ascot adds a fascinating dimension to an event that grows in popularity by the year. A crowd of 30,000 is expected for the broad range of entertainment on offer, which includes a post-racing concert.
Dettori rides for British team at Ascot
By Sue Montgomery
Wednesday, 6 August 2008
To the name Kevin Pietersen must now be added Frankie Dettori. In the last 24 hours the Milan-born jockey has acquired British status and will ride for his adopted country at Ascot on Saturday. But it must swiftly be added that the racing arrangement differs from the South African cricketer's tenure of the England captaincy in some respects, being temporary, expedient and tongue-in-cheek. Dettori is to step into a breach in the ranks of the annual novelty international team competition that is the Shergar Cup.
In the past, the Italian has captained the European squad in the four-cornered points contest but this year will switch sides after Ryan Moore's commitments at Haydock and Dettori's release by Godolphin (primarily due to the non-appearance of one of the operation's more important horses, Hala Bek, at the Lancashire track) for the day were confirmed almost simultaneously.
"To most people, Frankie means racing," said Ascot's Nick Smith, "and on a day like Saturday, with thousands of kids and first-time racegoers there, we'd be letting everyone down if we didn't let the sport's greatest public asset take the stage.
He's ridden here almost all his working life and if anyone can have a foot in either camp, he can. This is not the Olympic Games, after all, it's the Shergar Cup. But it says a lot about the progress of the event that he's so keen to ride."
Dettori will join Hayley Turner and Seb Sanders against Europe, the Rest of the World, and Ireland, and entered into the spirit of what has evolved into a highly popular "fun" fixture with racegoers (personalities and a post-racing pop concert) and professionals (excellent prize money) in its nine-year existence. "I'm claiming dual nationality," he said. "My Arsenal shirt is my passport."
Dettori is this country's best-known, or even only-known, jockey beyond racing's pale but his exploits fade into insignificance beside those of two men who will be riding under the Rest of the World banner. American Russell Baze and Brazilian Jorge Ricardo are the only two jockeys in history to have each racked up a five-figure tally of victories.
For the past 17 months the pair have been swapping the lead in the race to remain the world's winningmost jockey yet have not only never ridden against each other – one competes in the States, the other in Argentina – but never met. The former will be rectified on Saturday, the latter tomorrow at Ascot when the draw for mounts in the six Shergar Cup races takes place.
Baze, 50 tomorrow, went to the top of the all-time leaderboard when he went past Laffit Pincay's previous best of 9,530 and was first overtaken when Ricardo, 46, rode his 9,591st winner on 5 February last year. Ricardo was the first to 10,000 winners, on 9 January this year, and Baze followed suit 22 days later. Ricardo is the current leader on 10,299, with his rival on 10,234.
Baze won his first race in 1974 and Ricardo his in 1976. Their other achievements include being nine-times champion, winner of over 400 races in a season 12 times and having the best strike-rate 11 times (Baze) and 25 times national champion (Ricardo).
The most prolific rider in Britain of all time was Sir Gordon Richards, who won 4,870 races from 21,843 mounts in a three-decade career and was champion 26 times, but the two current number-crunchers have many more opportunities.
Baze, who is based in California, typically rides eight or nine races daily, adding up to more than 1,200 a year. When he first overtook Baze, Ricardo moved from Brazil to Argentina, where he races at three tracks that offer up to 14 races daily.
Ricardo has ridden in Europe once, when he finished 14th on South American champion Much Better in the 1994 Arc, but Baze has not yet ventured outside North America.
It is self-evident that both men who, though riding on Saturday for the same nominal team will be, as the rules of racing state they must, rivals once the stalls open, possess a keen competitive spirit; indeed, Baze notched his 10,000th victory by a nose in a modest contest at Golden Gate Fields. Their presence at Ascot makes the day a must for the purist as well as the casual visitor.
Ascot to host first race between Russell Baze and Jorge Ricardo at Shergar Cup
A historic first meeting of two riding greats from North and South America is set to take place, and bizarrely, it is a British racecourse that has pulled off this publicity coup for world racing.
By HOTSPUR (J A McGrath)
What makes it so special is that Jorge Ricardo, from Brazil, and Russell Baze, who is California-based, have each ridden more than 10,000 winners and are the only two jockeys ever to have reached five figures.
They are vying for the title the Americans love to call the 'winningmost jockey' of all time. Ricardo became the first to reach the 10,000-winner mark when riding a five-timer at San Isidro in Buenos Aires on Jan 9. Baze reached the milestone on Feb 1 with a winner at Golden Gate Fields, San Francisco.
Ricardo, 46, and Baze, who will be 50 on Thursday, will line up alongside each other for the Rest of The World team, captained by Japanese legend Yutaka Take, in Saturday's Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup at Ascot.
Traditionally, this is one day in the racing calendar devoted to widening the public appeal of horse racing, but this time, there is something for even the most dedicated fan, a chance to see the two most successful riders in the history of the sport.
Nick Smith, Ascot's head of public relations, says: "I challenge anybody associated with racing not to be excited by that. We really find it hard to believe that nobody on the other side of the Atlantic hadn't got them together already.
"In fact, when we first started making the initial steps to bring them over, we were frightened some other track [in the US] would step in and snatch them from under our noses. Thankfully, that didn't happen, and they are scheduled to meet each other for the first time at our press conference at Ascot on Thursday."
Ricardo's grasp of English is almost non-existent, and team captain Take has never been one to rush to the microphone, so the Rest of The World team will be relying on Baze as their frontman, though their riding skills in the saddle will do most of the talking.
Hayley Turner will captain team Great Britain, in which she is likely to be joined by joint-champion Seb Sanders. The other member of their team has yet to be confirmed.
Gerald Mosse has stepped in to captain the European team, which will include the Turkish champion Halis Karatas and Italian Mirco Demuro. The inclusion of Karatas has attracted huge interest in Turkey, who are sending a squad of more than a dozen officials and media men. They have also requested permission for the press conference to be screened live on Turkish television.
Sadly for the organisers, two of the biggest drawcards, Frankie Dettori and Johnny Murtagh, will be required elsewhere on Saturday. Dettori is to partner Hala Bek at Haydock Park, while Murtagh will be searching for another victory at the highest level when he is reunited with Mount Nelson in the Arlington Million in Chicago. If Mount Nelson is successful, it will be Ballydoyle's 18th Group/Grade One win of the season.
Russell Baze:
Born Aug 7, 1958 in Vancouver, Canada, to American parents.
Rode his first winner on Oct 28, 1974.
Has been North America’s leading rider nine times since 1991.
On Dec 1, 2006, became the world’s winningmost rider ( 9,531 victories).
Reached the 10,000 mark on Feb 1 this year.
Jorge Ricardo
Born Sept 30, 1961 in Rio de Janeiro.
Rode his first winner in Nov, 1976.
Won Brazilian championship 25 times in succession. Now rides in Argentina.
Was 14th on Much Better in 1994 Arc.
Became world’s winningmost rider (9,591 victories) on Feb 5, 2007and reached the 10,000 mark on Jan 9 this year.
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