Cheerleaders…at the races?
I was surprised to find out they have dance teams in hockey. Then I found out they have them in baseball. Then I found out they have them in tennis, too. I thought I’d seen everything. Evidently not. ~ sasha
Fillies to make debut in Shergar Cup
Cheerleaders, dancing girls, team anthems sung by pop groups… what next as racing tries to lure the casual sports fan looking on from the perimeter fence?
By J A McGrath
03 Aug 2009
The Telegraph
Believe it or not Ascot, normally the most traditional of courses, has decided to tear up the manual and adopt a populist approach – for one day only. This Saturday, the Queen’s racetrack is staging its popular Shergar Cup, a jockeys’ competition featuring four three-man teams from all parts of the world.
After snatching the Shergar Cup from Goodwood, where it had been promoted as an elite owners’ competition, Ascot is now preparing for its eighth running of the jockeys’ series. It is probably the only time ‘team riding,’ and all the grey areas that encompasses, is tolerated.
Nick Smith, Ascot’s Head of Public Relations and Communications, confirmed yesterday that for the first time in this country cheerleaders, in the tradition of some American football and baseball teams, had been recruited to add a little razzmatazz to a racing ‘one-off’ designed to promote the sport to a wider audience.
“There will be eight cheerleaders, who will dress in the colours of the winning team,” Smith reported. “If Britain wins a race, they will change into red uniforms and dance their way through the tunnel [leading from the course to the paddock] to the winner’s enclosure. Ireland’s colours are green, Europe blue and Rest of the World black.
“We have planned this very carefully with the British Horseracing Authority, who have been brilliant. The route taken with the winner has been painstakingly mapped out. Great care will be taken not to get too close to the horses.
“It is meant to be a bit of fun; something different. You could say it is not a day for the traditionalist, but having said that, there will be plenty of horses and plenty of chances for a bet,” he said.
Last year, Ascot reported an attendance of 33,000, but are expecting something in the vicinity of 28,000 on Saturday. “That would still be a fantastic crowd. Going back 10 years, we would have been looking at 12,000 for a Saturday with a few competitive handicaps and a Group race,” he added.
More than 40 years ago, the Duke of Norfolk, then the Queen’s Representative at Ascot, declared there would be jump racing at the course “over his dead body.” It is now history that the Duke passed away, and jumping has taken place successfully there for many years. Quite what the Duke would have made of cheerleaders is another matter.
