Rosie Napravnik, one of North America's leading jockeys, and New Zealand's Lisa Allpress will join Britain's Hayley Turner on the Girls Team for the 2013 Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup Aug. 10 at Ascot.
Meanwhile Gary Stevens will act as captain on the Rest of the World team. The U.S. Hall of Fame member will be joined by Japanese ace Yasunari Iwata, who has won three Japan Cups including the last two on Buena Vista and Gentildonna, and Brazilian star Joao Moreira, who is currently re-rewriting the record books in Singapore.
Colm McLoughlin, Dubai Duty Free executive vice chairman, welcomed the news.
"The Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup is truly deserving of its status as a major international horseracing event," he said. "We are delighted to be bringing together a group of top international riders and creating a unique opportunity for the public to see them in action on the same stage.
"We look forward to revealing the European contingent who will complete the lineup (teams for Europe, Great Britain, and Ireland) after the Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby (Ire-I) at the end of June."
Napravnik, 25, ranks second in wins and fifth in earnings in the 2013 North American jockey standings. She finished eighth in the jockeys' earnings lists last year, which was the highest finish ever by a female jockey. Napravnik became the first female jockey to win the prestigious Kentucky Oaks in 2012 on Believe You Can, and won the Grey Goose Breeders' Cup Juvenile (gr. I) aboard Shanghai Bobby .
Following her third consecutive meet title at the Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots, Napravnik finished fifth on Mylute in the May 4 Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I). She will ride Mylute in the Preakness Stakes (gr. I) May 18.
Turner will act as captain of the Girls Team.
"We set the bar really high in 2012 with our first all female team, with Chantal Sutherland and Emma-Jayne Wilson competing alongside Hayley. So we are particularly pleased in year two to have arguably the two outstanding riders in their countries—of any sex—in Rosie and Lisa, joining Hayley this year.
"The Rest of the World Team is also as strong as usual with Gary captaining a new face in Joao, who is simply in a league of his own in Singapore, and Yasunari, who has won the last two Japan Cups."
