I love the Shergar Cup - and grumpy punters need to learn to love it too

When controversy erupted this week over the plan for a new series of three-year-old races across the season in the United States, did anyone else's thoughts soon turn to the Shergar Cup? Maybe it is just me, then.

While there is a fair amount of political intrigue in the whys and hows of the Preakness being frozen out of the US series, at its core a lot of the reaction – "What about Race X or Race Y?" "Tradition!" – is familiar. It is a case of letting the perfect be the enemy of the good. 

I wish they would wear the horse's familiar silks in the Shergar Cup. I also wish it were possible to find double the number of willing global riders, so that we could get a bit more each-way betting to four places.