Here's how the Shergar Cup and Racing League could be improved

Being a glass half empty guy most of the time, you may be excused for thinking I have it in for racing team competitions. Indeed, to begin with I was sceptical about the Shergar Cup and the Racing League. However, slowly but surely I have been won over, and while I've enjoyed the Shergar Cup for years, it's taken me a lot longer for the Racing League to grab me. 

The team aspect of the Shergar Cup is always going to struggle to find any resonance with the racing public, but it was beginning to and I reckon that was solely down to the success of the Ladies' team. We've seen how popular ladies' sport has become in recent years, and only this weekend I was watching The Hundred cricket and the golf and marvelling at the high standard of the participants. Consequently, it seems to me that Ascot, which tends to get everything else right, completely dropped the ball by ditching the Ladies' team.   

Don't get me wrong, I still enjoyed the racing and had more bets at the meeting than I did for the whole of Glorious Goodwood, but the concept of a team competition didn't enter my mind. I doubt whether many cared whether Asia or Europe won, but the Shergar Cup was gaining momentum when some of the best jockeys around joined forces to represent their gender or continent. It just felt nothing like that on Saturday.