Flores enjoys big day in jockey challenge at Ascot

David Flores was the star of a comeback win for the Rest of the World team in the Shergar Cup, a six-jockey-per-team challenge against a team from Great Britain and Ireland, at Ascot on Saturday.

Flores, the only U.S. representative on the Rest of the World team, was named the day's top jockey. From his five allotted rides he won the Ritz Club Shergar Juvenile on Steenberg (7-1) and the Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup Sprint on the 14-1 outsider, Orientor. He also finished a very close second in the Carvill Shergar Cup Challenge on Mana d'Argent and fourth aboard Heros Fatal in the Millennium and Copthorne Shergar Cup Stayers.

Flores's win in Sprint brought the Cup to a dramatic close as Orientor was followed home by Pan Jammer, ridden by Japan's Norihiro Yokoyama, with Jentzen, the mount of the Australian, Craig Williams, third. The result meant that the Rest of the World team overturned a 107-93 point deficit going into the finale into a 125-115 victory.

Flores, who finished seventh on his other Ascot ride and was 12th in his British debut at Newmarket on Friday night, celebrated Orientor's victory with a flying dismount.

"I did the dismount in honor of my team captain, Frankie Dettori, though I don't think I got as high as he does," Flores said. "Two winners on my first visit at Ascot - that's way up there on my list of career highlights. Wait until I tell them back home.

"To win on my first mount at Ascot was one of my biggest thrills," he added. "You know what our tracks are like back home, so it was very different for me to ride over a dead straight seven furlongs with an uphill finish."