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2016 World All-Star Jockeys - outline and jockey profiles

• Outline
• Jockey profiles
• Past Results of World All-Star Jockeys
• JRA Jockeys Standings
• Data Analyses of World All-Star Jockeys

2015 World All-Star Jockeys (closing ceremony)

The World All-Star Jockeys (WASJ) is an international event launched by the Japan Racing Association. Formerly called the World Super Jockeys Series since its establishment in 1987, it has welcomed more than 200 top-caliber jockeys from Europe, North America, Oceania and Asia and held over two days in late November or early December at either Tokyo or Hanshin Racecourse. The event was given a new title, and was moved to the last weekend of August and to Sapporo Racecourse in northern Japan last year.

This year’s event welcomes six outstanding jockeys from France, the United States, Hong Kong, United Kingdom, Australia and Canada in joining one NAR (National Association of Racing; local public racing) jockey and seven JRA jockeys in their bid for the title. A team competition has been added to the regular individual contest beginning last year, in which the overseas and NAR jockeys will form “Team WAS (World All-Star)” and compete against “Team JRA” to attain the most points as a team.

The first two of the four-race series will be conducted on August 27th (Sat), while the third and fourth will be held the following day (Sun).

August 2016 The Japan Racing Association

The 2016 World All-Star Jockeys

FRANCE

Cristian Demuro
	Date of Birth : July 8, 1992 '15 Season Record : 735 mounts, 66 wins / € 2,047,455 '16 Season Record : 557 mounts, 60 wins / € 2,896,260 Recent Career Highlights : '16 Grand Prix de Paris (G1, Mont Ormel)     '16 Prix de Diane (G1, La Cressonniere)     '16 Poule d'Essai des Pouliches     (G1, La Cressonniere) Participation in the WASJ : 1st

Cristian Demuro, already a well-known figure in Japan as a frequent rider here and as the younger brother to Mirco Demuro, is enjoying a successful season in France where he relocated two years ago. He is currently ranked fourth in the jockey rankings. His major achievements this year include two classic titles for fillies and mares—the Poule d'Essai des Pouliches (G1) and the Prix de Diane (G1)—with La Cressonniere and the Grand Prix de Paris (G1) title with longshot Mont Ormel. The 24-year-old up-and-coming jockey will confront his brother in the World All-Star Jockeys this year.

Born in Rome, Italy, Cristian grew up in a racing family—not only his brother but his father and sister are also former jockeys—and started riding horses when he was 12 years old. He made his debut on May 6, 2009 and immediately registered his first win the next day. Finishing his debut year with 45 wins and ranked 30th, his breakthrough came the following year after moving to the stable of Allevamento La Nuova Sbarra, as his ranking surged to second with 153 victories. He continued to accumulate victories, climbing to the top with 222 wins in 2011, and retained the title the following year with a record-high 269 wins.

Cristian rode for the first time in Japan when he acquired NAR's short-term license between January and March 2011, and has also been riding in JRA races every year since. He registered his first G1 title in the Oka Sho (Japanese 1000 Guineas) on board Ayusan in April 2013, with his brother Mirco coming in second, to become the first brothers in JRA history to mark a 1-2 finish in a JRA-G1 race. He has won 99 out of 693 starts at JRA, which include five grade-race titles, while also claiming two NAR graded titles.

Focusing on racing abroad during 2013, he succumbed to 17th with 50 wins in Italy, which included the Gran Premio di Milano (G1) with Biz the Nurse. Due to the confusion of the Italian horseracing circle in line with the staggering economy, he relocated his base to France in 2014. He was ranked 27th with 45 wins that year and improved to 18th with 66 wins in 2015. He also continues to ride in Italy, ranking 29th with 34 wins in 2014 and 27th with 31 wins in 2015 while claiming six Italian graded titles, one of them being the 2015 Derby Italiano (G2) with Goldstream.

JAPAN

Yasunari Iwata
	Date of Birth : March 12, 1974 ’16 Season Record : 561 mounts, 53 wins / ¥ 953,956,000 'Career Record : 10,407 mounts, 1,353 wins Recent Career Highlights : ’15 Oka Sho (Japanese 1000 Guineas, G1,     Let’s Go Donki)     ’15 Nikkei Sho (G2, Admire Deus) Participation in the WASJ : 11th

Replacing American participant Victor Espinoza, Yasunari Iwata is aiming for his second JRA international jockeys competition champion title in his 11th challenge this year. The former NAR jockey is in the midst of his 11th season in JRA and although just out of reach of a grade-race win so far this year, the veteran jockey has steadily established himself a prominent figure exceeding 100 annual wins continuously for the past nine years.

Iwata started his career in 1991 as an NAR jockey and quickly became one of the top jockeys at Sonoda Racecourse in Hyogo prefecture. He was champion jockey in the Hyogo district in 2000, 2002, 2004 and 2005, during which he reached his 3,000th career win. His ambition expanded to the JRA where he became the first NAR jockey to capture a classic title in 2004, in the Kikuka Sho (Japanese St. Leger, G1) with Delta Blues. He finally transferred his license to the JRA in 2006.

The Melbourne Cup (G1) victory with Delta Blues in his first overseas campaign highlighted his first JRA season. Since then, he has claimed numerous titles with gifted mounts such as Admire Moon, Vodka, Victoire Pisa, Buena Vista, Lord Kanaloa and Gentildonna, and has so far registered 22 G1 titles among a total of 83 grade-race wins in JRA. Especially in 2012, he not only marked a tie-record of capturing six JRA G1 titles in a single year, but grabbed the NAR’s Tokyo Daishoten (G1) and earned international acclaim by bringing home the Hong Kong Sprint (G1) title with Lord Kanaloa. He is a two-time JRA Best Jockey (Races Won) of 2011 and 2012, and four-time JRA Best Jockey (Money Earned) of 2008, 2011, 2012 and 2014.

Apart from 2010, Iwata has continuously competed in the series from his first challenge in 2005, in which he finished at the top, and was an overall fifth last year after marking an eighth, sixth, ninth and third in the four legs.

HONG KONG

Joao Moreira
	Date of Birth : September 26, 1983 '14/'15 Season Record : 595 mounts, 145 wins / HK$ 173,715,365 '15/'16 Season Record : 664 mounts, 168 wins / HK$ 178,829,947 Recent Career Highlights : '16 Champions Mile (G1, Maurice)     '15 Hong Kong Sprint (G1, Peniaphobia)     '15 Champions Mile (G1, Able Friend) Participation in the WASJ : 2nd

For Joao Moreira who continues to live up to his nickname “Magic Man”, the 2015/16 campaign proved to be another extraordinary season. He surpassed his own record of 145 wins for most seasonal victories in Hong Kong on May 29 and further extended the number to 168 by the end of the season to defend his champion title with a gap of 88 wins between the runner-up jockey. Some of his great achievements include two G1s among seven group titles, the 2015 Hong Kong Sprint with Peniaphobia and the 2016 Champions Mile with Japan’s Horse of the Year Maurice. He was also on top of the jockey rankings in money earned for the second consecutive year.

Born in Curitiba in the southern part of Brazil, Moreira began his jockey career in 2000 based in Sao Paulo and rode more than 1,000 winners in his home country, during which he claimed the Brazilian Eclipse Award for two consecutive seasons in 2006/07 and 2007/08. Relocating to Singapore in 2009, the Brazilian jockey finished third in the jockey rankings with 69 wins that year and secured four consecutive premiership titles between 2010 and 2013—he registered a record of 116 annual wins in 2010 and further renewed the number to 206 by 2012. He also accomplished a feat of scoring a perfect eight wins out of eight starts on September 6, 2013.

While renewing various records in Singapore, his move to Hong Kong in October 2013 proved to be another great success. He was ranked second in the jockey rankings in the 2013/14 season with 97 wins despite missing the first month and climbed to the top with 145 wins the following season, which renewed the record of 114 wins set by 13-time champion Douglas Whyte in 2005/06.

While marking eleven G1 wins in Hong Kong such as the 2014 Hong Kong Mile and the 2015 Champions Mile on board Able Friend, with whom he has claimed five G1 victories, he is also recognized abroad as the winner of the 2014 Al Quoz Sprint and the Dubai Golden Shaheen in Dubai, the 2014 Epsom Handicap, the 2014 Coolmore Stud Stakes and the 2015 Newmarket Handicap in Australia.

Moreira rode in Japan for the first time in the 2014 Yasuda Kinen where he finished sixth with Glorious Days and claimed last year’s WASJ Champion title by marking two wins, a second and an 11th.

United Kingdom

James Spencer
	Date of Birth : June 8, 1980 '15 Season Record : 624 mounts, 85 wins / £ 2,364,008 '16 Season Record : 378 mounts, 64 wins / £ 1,259,469 Recent Career Highlights : '16 Belmont Derby Invitational Stakes     (G1, Deauville)     '15 Grosser Preis von Berlin (G1, Second Step) Participation in the WASJ : 1st

James Spencer continues to demonstrate his superb riding skills, both within and outside UK where he is currently based as a freelance jockey with 64 wins out of 378 rides. Also active abroad, he scored his latest G1 victory in the United States in the Belmont Derby Invitational Stakes with Deauville.

The son of George Spencer, a National Hunt trainer in County Tipperary, Ireland, Spencer rode his first winner, Ian Ferguson-trained Huncheon Chance, at Downpatrick, Northern Ireland on May 11, 1996 and was already a classic winner at age 17 when claiming the 1998 Irish 1000 Guineas aboard Tarascon while still apprentice to Liam Browne. He became champion Irish apprentice jockey with 45 wins in 1999 while ranked fourth among all flat jockeys in Ireland. Moving to UK in 2000, Spencer became a retained jockey for Luca Cumani and was ranked fifth with 103 wins in 2003. Back in Ireland again in 2004, he rode for Aidan O'Brien and reached the top of the rankings in 2004 with 93 wins and validated his success in UK again in 2005 and 2007 with 163 and 190 wins, respectively.

His major wins include repeat titles in the Irish 1000 Guineas in 2002 (Gossamer) and 2013 (Just the Judge), and the 2003 St. Leger Stakes with Brian Boru as well as the Epsom-Curragh Oaks double in 2009 with Sariska among other numerous G1 titles within UK and Ireland. Spencer has also enjoyed international G1 accomplishments in France, Germany, Singapore, Australia, UAE, USA and Canada.

Despite achieving further success upon joining Qatar Racing in 2013 as No.1 jockey, Spencer announced his desire to retire from racing in August 2014, but decided to reverse his plan four months later and began a fresh start as a freelance jockey, continuing to maintain a good relationship with his former racing partners and registering multiple group-race victories during 2015.

While it will be his first WASJ challenge, Spencer is no stranger in Japan, having taken part in four Japan Cup race starts in 2004 (Powerscourt, 10th), 2005 (Warrsan, 13th), 2008 (Purple Moon, 9th) and 2013 (Dunaden, 5th).

AUSTRALIA

Craig Williams
	Date of Birth : May 23, 1977 '14/'15 Season Record : 463 mounts, 58 wins / AUS$ 5,152,245 '15/'16 Season Record : 455 mounts, 70 wins / AUS$ 5,893,555 Recent Career Highlights : '16 The Galaxy (G1, Griante)     '15 Railway Stakes (G1, Good Project)     '15 Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes (G1, Stratum Star) Participation in the WASJ : 9th

Australian jockey Craig Williams concluded the 2015/16 season with 70 wins and notched his fifth Melbourne jockey's premiership, the first time in seven years. Significant G1 titles won this season include the Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes with Stratum Star, the Railway Stakes with Good Project and The Galaxy with Griante. The globe-trotting jockey is well known to Japanese racing fans with 89 wins from over 850 rides registered in JRA, and is aiming to capture his second triumph in the JRA international jockeys competition in his ninth challenge.

Born into a racing family, Craig began his jockey career as apprentice in 1993 in Melbourne. He registered his first G1 victory aboard Grand Echezeaux in the 2000 Australasian Oaks, and then embarked on a globetrotting racing career beginning with England where he was successful as first jockey for Mick Channon. He claimed the 2000 Dewhurst Stakes (G1) with Tobougg and marked 43 wins that year in England. He then spent three seasons from 2002 racing in Hong Kong where he rode a total of more than a hundred winners. After returning to Melbourne in 2005, Williams quickly emerged as the leading jockey in the Melbourne region and prevailed at the summit of the jockey rankings for four consecutive seasons.

His career highlights include the 2006 Crown Oaks (Miss Finland), the 2007 Victoria Derby (Kibbutz), the 2006 and 2011 Cox Plate (Fields of Omarh, Pinker Pinker), the 2014 Australian Guineas (Shamus Award) and the 2015 Queen Elizabeth Stakes (Criterion).

Craig also rode energetically under JRA's short-term license every year from 2010 to 2014, claiming multiple G1 victories beginning with the 2010 Tenno Sho (Spring) (Jaguar Mail), followed by the 2011 NHK Mile Cup (Grand Prix Boss) and the 2011 Asahi Hai Futurity Stakes (Alfredo) while successfully landing other major overseas G1 titles such as the 2011 Hong Kong Vase (Dunaden) and the 2012 Al Quoz Sprint (Ortensia).  

He became the first jockey from the Southern Hemisphere to win the World Super Jockeys Series in 2007 and was second in 2010 while finishing an overall seventh in the inaugural World All-Star Jockeys last year.

CANADA

Emma-Jayne Wilson
	Date of Birth : September 1, 1981 '15 Season Record : 583 mounts, 72 wins / US$ 3,747,414 '16 Season Record : 275 mounts, 40 wins / US$ 1,647,622 Recent Career Highlights : '15 Northern Dancer Turf Stakes (G1, Interpol)     '16 Transylvania Stakes (G3, Shakhimat)     '15 Durham Cup Stakes (G3, Golden Sabre) Participation in the WASJ : 1st

Canadian jockey Emma-Jayne Wilson is one of the top female riders thriving in the North American racing scene today with more than 1,300 winners in her 12-year career, and is making her debut on Japanese soil as well as the World All-Star Jockeys this year. As a member of the “Team Girls” in the 2014 Shergar Cup, Wilson just missed out in winning both the team title and the Silver Saddle Award for the leading rider, however, traveled back to Ascot the following year to captain her team to triumph, marking the first victory for a female team in the four-team event.

Born in Brampton, Ontario, Wilson tackled many disciplines of riding, from western riding to show jumping, since the age of nine and studied equine management at the University of Guelph before starting her career in racing as an exercise rider at Woodbine. After galloping horses for two years, she debuted on August 27 of 2004 and claimed her first win the next day.

In her second year, her annual rides at Woodbine accumulated to 1,096, rewriting the record by an apprentice by more than 300 rides. In September that year, she claimed her first grade-race win in the G2 Canadian Stakes with Classic Stamp and became the first female and third apprentice jockey to finish the season at the top of the jockey rankings with a total of 175 wins. The accomplishment contributed in being voted Outstanding Apprentice Jockey of the year in the Sovereign Award and the Eclipse Award. Wilson landed 144 wins in Woodbine in 2006 and captured her second consecutive Sovereign Award for Outstanding Apprentice Jockey.

In 2007, she became the first female jockey to conquer the Queen’s Plate, part of Canada’s Triple Crown, partnered with Mike Fox. As of date, she has scored six G2 wins, 12 G3 wins in Canada, and on board Interpol, she claimed the Northern Dancer Turf Stakes, her first international G1 victory last year. In the States where she rides during the winter, she was second in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf in 2011 and captured the G3 Transylvania Stakes in April this season.

Wilson became the first female rider to be invited to the Hong Kong International Jockey Challenge in 2007 and the first North American female jockey to obtain a riding license there the following year in February and March. In 2011, she won the inaugural Pimlico Female Jockey Challenge against five other top riders.

JAPAN (NAR Representative; Kochi)

Taichi Nagamori
	Date of Birth : November 8, 1986 '16 Season Record* : 436 mounts, 132 wins *NAR only Career Record* : 7,133 mounts, 1,226 wins *NAR only Recent Career Highlights : '15 Takeyoriwake Sho (Epsom Auron)     '15 Trueno Sho (Epsom Auron)     '15 Oguri Cap Kinen (Reward Leblon) Participation in the WASJ : 1st

Taichi Nagamori became the champion jockey at Kochi Racecourse for the first time last year —surpassing Shuji Akaoka who had retained the title for nine consecutive years—by claiming his personal best of 203 wins and came in tenth in the overall NAR rankings. His title in this year’s Super Jockeys Trial, finishing 14th and third in the first round and claiming back-to-back victories in the last two legs, secured his seat in the World All-Star Jockeys as the NAR delegate.

A native of Kochi Prefecture in Shikoku Island, Nagamori experienced his first horse ride at the stable of Masamitsu Saika—former jockey who set NAR’s most annual win record of 290 in 2012—at Kochi Racecourse during an on-site job training program when he was in junior high school. Setting his goal to become a jockey on the advice of the trainer, he entered NAR’s Racing Education Center in 2002 and made his debut on October 10, 2004 for Saika. He registered his first win on November 28 and conclude his debut season with three wins.

He made a breakthrough in 2008 when he marked 57 wins and was ranked sixth. He gradually climbed the leaderboard, finishing eighth in 2009, seventh in 2010 then third with 119 wins in 2011, which included his first major title in the Kuroshio Kikka Sho, Kochi’s St. Leger, with eighth pick Reward Leblon. He maintained second place for three successive years with 163 wins in 2012, 154 in 2013 and 193 in 2014—while also achieving his career-high eighth in the overall NAR ranking—before rising to the top last year.

His major titles so far include: the 2012 Takeyoriwake Sho with Reward Arion; the 2012&2013 Kochiken Chiji Sho (Kochi’s “Grand Prix” race) and the 2013 Nijuyommangoku Sho with Grand Chevalier; the 2013 Kochi Yushun (Kochi’s Derby) with Aramasa Sharp; the 2013 Sangokan Sho with Harimanowataridori; the 2013&2014 Fukunaga Yoichi Kinen, the 2013&2015 Trueno Sho, the 2014 Otakasa Sho, Mikurodo Sho and the 2015 Takeyoriwake Sho with Epsom Auron; and the 2014&2015 Oguri Cap Kinen and the 2014 Kochiken Chiji Sho with Reward Leblon.

While this series will be his first start in JRA races, he has ridden in NAR Kanazawa in 2007 and NAR Fukuyama in 2009 under a short-term license and was eighth in NAR’s jockey competition “Sasaki Takemi Cup Jockeys Grand Prix” in 2015.

JAPAN (JRA, Miho Training Center)

Keita Tosaki
	Date of Birth : July 8, 1980 '16 Season Record : 579 mounts, 118 wins / ¥ 2,171,027,000 Career Record : 4,319 mounts, 581 wins Recent Career Highlights : '16 Victoria Mile (G1, Straight Girl)     '16 Kyoto Shimbun Hai (G2, Smart Odin)     '16 Japan Dirt Derby (Kyoei Gere) Participation in the WASJ : 4th

The 2015 national champion Keita Tosaki joins the WASJ for the fourth time running, securing a berth in the international jockey festival as JRA's Most Valuable Jockey for two consecutive seasons. He currently stands as national leader with 113 wins and his seven grade-race victories won this season include the Victoria Mile with Straight Girl while just missing his first Classic title in the Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks) by a neck margin aboard Cecchino. The talented jockey has already proved his skills, finishing fourth, third and third in his past three challenges in this series, and hopes to become the champion against the top jockeys from around the globe this time.

Tosaki's jockey career began in 1998 at Ohi Racecourse as a stable jockey for trainer Kazutaka Katori. He rode his first winner in April that year, reached his 100th win in 2002 and landed his first major title in the Twinkle Lady Sho with Koei Sophia in 2005. With his wins almost doubling from 74 (2005) to 123 in 2006, he was third on NAR's national jockey rankings with 212 in 2007. It was also the same season during which he won his first JRA win at Hanshin Racecourse in July. This proved to be only the beginning of a remarkable string of success for the four-time national leader (2008, 2009, 2011, 2012) who gained recognition on a wider scale with NAR's star runner, Furiosowho brought him his first G1 victory in the 2008 Teio Sho and three other G1 titles thereafter.

He was also given opportunities on JRA mounts, his first grade-race win being in 2010 when he won the Musashino Stakes (G3) with Glorious Noah and his first JRA-G1 victory with Real Impact in the 2011 Yasuda Kinen. His third big win came in July 2012 in the Radio Nikkei Sho (G3) with Final Form.

Tosaki immediately listed his name among the top jockeys in his JRA debut year in 2013, ranking fifth with 113 wins which included a G1 victory in the Hanshin Juvenile Fillies (G1) with Red Reveur. He improved his score to 146 wins in 2014 which included the Arima Kinen (G1) with Gentildonna to become the year's national champion, then repeated the feat again in the following year with 130 wins which included the Victoria Mile (G1) and the Sprinters Stakes (G1) with Straight Girl. He also claimed two consecutive JRA Awards for Most Valuable Jockey given to jockeys amassing the most points for combined rankings in wins, winning average, earnings and total rides in JRA races and designated NAR and overseas races.

JAPAN (JRA, Miho Training Center)

Hiroyuki Uchida
	Date of Birth : July 26, 1970 '16 Season Record : 518 mounts, 58 wins / ¥ 955,742,000 Career Record : 7,975 mounts, 984 wins Recent Career Highlights : '16 Aoba Sho (G2, Vanquish Run)     '15 Flora Stakes (G2, Sing with Joy)     '15 Capella Stakes (G3, Kikuno Storm) Participation in the WASJ : 7th

NAR-turned-JRA veteran jockey Hiroyuki Uchida returned to form after struggling over the past two seasons, unable to turn in results as well as suffering from injuries, and is now performing at a pace that is likely to give him more than 100 wins. While his only grade-race title is the G2 Aoba Sho so far this year, he has taken part in seven out of eleven G1 flat races including the Yasuda Kinen, in which he finished a close third on board Fiero. He is currently sixth on the leaderboard with 58 wins and is just 16 short of reaching a milestone of his 1,000th JRA win.

Uchida began his career as an NAR jockey in April 1989 and marked his first victory a month later. He started appearing in the leading jockey list from around 2000 and became the NAR national champion for the first time in 2004 with 385 wins—a title he retained for the following three seasons. In 2006, he set a record of 524 annual wins—463 in NAR and 61 in JRA—the most in Japanese horse racing history. During his career as an NAR jockey, he claimed over 120 wins in JRA races which included his first JRA-G1 victory in the 2007 NHK Mile Cup.

Uchida transferred to JRA on March 1, 2008 where he continued to perform well, finishing second on the jockey rankings with 123 wins that year. He concluded the 2009 season on top of the rankings with 146 wins out of 975 starts, which renewed the record of annual starts at the time. While ranking second with 118 wins the following year, he achieved the most wins by combining his NAR victories to receive the JRA Award for Best Jockey (Races Won) for two consecutive years. Though his 2011 season was hindered by a life-threatening accident in May, he made a comeback in January the following year to rank fourth in the leaderboard and was again fourth in 2013.

While claiming twelve NAR-G1 and eleven JRA-G1 titles including the 2008 Kikuka Sho (Japanese St. Leger) with Oken Bruce Lee, the 2010 Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby) with Eishin Flash and the 2013&14 Victoria Mile with Verxina, he is most known for his partnership with Gold Ship with whom he won the Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2000 Guineas), the Kikuka Sho, the Arima Kinen in 2012 and the Takarazuka Kinen in 2013.

He has participated in the WSJS six times—once as a NAR jockey and five times as a JRA jockey, the last being in 2013—his best performance being in 2004 when third overall.

JAPAN (JRA, Miho Training Center)

Masayoshi Ebina
	Date of Birth : March 19, 1969 '16 Season Record : 432 mounts, 50 wins / ¥ 1,159,943,000 Career Record : 19,503 mounts, 2,440 wins Recent Career Highlights : '16 Takarazuka Kinen (G1, Marialite)     '16 Satsuki Sho     (Japanese 2000 Guineas, G1, Dee Majesty) Participation in the WASJ : 9th

Masayoshi Ebina, who celebrated his 2,400th career JRA-win in February this year, certainly has the knack for getting results in big races. This spring, he guided eighth pick Dee Majesty to victory in the Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2000 Guineas, G1), and pulled off another upset victory in the Takarazuka Kinen aboard outsider Marialite who became the first mare in 11 years and the third overall to claim the “Grand-Prix” title of the first half of the 2016 season.

Ebina scored 30 wins in his debut season in 1987 and registered his first grade-race win in the February Handicap (G3) in 1992. His first G1 victory was in the Tenno Sho (Autumn) with Bubble Gum Fellow in 1996. One of his best seasons was in 1998, when he claimed the Japan Cup (G1) with El Condor Pasa and concluded his season with 136 wins including 14 grade-race titles. While succumbing to long-reigning leader Yutaka Take who debuted in the same year, Ebina continued to average around 100 wins and finally claimed his first champion jockey title and JRA Award for Best Jockey (Races Won & Money Earned) in 2001.

He was also the pioneer in challenging races overseas and rode Fujiyama Kenzan to victory in the 1995 Hong Kong International Cup (G2), four years prior to achievements with El Condor Pasa; wins in the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud (G1) and the Prix Foy (G2) and runner-up efforts in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (G1) and the Prix d’Ispahan (G1) during 1999. He also finished second in the Arc with Nakayama Festa in 2010.

The year 2010 was also significant in that he partnered Apapane who became the third Triple Crown Filly in JRA history, while collecting his second JRA Award for Best Jockey (Money Earned). He was runner-up on the national leaderboard with 123 wins in 2012 and enjoyed another fruitful season in 2014 during which he claimed the Satsuki Sho with Isla Bonita and accomplished a repeat victory in the Tenno Sho (Spring) (G1) aboard Fenomeno—he won 11 grade-race titles including four at the highest level by the end of the season, having earned over 2.3 billion yen.

Ebina appeared in eight WSJS events with an overall third being his best score in 2001 and 2003. He was also among the 2015 members of the World All-Star Jockeys but was unable to take part in the event due a fall earlier in the first day and had to be replaced.

JAPAN (JRA, Ritto Training Center)

Yuga Kawada
	Date of Birth : October 15, 1985 '16 Season Record : 436 mounts, 74 wins / ¥ 1,798,593,000 Career Record : 7,966 mounts, 982 wins Recent Career Highlights : '16 Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby, G1, Makahiki)     '16 Keio Hai Spring Cup (G2, Satono Aladdin)     '16 Fillies' Revue (G2, Solveig) Participation in the WASJ : 3rd

Yuga Kawada will take part in the World All-Star Jockeys for the third time, this year as the Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby) winning jockey. Partnering with Makahiki for the first time in the Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2000 Guineas), he finished second but guided the Deep Impact colt to his first G1 victory in the following Tokyo Yushun. With his first Derby title, Kawada became the eighth jockey in history to claim all five classic races for three-year-old colts and fillies. He is currently fourth in JRA's jockey rankings with 73 wins this season, which include nine grade-race victories.

Born into a racing family—his father and uncle are jockey-turned-trainers, his grandfather was a trainer at Saga Racecourse (NAR)—Yuga started learning to ride at an early age and made his debut on March 7, 2004. Registering his first win two weeks later at Hanshin Racecourse, he concluded his debut year with 16 wins and gradually accumulated more wins in the following years while landing his first graded title in the Kokura Daishoten (G3) in 2006.

His big break came in 2008 when he won his first G1 and classic title with Captain Thule in the Satsuki Sho and marked 73 wins that included six grade-race victories. His other classic winners include Big Week who gave him his second JRA-G1 title in the 2010 Kikuka Sho (Japanese St. Leger) and Gentildonna and Harp Star with whom he won the 2012 Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks) and the 2014 Oka Sho (Japanese 1000 Guineas), respectively.

His ranking boosted to ninth in 2010 with 83 wins and his annual wins reached the three-digit figure for the first time the following year, which placed him third on the leaderboard with 109 wins. He has been within the top seven since then, ranking second in 2013 with a personal high of 120 wins, and received the JRA Award for Best Jockey (Winning Average) in 2013 and 2014. Other major accomplishments include the 2014 Queen Elizabeth II Cup with Lachesis, the 2015 Yasuda Kinen with Maurice who subsequently became the Horse of the Year, and the 2015 Takarazuka Kinen with Lovely Day.

His past performances in the World Super Jockeys Series are seventh in 2011 and 15th in 2013.

JAPAN (JRA, Ritto Training Center)

Christophe Lemaire
	Date of Birth : May 20, 1979 '16 Season Record : 451 mounts, 98 wins / ¥ 2,027,708,000 Career Record : 2,983 mounts, 455 wins Recent Career Highlights : '16 NHK Mile Cup (G1, Major Emblem)     '16 Flora Stakes (G2, Cecchino)     '16 Yayoi Sho (G2, Makahiki) Participation in the WASJ : 3rd

Christophe Lemaire, now in his second season as a JRA jockey, is second on the national leaderboard both in number of wins and purses. With a strike rate exceeding 20.0% as of date, his victories this year include five grade-race titles including the NHK Mile Cup (G1) with Major Emblem. He has also guided Satono Diamond to third and second, respectively, in the Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2000 Guineas) and the Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby). His past challenges in this jockeys' series representing his home country was in 2009 (seventh) and 2010 (13th), and it will be his first time this year in which he hopes to become champion WASJ jockey for JRA.

Born in Chantilly as the son of Patrice Lemaire, a leading jump jockey in the 80s, Christophe was riding horses before he was walking. His career began as an amateur rider in 1996 at the age of 16. Accumulating valuable experience while exercising horses for well-established trainers such as Andre Fabre and Jean-Paul Gallorini, he started riding professionally after acquiring his license in 1999.

He scored his first G1 title in France in the 2003 Prix Jean Prat. He was soon among the top jockeys at home and became a prominent international rider with G1 titles in France, England, the UAE, Australia, Hong Kong and the United States. Lemaire had been racing in Japan every year since 2002 under short-term licenses. His major JRA titles began with a G1 victory in the 2005 Arima Kinen with Heart's Cry, followed by the 2008 Queen Elizabeth II Commemorative Cup with Little Amapola, the 2008 Japan Cup Dirt with Kane Hekili, the 2009 Japan Cup with two-time JRA Horse of the Year Vodka and his second Japan Cup Dirt in 2013 with Belshazzar.

Lemaire debuted as a JRA regular jockey in 2015 after passing the exam together with Mirco Demuro. Kicking off his career in April, he still managed to notch 112 wins to stand fourth on the leaderboard and register the highest winning percentage to receive the JRA Award for Best Jockey (Winning Average). His achievements that year included a G1 victory in the Hanshin Juvenile Fillies with 2015 Best Two-Year-Old Filly Major Emblem and eight other grade-race wins, as well as an NAR-G1 win in the Japan Dirt Derby with Nonkono Yume.

JAPAN (JRA, Ritto Training Center)

Yutaka Take
	Date of Birth : March 15, 1969 '16 Season Record : 392 mounts, 50 wins / ¥ 1,612,370,000 Career Record : 19,949 mounts, 3,829 wins Recent Career Highlights : '16 Prix d'Ispahan (G1, A Shin Hikari)     '16 Tenno Sho (Spring) (G1, Kitasan Black)     '16 Teio Sho (Copano Rickey) Participation in the WASJ : 22nd

Yutaka Take continues to produce impressive results as Japan's longstanding top jockey both within and outside JRA racing circle. His achievements during his 2016 spring campaign include G1 victories in the Tenno Sho (Spring) with Kitasan Black, the Kashiwa Kinen and the Teio Sho with Copano Rickey and titles abroad in Dubai and Europe; the UAE Derby and the Prix d'Ispahan with Lani and A Shin Hikari, respectively. Take and A Shin Hikari dismissed their nearest European rival by 10 lengths which took his mount to the highest spot in the World's Best Racehorse Rankings while his partnership with Lani, after his victory in the UAE Derby, continued in all three legs of the Triple Crown Classics in the United States.

Take rode his first winner in his debut year in 1987 when he scored 69 wins which earned him the season's JRA Award for Best Jockey (Newcomer). He has and continues to renew practically every record available, not to mention the 2005 record of 212 wins in a single season. He has also reigned as leading jockey for 18 years, including nine consecutive years from 1992 to 2000 and seven from 2002 to 2008. He has enjoyed successful riding spells around the world and has achieved grade-race wins in France, England, the United States, Dubai and Hong Kong.

In 2005, he excited the nation by landing the Japanese Triple Crown on the legendary colt Deep Impact who brought him four other G1 titles. In 2007, the star jockey's career was highlighted by another extraordinary feat as Take, at 38, broke another JRA record for most career victories—2,944 wins—and posted his 3,000th win at Kyoto racecourse on November 3rd.

Reaching 3,500 wins in January of 2013, Take celebrated his 100th G1 (NAR and overseas included) victory when claiming the Mile Championship with Tosen Ra in November that year. He has a record of 307 grade-race wins in JRA alone among which 70 are at G1 level. Since his first JRA Award as a newcomer, he has won 18 jockey titles for Races Won, 16 for Money Earned, 11 for Winning Average and nine Grand Prizes, given to those that have dominated all three jockey categories in the same season.

Take has participated in JRA's international jockeys' competition 21 times since 1988, having finished a runner-up overall six times including last year and capturing the title in 1992.

JAPAN (JRA, Ritto Training Center)

Mirco Demuro
	Date of Birth : January 11, 1979 '16 Season Record : 454 mounts, 84 wins / ¥ 2,030,569,800 Career Record : 3,459 mounts, 553 wins Recent Career Highlights : '16 Oka Sho     (Japanese 1000 Guineas, G1, Jeweler)     '16 February Stakes (G1, Moanin) Participation in the WASJ : 3rd

Mirco Demuro continues to impress the Japanese racing circle in his second season as an official JRA jockey, currently third on the national standings and already having claimed nine grade-race titles including two G1 titles in the February Stakes with Moanin and the Oka Sho (Japanese 1000 Guineas) with Jeweler. Having ridden in Japan over a 16-year span in a number of short-term riding stints, he is no stranger among the Japanese fans and has already begun to establish new records as a foreign JRA jockey, reaching his 500th career win in late February and 50th grade-race title in early July.

Debuting in 1994 at age 15, Demuro became champion apprentice in Italy with 79 wins in the following year and was leading jockey for four consecutive years between 1997 and 2000—he became the first teenage champion in Italy. His first group-race victory came in 1998 in the G3 Premio Primi Passi, and his first G1 title in the Gran Premio del Jockey Club in 1999.

Demuro sought success at an international level and rode in numerous countries from early in his career. He started riding under a short-term license in Japan in 1999 and found his riding skills well appreciated. Given opportunities on talented mounts, he landed 31 grade-race titles which include 10 G1 victories between 2001 and 2014. He captured his first two Classic titles with Neo Universe in 2003 in the Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2000 Guineas) and the Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby), and rode lightly regarded Screen Hero to victory in the 2008 Japan Cup. Demuro also gave Japan a historical first success in the Dubai World Cup with Victoire Pisa in 2011.

Kicking off his career as an official JRA jockey in March last year, he registered 118 wins in a ten-month period to stand third in the national jockey standings, just 12 wins short of the leader. He also became a JRA Award winner for Best Jockey (Money Earned) in his debut season with 11 grade-race titles including four G1 victories; the Satsuki Sho, the Tokyo Yushun with Duramente, the Champions Cup with Sambista and the Asahi Hai Futurity Stakes with Leontes.

He represented Italy in his first challenge in this series in 2012, finishing eighth overall and was eleventh last year representing JRA.

Past Results of World All-Star Jockeys

JRA Jockeys Standings

Data Analyses of World All-Star Jockeys