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2022 World All-Star Jockeys - outline and jockey profiles

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

2019 World All-Star Jockeys (closing ceremony)

The World All-Star Jockeys (WASJ) is an international event launched by the Japan Racing Association. Initially established in 1987 under the name “the World Super Jockeys Series,” it has welcomed more than 240 top-caliber jockeys from Europe, North America, South America, Oceania and Asia. Renamed the World All-Star Jockeys as a summer event at Sapporo Racecourse in Hokkaido in 2015, a team competition was added to the regular individual contest in which the overseas and NAR jockeys’ “Team WAS (World All-Star)” compete against “Team JRA” to attain the most points as a team. It will be held this summer for the first time in three years after being cancelled twice due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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.

August 2022 The Japan Racing Association

The 2022 World All-Star Jockeys

France

Theo Bachelot
Scoopdyga	Date of Birth : September 22, 1992 ’21 Season Record : 1,262 mounts, 162 wins / € 4,047,680 ’22 Season Record : 532 mounts, 79 wins / € 1,997,120 Recent Career Highlights : ’22 Prix de la Porte Maillot (G3, Amilcar) ’22 Prix du Lys (G3, Simca Mille) ’22 Prix de Barbeville (G3, The Good Man) Participation in the WASJ : 1st

Theo Bachelot, a regular in the upper rankings of the French jockey leaderboard, is about to make his debut in Japan. Following his career-high third with 162 wins last year, he is in fourth place with 79 wins as of July 31, which includes four G3 titles—the Prix de la Porte Maillot, the Prix du Lys, the Prix de Barbeville and the Prix la Force. In the upcoming World All-Star Jockeys, he will aim to become the first French-based jockey to win the championship since Ioritz Mendizabal in 2008 (World Super Jockeys Series).

Born in Caen, northwestern France, he accompanied his mother to the racetrack where she worked as a young boy and began to aspire to become a jockey when he was five years old. Soon after he started riding ponies, he met trainer Stephane Wattel of Deauville and began helping him with stable work, which led him to become an official apprentice at the stable at the age of 14. Making his debut as a rider in 2009, he steadily accumulated victories, capturing 36 wins in 2010, 34 in 2011 despite a fall injury, and 30 wins in 2012.

He emerged to 10th on the leaderboard with 77 wins in 2013 and has maintained his position among the top 12 for the last 10 years. He registered his first group-race victory in the G3 Prix de la Porte Maillot at Sommerabend in 2014 and has won group-race titles every year since 2016. He landed his long-awaited first G1 win in the 2019 Criterium de Saint-Cloud with Mkfancy in his 11th year as a jockey.

He claimed triple-digit wins for the first time in 2020 with 108 wins and rode Colosseo the Poule d'Essai des Poulains and finished second to subsequent Cartier Horse of the Year, St Mark’s Basilica last year. He also finished third in the 2019 Grosser Preis von Bayern in Germany and second in the 2021 Deutsches Derby. He has ridden in Qatar for three years during the winter season between 2017 and 2019 where he marked 73 wins including the 2019 Dukhan Sprint title.

Great Britain

David Egan
	Date of Birth : June 19, 1999 ’21 Season Record : 539 mounts, 52 wins / £ 2,316,910 ’22 Season Record : 251 mounts, 29 wins / £ 971,737 Recent Career Highlights : ’22 Queen's Vase (G2, Eldar Eldarov) ’21 International Stakes (G1, Mishriff) ’21 Dubai Sheema Classic (G1, Mishriff) Participation in the WASJ : 1st

Up and coming David Egan makes his debut in Japan this year, joining the top jockeys from around the globe in the coming World All-Star Jockeys series following his success with Mishriff in major races in the Middle East. The UK-based Irish native has accumulated 29 wins from 251 mounts which include his recent victory with Eldar Eldarov in the G2 Queen’s Vase at Royal Ascot and is currently positioned 23rd on the jockeys’ leaderboard as of July 31. The 23-year-old is a nephew to 2013 World Super Jockeys Series champion Richard Hughes.

Born in Kildare, East Ireland, Egan grew up in a horse racing family—his father, John, is a jockey and mother, Sandra, a trainer, while his late maternal grandfather, Dessie Hughes, was also a successful jockey and trainer and father of British champion jockey, Richard. Egan began as an exercise rider for his grandfather from the age of 13 while riding in pony races. His father encouraged David to move to the UK and cultivate his riding skills under Roger Varian in Newmarket, where the talented jockey scored his first win in the summer of 2016 at Windsor and quickly became champion apprentice jockey with 53 wins in the following season.

His first major victory came in the 2018 G2 Lillie Langtry Stakes with Pilaster, followed by the G3 Albany Stakes with Daahyeh at Royal Ascot in 2019 during which he rode his first classic race, the 1000 Guineas in May—he finished third with Qabala while his father finished 12th in the same race. David also honed his riding skills in America that year where he registered his first win in the U.S. at Laurel Park.

As a retained rider for Prince Faisal, Egan enjoyed great success with Mishriff in the 2021 Saudi Cup (ungraded at the time). He went on to capture two G1 victories in the following Dubai Sheema Classic and then the International Stakes at York in August and was selected as a member of team Ireland in the Shergar Cup meeting in 2021 where he scored a win and two fourth from four starts. He was ranked 20th among the British flat-race jockeys with 52 wins from 539 rides during 2021.

United States

James Graham
	Date of Birth : May 17, 1979 ’21 Season Record : 1,036 mounts, 149 wins / $ 8,206,087 ’22 Season Record : 475 mounts, 75 wins / $ 4,315,582 Recent Career Highlights : ’22 Muniz Memorial Classic Stakes (G2, Two Emmys) ’22 Indiana Derby (G3, Actuator) ’21 Mr. D. Stakes (G1, Two Emmys) Participation in the WASJ : 1st

James Graham will make his debut in Japan, representing the United States in this year’s World All-Star Jockeys. The 43-year-old Irish native who concentrates his efforts mainly at Fair Grounds, Churchill Downs, Ellis Park and Keeneland, has claimed four graded titles this season—the G2 Muniz Memorial Classic Stakes (Two Emmys), the G3 Indiana Derby (Actuator), the G3 John B. Connally Turf Cup Stakes (Fantasioso) and the G3 Lecomte Stakes (Call Me Midnight)—and has tallied 75 wins out of 475 rides so far. Nearly two decades into his career, James reached a milestone of 2,900 wins on July 31st this year.

The Dublin-born jockey followed his high school teacher’s advice and began to pursue a career in racing, first by entering a school for jockeys before working for trainer John Oxx. Although he enhanced his skills in stable work and in exercising horses, riding opportunities were scarce in his home country which led him to relocate to Lexington, Kentucky in 2002. After obtaining his jockey’s license the next year, he scored his first win at River Downs Racetrack, the first of twenty he landed that season.

Gaining recognition at Fair Grounds and Arlington Park, James began to collect more than 100 wins annually since 2004 when he marked his first grade-race win in the G3 Arlington Breeders’ Cup Oaks. He has been consistent in registering graded wins for 16 consecutive years since 2007 including his first title at the highest level in the 2009 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup Stakes with Hot Cha Cha, who now stands as a broodmare in Japan.

Following his 1,000th win marked in 2010, he rode his 2,000th winner in the 2015 G2 New Orleans Handicap at Fair Grounds. His G1 triumphs also include the Ashland Stakes (Karlovy Vary) and the Jenny Wiley Stakes (Daisy Devine) in 2012, the Del Mar Oaks (Sharla Rae) in 2015 and the Mr. D. Stakes (Two Emmys) in 2021. James reached his personal best with 238 wins in 2014 which placed him ninth in the jockey standings (races won) and was ranked 23rd in earnings in both 2012 and 2021. Other prominent achievements include a runner-up effort in the 2011 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint on Country Day and a Kentucky Derby challenge in 2018 partnered with Lone Sailor in which he was eighth.

Hong Kong

Chak Yiu Ho
The HKJC	Date of Birth : May 25, 1990 '20/'21 Season Record : 614 mounts, 61 wins / HK$ 129,742,500 '21/'22 Season Record : 600 mounts, 50 wins / HK$ 113,492,110 Recent Career Highlights : ’22 Champions Mile (G1, Golden Sixty) ’22 Centenary Sprint Cup (G1, Stronger) ’21 Hong Kong Mile (G1, Golden Sixty) Participation in the WASJ : 1st

Hong Kong-born “Vincent” Chak Yiu Ho finished the 2021/22 season in fifth on the leaderboard with 50 wins out of 600 mounts, during which he scored his 400th career win in September, claimed both the G1 Hong Kong Mile and the G1 Champions Mile with Golden Sixty for the second consecutive year and won the G1 Centenary Sprint Cup with Stronger. He is riding in Japan for the first time under a short-term license from the end of July and is aiming to become the fourth Hong Kong-based jockey to win the coming World All-Star Jockeys following Joao Moreira in 2015.

After graduating from the HKJC Apprentice Jockeys’ School, he rode in New Zealand under trainer Lance O'Sullivan and won 44 races there. He started his career in Hong Kong in the 2009/10 season and claimed the Champion Apprentice title with 39 wins the following season. In 2014/15, he became the leading homegrown jockey with 33 wins, which included his first group-race title in the National Day Cup with Bundle Of Joy. He steadily accumulated wins since then, winning the Tony Cruz Award for leading local jockey for three consecutive seasons starting in 2018/19 and registering his first G1 title in the Champions Mile with Southern Legend in 2020. He was also voted Most Popular Jockey by fans in the 2019/20 season and established himself as a leading homegrown jockey in Hong Kong.

His accomplishments with two-time Horse of the Year Golden Sixty, with whom he has partnered since his debut, is capturing the hearts of the Hong Kong racing fans in the past three seasons. When the pair won the 2020 Hong Kong Derby, Ho became the fourth Hong Kong-born jockey to win the race since Anthony Cruz in 1995 and Golden Sixty became the second horse to sweep the Four-Year-Old Triple Crown since Rapper Dragon in 2017. The pair has also won six G1 titles including the Hong Kong Mile in 2020 and 2021, the Stewards’ Cup in 2021, the Hong Kong Gold Cup in 2021 and the Champions Mile in 2021 and 2022. The 2020/21 season saw him in fourth on the leaderboard with 61 wins which included the Queen Elizabeth II Cup with Japanese mare Loves Only You.

Ho has participated in the 2011 Asian Young Guns Challenge in Australia where he was tied third, traveled to Europe in 2018 during the off season where he won his first race in England and returned to the U.K. again the following year to win three races in Scotland. He also took part in the 2019 Shergar Cup and contributed to the victory of the “Rest of the World” team with a win.

France

Coralie Pacaut
Scoopdyga	Date of Birth : September 22, 1998 ’21 Season Record : 394 mounts, 43 wins / € 819,790 ’22 Season Record : 225 mounts, 28 wins / € 548,700 Recent Career Highlights : ’21 Grosser Preis der Burckhardt Gruppe (Listed, Angelinka) ’18 Prix Max Sicard (Listed, Falcao Negro) Participation in the WASJ : 1st

Coralie Pacaut became only the third female jockey to ride in the G1 Poules d’Essai des Pouliches with Zelda (sixth) this year. She is 26th on the leaderboard with 28 wins out of 225 starts this year as of July 31. The winner of the 2019 Cravache d’Or will ride for the first time in Japan in the World All-Star Jockeys and aim to become the first female jockey to win the championship.

Pacaut was born in Ermont, northwest of Paris. Her parents had nothing to do with horse racing and her dream was to become an architect or a doctor. However, her love for horses led her to spend weekends and school vacations at pony club events and when a classmate applied to enroll in a horse racing school, she also decided to enter the racing world herself. After two years of training at the stable of Jean-Marie Beguigne, she made her debut in May 2015 from Philippe Demercastel’s stable and won her first race at Lyon-Parilly Racecourse in September. She finished her debut season with two wins out of 11 rides. Though winless the following year, she put her career on track with 24 wins in 2017.

In 2018, she began riding horses trained by Jean-Claude Rouget, one of the leading trainers in France, and made great progress with 66 wins, which included her first listed title with Falcao Negro in the Prix Max Sicard. She was ranked 16th on the national leaderboard and second among women behind Mickaelle Michel. She continued to show rapid progress the following year, becoming the top female jockey with 71 victories, one shy of the record for most annual wins by a women set by Michel the previous year, and was ranked 13th overall. In October that year, she rode her first group race in the G3 Prix Miesque where she finished sixth. She was ranked 20th on the leaderboard with 45 wins in 2020 and 23rd with 43 wins last year.

Her overseas experiences include her participation in the International Jockeys Challenge in Saudi Arabia in 2020. She also won the listed Grosser Preis der Burckhardt Gruppe with Angelinka in Germany last year.

Australia

Craig Williams
	Date of Birth : May 23, 1977 ’20/’21 Season Record : 353 mounts, 35 wins / AUS$ 7,295,550 ’21/’22 Season Record : 379 mounts, 53 wins / AUS$ 9,976,250 Recent Career Highlights : ’22 Doncaster Mile (G1, Mr Brightside) ’22 William Reid Stakes (G1, September Run) ’21 Underwood Stakes (G1, Zaaki) Participation in the WASJ : 10th

Australian jockey Craig Williams concluded the 2021/22 season with 53 wins and was ranked third in the Melbourne Jockey Premiership. Significant achievements within the season included three G1 titles—the Underwood Stakes with Zaaki, the William Reid Stakes with September Run and the Doncaster Mile with Mr Brightside. Well known to Japanese racing fans with 89 wins from 869 rides registered in the JRA, the veteran jockey will return to Japan for the first time in six years to aim for a second JRA international jockeys’ competition title.

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 has prevailed at the summit of the jockey rankings nine times—2005/06 - 2008/09, 2015/16 - 2019/20. His G1 titles amount to 68 which were marked in Australia, France, Great Britain, Japan, Hong Kong and Dubai such as the VRC Oaks (2006 Miss Finland, 2010 Brazilian Pulse), the Victoria Derby (2007 Kibbutz), the Cox Plate (2006 Fields of Omarh, 2011 Pinker Pinker), the Caulfield Cup (2011 Southern Speed, 2012 Dunaden), the Hong Kong Vase (2011 Dunaden), the Al Quoz Sprint (2012 Ortensia), the Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2015 Criterion) and the Melbourne Cup (2019 Vow And Declare).

Craig rode energetically in Japan 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). He became the first jockey from the Southern Hemisphere to win the World Super Jockeys Series in 2007 and was second in 2010. His latest attempt in the series was in the 2016 World All-Star Jockeys where he finished an overall sixth.

JAPAN (NAR Representative; Aichi)

Makoto Okabe
	Date of Birth : March 3, 1977 ’22 Season Record* : 666 mounts, 176 wins *NAR only Career Record* : 24,139 mounts, 4,531 wins *NAR only Recent Career Highlights : ’22 Hizannosui Hai (Z Pearl) ’22 Tokai Derby (Tanino Tabito) ’22 Shuntei Sho (Tanino Tabito) Participation in the WASJ : 1st

Makoto Okabe, fifteen-time champion jockey at Nagoya, became the ninth jockey to reach the milestone of 4,500 wins in NAR racing on May 25 this year. Currently standing at the top of the Nagoya Racecourse jockey leaderboard with 176 wins, the legendary jockey secured his ticket as the NAR representative in the coming World All-Star Jockeys by winning the NAR Jockeys’ Championship with two wins, a seventh and an 11th in the four-race series held in May.

Having loved animals since he was a little boy, an opportunity to watch horse racing inspired Aichi-born Okabe to become a jockey. He made his debut at Nagoya Racecourse in October 1994 as a registered jockey of the Aichi Racing Association and steadily accumulated wins to capture his first leading title at Nagoya Racecourse in 2004. Since then, he has dominated the title in 2004, 2006-2015, 2017 and 2019-2021 while continuing to renew the record of most career wins at Nagoya. He has won three NAR Grand Prix awards—Special Award in 2015 and Best Fair Play Jockey in 2017 and 2021—and accomplished a feat of becoming the first jockey in NAR history to win eight races in one day in 2019.

Okabe has claimed three Nagoya Grand Prix races, one of the major exchange events between JRA and NAR, in 2012 and 2014 with A Shin Moreover and in 2019 with Derma Louvre. His other major victories at Nagoya include the Tokai Derby (2008, 2022), the Nagoya Kinen (2008, 2010, 2020-2022), the Tokai Kikuka Sho (2010), the Shinshun Pegasus Cup (2011, 2015), the Gold Wing Sho (2011, 2015, 2016), the Nagoya Dera Uma Sprint (2014, 2015), the Wakakusa Sho (2015), the Tokai Oka Sho (2019-2021) and the Shuntei Sho (2022).

He rode in JRA racing for the first time in 1999, registered his first win in 2004 and has marked 19-18-24 out of 536 mounts so far. Though winless in his 19 starts at the graded level, he has ridden in three G1 events including the Takamatsunomiya Kinen in 2007. He also has experience overseas, riding in Macau under a short-term license in 2007 during which he claimed a local group-race title. This will be his first participation in JRA’s international jockey competition in his 28-year career.

JAPAN (JRA, Ritto Training Center)

Yutaka Take
	Date of Birth : March 15, 1969 ’22 Season Record : 310 mounts, 36 wins / ¥ 1,237,546,000 Career Record : 23,547 mounts, 4,355 wins Recent Career Highlights : ’22 Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby, G1, Do Deuce) ’22 New Zealand Trophy (G2, Jean Gros) ’22 Aichi Hai (G3, Ruby Casablanca) Participation in the WASJ : 26th

Yutaka Take continues to produce impressive results as Japan’s longstanding top jockey. This year, he scored his record-extending sixth Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby) title with Do Deuce and became the oldest Derby winning jockey at the age of 53. The legendary jockey reached a milestone of 4,300 career wins in JRA alone in October last year and has not missed a year without a grade-race victory in 36 years since his debut. The World Super Jockeys Series champion of 1992 who has also finished runner-up eight times so far, hopes to claim his second champion title this year.

The third son of late trainer Kunihiko Take, Yutaka started riding at 10 and has continued to renew practically every record available. He debuted in 1987 and immediately stood out with 69 wins. An 18-time champion jockey in 1989, 1990, 1992-2000 and 2002-2008, he exceeded 200 wins for three consecutive years starting in 2003, culminating with a record 212 wins in 2005. By 2007, he had become the youngest to reach a number of milestones including an unprecedented 3,000th win.

His first G1 and classics win was with Super Creek in the 1988 Kikuka Sho (Japanese St. Leger) and his first Derby title came with Special Week 10 years later. Take became the first JRA jockey to ride a G1 winner overseas when he claimed the 1994 Prix du Moulin de Longchamp with Andre Fabre-trained Ski Paradise. He also rode the first Japanese-trained G1 winner abroad when guiding Seeking the Pearl to victory in the 1998 Prix Maurice de Gheest. He has 24 wins overseas at group-race level including seven G1 events in the United Kingdom, France, Hong Kong and Dubai combined.

Take celebrated his 100th G1 (NAR and overseas included) victory when claiming the Mile Championship with Tosen Ra in 2013. He has a record of 349 grade-race wins in JRA alone, among which 79 are at G1 level. Horses he guided to victories and subsequently won them Horse of the Year titles include Inari One, Oguri Cap, Air Groove, Deep Impact, Vodka and Kitasan Black. Since his first JRA Award title as a newcomer in 1987, he has won 18 jockey titles for Races Won, 16 for Money Earned, 11 for Winning Average, nine Grand Prizes given to those that have dominated all three jockey categories in the same season and three Special Awards.

JAPAN (JRA, Ritto Training Center)

Christophe Lemaire
	Date of Birth : May 20, 1979 ’22 Season Record : 308 mounts, 68 wins / ¥ 2,062,959,100 Career Record : 7,433 mounts, 1,587 wins Recent Career Highlights : ’22 Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks, G1, Stars on Earth) ’22 Dubai Gold Cup (G2, Stay Foolish) ’22 Riyadh Dirt Sprint (G3, Dancing Prince) Participation in the WASJ : 7th

Christophe Lemaire represents JRA in this year’s World All-Star Jockeys as the Most Valuable Jockey of the 2021 season and the 2018 WASJ champion returns this year in his bid to claim his second overall title. While his only major JRA title this season is with Stars on Earth in the Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks, G1), he was runner-up in four other G1 events this spring. Meanwhile, he has accomplished remarkable success overseas winning five group-race events, four of which he won in a single night in the Neom Turf Cup (Authority), the 1351 Turf Sprint (Songline), the Red Sea Turf Handicap (Stay Foolish) and the Riyadh Dirt Sprint (Dancing Prince) in the Saudi Cup meeting as well as the G2 Dubai Gold Cup (Stay Foolish) which he won on the Dubai World Cup day.

Since debuting as a regular JRA jockey in 2015, the French native has led all jockeys in Japan five times and has collected 107 grade-race titles including 36 G1 victories. He has partnered with multiple-G1 winners such as Major Emblem, Satono Diamond, Soul Stirring, Rey de Oro, Almond Eye, Fierement and Gran Alegria. He renewed a number of JRA records in 2018, including surpassing legendary Yutaka Take’s long-standing records with 215 annual wins, 8 annual G1 titles and annual earnings of 4.66 billion yen. His JRA Award Best Jockey titles include five for Races Won (2017-21), three for Winning Average (2015, 2016 and 2018), six for Money Earned (2016-21), five for Most Valuable Jockey (2017-21) and one Grand Prize (2018).

Born in Chantilly and the son of Patrice Lemaire, a leading jump jockey in the ‘80s, Lemaire began as an amateur rider in 1996 at the age of 16 and started riding professionally after acquiring his license in 1999. He landed his first G1 title in France in the 2003 Prix Jean Prat and was soon among the top jockeys at home and a rising star internationally with G1 titles in France, England, the UAE, Australia, Hong Kong and the United States. Lemaire began racing in Japan from 2002 under short-term licenses, during which he scored five G1 victories: the Arima Kinen (2005 Heart’s Cry), the Queen Elizabeth II Commemorative Cup (2008 Little Amapola), the Japan Cup Dirt (2008 Kane Hekili, 2013 Belshazzar) and the Japan Cup (2009 Vodka).

JAPAN (JRA, Miho Training Center)

Takeshi Yokoyama
	Date of Birth : December 22, 1998 '22 Season Record : 372 mounts, 63 wins / ¥ 1,100,071,000 Career Record : 3,642 mounts, 363 wins Recent Career Highlights : ’22 Tulip Sho (G2, Namur) ’21 Hopeful Stakes (G1, Killer Ability) ’21 Arima Kinen (G1, Efforia) Participation in the WASJ : 1st

The young and upcoming rider Takeshi Yokoyama is currently placed third in the national rankings with 63 wins at the end of June. Should he keep up the good pace, there is little doubt that he will better his personal record of 104 annual wins scored last season. The G2 Tulip Sho with Namur is his only graded win this year but he has registered a third with the filly in the G1 Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks) and another third in the G1 Victoria Mile on Resistencia. The 23-year-old will make his first World All-Star Jockeys series appearance as the leading jockey of Eastern Japan.

Born in a renowned racing family beginning with his grandfather and former jockey Tomio, as well as father Norihiro and elder brother Kazuo, who are both active jockeys, Takeshi began riding at the age of ten and enrolled in the JRA Horse Racing School in 2014. He became apprentice to trainer Nobuhiro Suzuki and made his racing debut in March of 2017. He claimed his first win in his 42nd start and collected a total of 13 wins in his debut season.

Takeshi steadily compiled more wins annually, 35 in 2018 and 54 in 2019, finished 15th in his first G1 event, the Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby), in 2019 and reached a milestone of 100 career wins at the end of that season. In 2020, Takeshi claimed his first graded title in the G2 Flora Stakes on Win Marilyn and became the youngest jockey to top the Eastern Japan jockey rankings with 94 wins (6th nationally).

His big breakthrough came the following season. After marking his 200th career win in January, he scored his first G1 triumph in the Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2000 Guineas) with Efforia and, although missing the Derby title by a nose margin, captured two more G1 titles with the eventual 2021 Horse of the Year—the Tenno Sho (Autumn) and the year-end “Grand Prix” Arima Kinen. Two additional G1 wins, the Kikuka Sho (Japanese St. Leger) with Titleholder and the Hopeful Stakes with Killer Ability, tied him with Christophe Lemaire in notching a total of five G1 victories that season. Registering his 300th career win on the last day of the 2021 season, he capped off his most successful campaign yet with 104 wins, reaching the three-digit figure for the first time in a single season and was ranked first in the Eastern division and fifth in the national standings.

JAPAN (JRA, Ritto Training Center)

Yuga Kawada
	Date of Birth : October 15, 1985 ’22 Season Record : 303 mounts, 80 wins / ¥ 2,149,266,100 Career Record : 11,356 mounts, 1,760 wins Recent Career Highlights : ’22 NHK Mile Cup (G1, Danon Scorpion) ’22 Oka Sho (Japanese 1000 Guineas, G1, Stars on Earth) Participation in the WASJ : 5th

Yuga Kawada enjoyed a remarkable season in 2021, during which he rode Loves Only You to two overseas G1 victories, one of which made him the first Japanese jockey to claim a Breeders’ Cup title. He continues to produce outstanding results this season as well, presiding on top of the JRA national rankings in wins, earnings and striking rate. He registered his 1,700th career win in JRA this January and added two JRA-G1 titles—the Oka Sho (Japanese 1000 Guineas) with Stars on Earth and the NHK Mile Cup with Danon Scorpion—as well as the Kawasaki Kinen title with Chuwa Wizard in NAR racing. The 36-year-old will also aim to defend his champion title in the coming World All-Star Jockeys.

Born into a racing family—his father and uncle are jockeys-turned-trainers and his grandfather was a trainer at Saga Racecourse (NAR)—Yuga learned to ride at an early age and made his debut in March 2004. He registered his first win two weeks later at Hanshin Racecourse and concluded his debut year with 16 wins. In the following years, he gradually accumulated more wins and landed 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 (Japanese 2000 Guineas) and concluded the season with 73 wins including six grade-race victories. He rose to ninth on the leaderboard with 83 wins in 2010 and then claimed triple-digit wins for the first time the following year, placing third with 109 wins. He has ranked consistently in the top seven since then, reaching as high as second four times in 2013, 2019, 2020 and 2021.

His other classic titles include the Kikuka Sho (Japanese St. Leger) with Big Week in 2010, the Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks) with Gentildonna in 2012, the Oka Sho with Harp Star in 2014 and the Tokyo Yushun with Makahiki in 2016 when he became only the eighth jockey in history to claim all five classic races for three-year-old colts and fillies. His other G1 victories include the Yasuda Kinen (Maurice [2015], Satono Aladdin [2017], Danon Kingly [2021]), the Asahi Hai Futurity Stakes (Danon Premium [2017], Grenadier Guards [2020]), the Takamatsunomiya Kinen (Fine Needle [2018], Danon Smash [2021]), the Queen Elizabeth II Cup (Lachesis [2014]), the Takarazuka Kinen (Lovely Day [2015]), the Sprinters Stakes (Fine Needle [2018]), the Champions Cup (Chrysoberyl [2019]), the Hopeful Stakes (Danon the Kid [2020], and the Osaka Hai (Lei Papale [2021]).

JAPAN (JRA, Miho Training Center)

Yoshitomi Shibata
	Date of Birth : July 30, 1966 '22 Season Record : 13 mounts / ¥ 7,020,000 Career Record : 21,698 mounts, 2,314 wins Recent Career Highlights : ’21 Leopard Stakes (G3, Meisho Murakumo) ’20 Aichi Hai (G3, Denko Ange) ’19 Fukushima Himba Stakes (G3, Denko Ange) Participation in the WASJ : 9th

Yoshitomi Shibata became the first active jockey to receive the Medal of Honor with Yellow Ribbon awarded by the Japanese government for his diligence as a JRA jockey and contribution to the development and promotion of the horse racing industry. The veteran jockey, who had been away from riding since December last year due to an aggravated cervical disc herniation, made his comeback in May and was selected as an All-Star Jockey representing JRA for his historic achievement this year. He participated in the World Super Jockeys Series eight times, the last being in 2012 and twice in which he finished the overall champion in 1999 and 2003.

A member of the inaugural class of JRA’s Horse Racing School established in 1982, Yoshitomi rode his first winner a month after his debut in March 1985 and scored his first grade-race victory in the 1988 Nakayama Himba Stakes (G3, Soshin Hoju). His first G1 title was in the Yasuda Kinen with Yamanin Zephyr in 1993. He maintained his position within the top 10 jockeys for 12 years between 1993 and 2006 (excluding 2000), during which he was ranked second between 2001 and 2004 and reached his personal best in 2004 with 145 wins.

His nine JRA-G1 titles include the Tenno Sho (Autumn) (1993 Yamanin Zephyr, 1998 Offside Trap), the NHK Mile Cup (1996 Taiki Fortune), the Takamatsunomiya Kinen (2000 King Halo, 2006 Orewa Matteruze), the Takarazuka Kinen (2010 Nakayama Festa), the Queen Elizabeth II Commemorative Cup (2012 Rainbow Dahlia) and the Yasuda Kinen (2014 Just a Way). Major wins in NAR races include the 1994 Teio Sho, the 2003 JBC Sprint and the 2004 Japan Dirt Derby.

Overcoming a surgery to treat a lumbar disc herniation in 2009, the veteran jockey continues to earn the trust of horsemen and fellow jockeys with his professionalism and fair play that led to his being elected chairman of JRA’s jockeys association between 2005 and 2010. Shibata, who reached a milestone of 1,000 JRA wins in 2001 and 2,000 wins in 2011, became only the sixth jockey in JRA history to reach 2,300 wins in March last year. Five months after his historic feat, he became the oldest jockey at 55 to win a graded title when claiming his 96th JRA grade-race victory in the Leopard Stakes with Meisho Murakumo.

JAPAN (JRA, Ritto Training Center)

Yuichi Fukunaga
	Date of Birth : December 9, 1976 '22 Season Record : 285 mounts, 46 wins / ¥ 1,111,219,000 Career Record : 19,065 mounts, 2,562 wins Recent Career Highlights : ’22 Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2000 Guineas, G1, Geoglyph) ’22 February Stakes (G1, Cafe Pharoah) Participation in the WASJ : 10th

Two-time JRA champion jockey Yuichi Fukunaga claimed this year’s G1 February Stakes on Cafe Pharoah two weeks after he made his comeback from a broken collar-bone sustained in a fall in Hong Kong last December. He went on to register his second Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2000 Guineas, G1) victory with Geoglyph as well as NAR’s Kanto Oaks on Grand Bridge and, as of the end of June, he stands seventh with 45 wins (JRA races alone) on the national leaderboard. Fukunaga was chosen to participate in this year’s World All-Star Jockeys based on his outstanding performances with Triple Crown winner Contrail in 2020 when the WASJ was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He hopes to exceed his personal best of an overall second (2014 and 2017) in his 10th attempt in JRA’s international jockey competition.

Following the footsteps of his father, former jockey Yoichi Fukunaga, he made an impressive debut in 1996, winning his first two career starts, and was named JRA’s Best Jockey (Newcomer) with 53 wins. After capturing his first grade-race win the following year, he claimed his first G1 victory in 1999 with Primo Ordine in the Oka Sho (Japanese 1000 Guineas).

He was ranked among the top twelve jockeys, claiming over 80 annual wins from 2000, and has been within the top five since 2010 with over 100 annual wins. He emerged to the top in 2011 and 2013, winning the JRA Award in Winning Average in 2011 and Races Won and Money Earned in 2013. Fukunaga also became the fifth jockey in JRA history to reach the milestone of 2,500 career wins in September last year.

Among his 159 grade-race wins, 34 are G1 victories including 12 classic titles—the Oka Sho (1999 Prix Modine, 2005 Rhein Kraft), the Satsuki Sho (2022 Geoglyph), the Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks) (2004 Daiwa el Cielo, 2005 Cesario, 2007 Robe Decollete), the Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby) (2018 Wagnerian, 2020 Shahryar) and the Kikuka Sho (Japanese St. Leger) (2013 Epiphaneia), not to mention his Triple Crown triumph with Contrail in 2020. Major G1 titles won overseas include the 2001 Hong Kong Mile and the Queen Elizabeth II Cup (2002 and 2003) with Eishin Preston, the 2005 American Oaks Invitational Stakes with Cesario and the 2014 Dubai Duty Free with Just a Way.

JAPAN (JRA, Ritto Training Center)

Kohei Matsuyama
	Date of Birth : March 1, 1990 '22 Season Record : 324 mounts, 49 wins / ¥ 901,850,000 Career Record : 10,629 mounts, 943 wins Recent Career Highlights : ’22 Aoi Stakes (G3, Win Marvel) ’22 Heian Stakes (G3, T O Keynes) ’21 Champions Cup (G1, T O Keynes) Participation in the WASJ : 1st

Kohei Matsuyama reached a milestone of 900 career wins (JRA races alone) on January 15 and, though unable to race for one and a half months due to a fall in March, stands sixth on the national leaderboard as of the end of June with 49 wins, which include four G3 events. He has also registered a third at G1 level in the Takarazuka Kinen with Daring Tact. He was selected as one of the JRA representatives to participate in the World All-Star Jockey for the first time for his outstanding accomplishment with 2020 fillies’ Triple Crown winner Daring Tact.

Born in Hyogo Prefecture, Matsuyama was a member of the junior equestrian team at Hanshin Racecourse before enrolling in the JRA Horse Racing School. He won his debut race on March 1, 2009 on his 19th birthday and scored his second win the same day, becoming only the second JRA jockey school graduate to win two since Yuichi Fukunaga in 1996. He was named Best Jockey (Newcomer) by marking 36 wins in his debut year.

He improved his annual wins to 74 in 2012 during which he won his first graded title in the G3 Chunichi Shimbun Hai with Smart Gear. Since then, he has ranked consistently in the top 17 jockeys, claiming over 56 wins every year except in 2016 (47 wins, 23rd). He claimed NAR’s top sprint title, the JBC Sprint, with Corin Berry in 2015 and registered his first JRA-G1 victory with ninth pick Al Ain in the Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2000 Guineas) in 2017.

He has been among the top eight on the leaderboard since 2018 with over 84 wins and his annual wins reached three-digit figures for the first time in 2020 when he was fourth with 127 wins. During that season, he swept the fillies’ Triple Crown—the Oka Sho (Japanese 1000 Guineas), the Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks) and the Shuka Sho—with Daring Tact who become the first undefeated filly to do so. He added his name to the JRA history books as the fastest and youngest jockey to achieve 10,000 career wins on September 19, 2021 and concluded the season in third on the leaderboard with his personal-best of 130 wins, which included his fifth G1 title in the Champions Cup with T O Keynes.

Past Results of World All-Star Jockeys

*Iwata replaced USA's Victor Espinoza.

[NOTE] ER=Excluded from Running (by stewards) / FF=Fail to Finish / N=None to ride / S=Scratch

Data Analyses of World All-Star Jockeys