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2025 World All-Star Jockeys - outline and jockey profiles

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2024 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 260 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.

The first two of the four-race series will be conducted on August 23rd (Sat.), while the remaining two will be held the following day.

August 2025 The Japan Racing Association

The 2025 World All-Star Jockeys

Hong Kong

Alexis Badel
	Date of Birth : December 5, 1989 ’23/’24 Season Record : 584 mounts, 43 wins / HK$ 93,416,150 ’24/’25 Season Record : 519 mounts, 31 wins / HK$ 67,345,700 Recent Career Highlights : ’24 National Day Cup (G3, Beauty Waves) ’24 January Cup (G3, Happy Together) ’23 Celebration Cup (G3, Healthy Happy) Participation in the WASJ : 2nd
Photo: The Hong Kong Jockey Club

Alexis Badel capped off the 2024/25 season with a triumph in the National Day Cup with Beauty Waves which was one of 31 wins that placed him tenth in the final jockey rankings. Outside of Europe and Hong Kong, the French-born jockey has also ridden in Canada, Singapore, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates and, while currently riding under a short-term license in Japan since July 26, will take part in the World All-Star Jockeys for the second time following 2023 when he was an overall fifth by winning the fourth leg.

Born in Lamorlaye, 35 kilometers north of Paris, Badel was brought up in a horse racing family where his mother is a horse trainer in France, and his father and older brother were both professional jockeys. In 2006 and in his second year as a jockey, he landed his first win and compiled a total of 31 by the end of the season. His talent was recognized when his wins almost doubled the following year to 60, which included the listed Grand Prix du Nord, and achieved the Champion Apprentice title while finishing tenth in the jockey premiership. In 2013, Badel notched his first win at group-race level in the Prix du Conseil de Paris (G2) onboard Norse King.

At the end of his 2014 campaign, Badel was ranked 14th with 68 wins including four group-race titles. His performance made a rapid improvement the next season when he was appointed as the second retained rider for the Aga Khan behind Christophe Soumillon. With five group-race winners, he marked his personal best of 104 wins and was seventh in the French championships. He claimed his first G1 title in the 2018 Prix Jean Romanet (Nonza) and, along with two group-race wins in Italy, achieved more than 770 wins in France including 16 group-race titles before moving to Hong Kong.

Badel enjoyed successful short-term stints in Hong Kong beginning from the 2016/17 season, including the 2019 January Cup (G3) with Simply Brilliant, and fully relocated to Hong Kong from 2020/21. He immediately scored 58 wins, finishing sixth in the Hong Kong jockey rankings and has maintained his position in the top ten since. Five of his 15 group-race victories in Hong Kong so far were with 2021/22 Champion Sprinter Wellington, three of which were G1 triumphs, the 2021 and 2022 Chairman’s Sprint Prize and the 2022 Queen’s Silver Jubilee Cup. He also captured the 2021 Hong Kong Classic Cup with Healthy Happy and the 2023 Hong Kong Derby with Voyage Bubble.

Argentina

Francisco Goncalves
	Date of Birth : April 8, 1990 2024 Season Record : 2,083 mounts, 479 wins / ARS 2,100,544,390 ’2025 Season Record : 1,043 mounts, 230 wins / ARS 1,620,211,276 Recent Career Highlights : ’25 Gran Premio de las Americas (G1, El Exito) ’24 Grande Premio Sao Paolo (G1, Kenlova) ’24 Gran Premio Estrellas Classic (G1, Vundu) Participation in the WASJ : 1st

Argentina-based jockey Francisco Goncalves will make his first appearance in Japan in the coming World All-Star Jockeys. The eight-time Argentine champion jockey continues to lead the jockeys’ premiership this season with 230 wins, including the G1 Gran Premio de las Americas. The 36-year-old Brazilian will aim to become the second South American jockey to win the championship title following Joao Moreira who claimed the title last year.

Goncalves was born in Sobral in northeastern Brazil. Under the influence of his elder brother Odair, a jockey-turned-trainer, he started riding horses from a young age and enrolled in a jockey school in Sao Paulo at the age of 16. He obtained his jockey license in 2006 and claimed the Derby title by winning the G1 Grande Premio Derby Paulista in 2009. He captured the apprentice title in the 2011/2012 season and topped the overall jockeys’ rankings in 2012/2013 in Sao Paulo. He then moved to Buenos Aires in 2013 where he met Jorge Neer, one of Argentina’s leading trainers who was looking to hire a promising jockey.

Goncalves quickly emerged as an uprising rider, ranking fourth on the Argentine leaderboard with 212 wins in 2014 and claimed his first champion title in 2016 with 328 wins. He reclaimed the title in 2018 and has held it ever since. He set the South American record for most wins in a single season with 541 wins in 2023, surpassing the previous record held by Jorge Ricardo, and has registered nearly 4,000 victories in Argentina so far.

Goncalves’s G1 titles in Argentina include the Gran Premio Dardo Rocha (2014, 2020-2022, 2024), the Gran Premio Seleccion (2016), the Gran Premio Estrellas Classic (2018, 2022, 2024), the Gran Premio Estrellas Distaff (2018, 2022, 2024), the Gran Premio Polla de Potrillos (2019), the Gran Premio Nacional (2019, 2021) and the Gran Premio Polla de Potrancas (2022, 2023). He has also claimed G1 races in Brazil, such as the Grande Premio Derby Paulista and the Grande Premio Jockey Club De Sao Paulo in 2011, the Grande Premio Presidente Da Republica in 2014, and the Grande Premio Diana in 2012 and 2023.

Germany

Thore Hammer Hansen
	Date of Birth : October 17, 1999 2024 Season Record : 432 mounts, 74 wins / € 1,677,424 2025 Season Record : 258 mounts, 53 wins / € 670,185 Recent Career Highlights : ’25 Oleander-Rennen (G2, Flatten The Curve) ’24 Preis von Bayern (G1, Assistent) ’24 Deutsches Derby (G1, Palladium) Participation in the WASJ : 1st

Thore Hammer Hansen enjoyed a successful 2024 season in Germany, where he claimed his first G1 title and topped the national jockeys’ ranking for the first time. He continues to show strong performances this year, currently leading the jockeys’ premiership with 53 wins including three group-race titles. The 25-year-old rider looks forward to his debut ride in Japan, hoping to become the second German-based champion in the coming series after Andreas Suborics who won the World Super Jockeys Series twice in 2004 and 2006.

Born in Cologne, his father, Lennart, is a former jockey-turned-trainer who achieved 1,000 wins in Scandinavia and Hong Kong as a jockey. Thore grew up aspiring to be like his father and began his career as an amateur jockey in Germany in 2016. He rode his first winner the following year and registered a total of seven wins that year. With his father’s encouragement to gain experience abroad, he briefly worked at Andre Fabre’s stable in France before moving to Richard Hannon’s stable in the United Kingdom in 2017 under recommendation from Scandinavian jockey William Buick.

In 2018, Hammer Hansen obtained his apprentice jockey license in the U.K., where he was based until October 2023. During this time, he collected 124 wins including the Ascot Stakes at the 2020 Royal Ascot meeting and participated in the 2023 Shergar Cup, securing a win as a member of Team Europe. While based in the United Kingdom, he also rode in his home country where he registered 10 wins including his first group-race title in the G2 Oettingen Rennen in 2022 and 16 victories including three group-race titles in 2023.

Returning to Germany as a retained jockey for racehorse owner Eckhard Sauren in 2024, Hammer Hansen claimed his first G1 title in the Deutsches Derby with ninth favorite Palladium and added another G1 victory in the Grosser Preis von Bayern with Sauren-owned Assistent. He concluded his first full season as a professional jockey in Germany with 74 wins including nine group-race victories, which earned him his first champion jockey title.

Hong Kong

Karis Teetan
	Date of Birth : June 3, 1990 ’23/’24 Season Record : 722 mounts, 86 wins / HK$ 143,056,185 ’24/’25 Season Record : 634 mounts, 44 wins / HK$ 87,564,880 Recent Career Highlights : ’25 Queen's Silver Jubilee Cup (G1, Ka Ying Rising) ’25 Chinese Club Challenge Cup (G3, Patch Of Theta) ’24 Ladies' Purse (G3, Ensued) Participation in the WASJ : 3rd
Photo: The Hong Kong Jockey Club

Karis Teetan notched his fifth G1 title this February in Hong Kong partnered with Ka Ying Rising in the Queen’s Silver Jubilee Cup. He also scored two G3 victories and concluded the 2024/25 season sixth on the leaderboard by registering 44 wins. The winning jockey of the 2019 International Jockeys’ Championship held in Hong Kong hopes to exceed his personal best in the coming World All-Star Jockeys (WASJ) (overall third in 2019).

Born in Mauritius, Teetan began riding from a young age in his homeland and entered the South African Jockey Academy at the age of 14 where he thrived to show great potential from the beginning of his career, grabbing the South African champion apprentice title of the 2007/08 season. He continued to fare well, placing himself within the top 10 in the jockey rankings over three seasons from 2010/11 to 2012/13. In 2012, he captured three G1 titles in South Africa—the Paddock Stakes with Thunder Dance, the Cape Derby and the Daily News 2000 with Jackson. Teetan also represented South Africa in the 2008 Macau Apprentice Jockeys Invitation Races and the 2012 International Jockeys’ Invitational in Korea. With nearly 500 wins in his pocket, the Mauritian decided to follow the footsteps of fellow South African-based jockeys Douglas Whyte and Felix Coetzee and transferred to Hong Kong in 2013.

Teetan registered 50 wins in his first season in Hong Kong (2013/14), finishing fourth in the rankings, and has never failed to make the top eight so far. He notched 93 wins, placing him third in the premiership in 2019/20, and then was second in 2023/24 with 86 wins. He has accumulated major titles such as the 2015 Hong Kong Classic Cup with Thunder Fantasy; the 2018 Hong Kong Sprint and the 2020 Chairman’s Sprint Prize with Mr Stunning; the 2021 Champions & Chater Cup with Panfield; and the 2022 Hong Kong Classic Mile, the Hong Kong Derby and the Queen Elizabeth II Cup with Romantic Warrior. He broadened his horizons in 2016 when he claimed the Korea Sprint with Super Jockey in South Korea and the EW Barker Trophy with Lim’s Cruiser in Singapore.

The “Mauritian Magician” is no stranger in Japan with a record of 10 wins out of 106 starts riding under short-term licenses in the summers of 2016 and 2017. He also steered Hong Kong raider Blizzard to fifth in the G1 Takamatsunomiya Kinen in March 2018 and his recent challenge with Mugen in last year’s Sprinters Stakes resulted in 13th. Teetan was an overall third in his first WASJ appearance in 2019 and was tied in fifth last year.

United States

Cristian Torres
	Date of Birth : July 6, 1997 2024 Season Record : 984 mounts, 149 wins / $ 13,786,145 2025 Season Record : 513 mounts, 60 wins / $ 5,361,212 Recent Career Highlights : ’24 Churchill Downs Stakes (G1, Gun Pilot) ’24 Bourbon Stakes (G2, Minaret Station) ’24 Rebel Stakes (G2, Timberlake) Participation in the WASJ : 1st
Photo: Valerie Torres

Cristian Torres, a native of Puerto Rico, is an emerging rider in North America where he was ranked 12th in earnings in the past two years and currently stands 21st with earnings of $ 5,361,212 (60 wins). Setting to make his debut in Japan in the coming World All-Star Jockeys, he will aim to become the second U.S.-based jockey to claim the championship title after Jerry Bailey in the 1996 World Super Jockeys Series.

Torres grew up around horses in Puerto Rico and had an early ambition to become a jockey. His brother, Leandro, is an exercise rider in Ocala. He moved to Orlando, Florida, to attend high school but returned to his home country to pursue his career where he attended the famous jockey school that produced John Velazquez, Irad Ortiz, Jr. and Jose Ortiz. After graduating, he moved to Florida again and then to New York, where he worked at Mark Casse’s stables, exercising notable horses such as multiple-G1 winner Got Stormy and Preakness Stakes victor War of Will.

Torres debuted at Gulfstream Park on April 6, 2019 and landed his first win two weeks later. He won 122 races that year, which placed him 76th (wins) and 80th (earnings) in the North American jockey rankings and was ranked 43rd (wins) and 47th (earnings) with 120 wins the following season.

Torres started riding mainly at Oaklawn Park from 2021 and was leading jockey both in purses and wins at Remington Park in 2022 ($1,742,742, 71 wins). He also topped the Oaklawn meeting in 2022/2023 with 100 wins, which included his first graded title in the Razorback Handicap, and became the second jockey, after Hall of Famer Pat Day, to reach triple-digit wins in a single season there. He concluded the 2023 season with an overall 164 wins, which included seven graded events, ranking 27th in wins and 12th in earnings in North America. In the 2023/2024 Oaklawn meeting, he defended his champion title with 82 wins and set a new local record of $ 6,181,368 in earnings.

Increasing his rides in Kentucky from 2024, Torres claimed his first G1 title in the 2024 Churchill Downs Stakes with Gun Pilot, with whom he subsequently finished fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint. Last year, he registered 149 wins in total, including four graded victories, which ranked him 29th in wins and 12th again in earnings in North America.

Australia

Craig Williams
	Date of Birth : May 23, 1977 ’23/’24 Season Record : 289 mounts, 34 wins / AUS$ 8,478,790 ’24/’25 Season Record : 389 mounts, 67 wins / AUS$ 12,987,970 Recent Career Highlights : ’25 Futurity Stakes (G1, Mr Brightside) ’24 Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes (G1, Kimochi) ’24 Cantala Stakes (VRC Champions Mile; G1, Mr Brightside) Participation in the WASJ : 11th

Australian jockey Craig Williams concluded the 2024/25 season with 67 wins and was ranked second in the Melbourne Jockey Premiership. Significant achievements during the season included five G1 triumphs—the Makybe Diva Stakes, the Cantala Stakes and the Futurity Stakes with Mr Brightside, The Everest with Bella Nipotina and the Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes with Kimochi. He also guided Cap Ferrat to his very first victory in the Hong Kong Derby in March. Well known to Japanese racing fans with 89 wins from 878 JRA registered rides, the seasoned jockey will return to Japan for the first time in three years and 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 more than 80 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), the Melbourne Cup (2019 Vow And Declare) and the Doncaster Mile (2022 Mr Brightside).

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 2022 World All-Star Jockeys where he finished an overall seventh (tied).

JAPAN (NAR Representative; Funabashi)

Masashige Honda
	Date of Birth : March 5, 1988 ’25 Season Record* : 385 mounts, 58 wins *NAR only Career Record : 12,365 mounts, 1,381 wins *NAR only Recent Career Highlights : ’24 Laurel Sho (Will Shine) ’24 Kawasaki Sparking Sprint (Praelude) ’24 Tokyowan Cup (Makotorokusanohoko) Participation in the WASJ : 1st

Masashige Honda secured his ticket to participate in the coming World All-Star Jockeys as the NAR representative for the first time by claiming this year’s NAR Jockey’s Championship title with a win, a seventh and a fourth in the three-race series held at Kanazawa Racecourse on May 26. The 37-year-old jockey will aim to become the first NAR-based jockey in 21 years to claim the championship title.

Born and raised in Tokyo in an environment alien to racing, Honda began riding horses at JRA Nakayama Racecourse’s junior equestrian club at the age of 11 under the influence of a friend and then entered NAR’s Racing Education Center in 2003. He made his debut as a registered jockey based at NAR Funabashi Racecourse in Chiba Prefecture in October of 2005 and landed his first career win on his 37th mount in April the following year.

Honda gradually accumulated wins and claimed his first major win in the Heiwa Sho with Night Baron in 2013. He has never finished out of the top five in the Funabashi jockey rankings since 2014, during which he was ranked second three times—in 2017 with 46 wins in 2020 with 65 wins and in 2024 with 74 wins. He marked his 1,000th career win (including wins at other NAR racecourses) in June 2022 and currently leads this year’s leaderboard with 29 wins at Funabashi as of June 22.

During his 20-year career, Honda has notched a number of titles at Funabashi and other NAR tracks—the Haiseiko Kinen (2015, Trovao & 2017, Haseno Pyro), the Rosita Kinen (2019, Grand Mona Heart), the Tokyo Nisai Yushun Himba (2019, Rachel Ooze), the Jungfrau Sho (2020, Rachel Ooze & 2024, Michino Ange), the Kamakura Kinen (2020, Leitch), the Yushun Sprint (2022, Praelude) and the Opal Cup (2022, Un & 2023, Labyrinthos).

He has won two listed NAR races open to JRA-based runners—the 2017 Japan Dirt Derby with Higashi Will Win and the 2023 Urawa Kinen with Diktaean. He has ridden in 26 starts at JRA since 2009, including a graded race in the 2024 Falcon Stakes (G3; Aim for Ace, 14th).

JAPAN (JRA, Ritto Training Center)

Yuichi Kitamura
	Date of Birth : October 3, 1986 ’25 Season Record : 311 mounts, 34 wins / ¥ 1,011,514,000 Career Record : 10,995 mounts, 953 wins Recent Career Highlights : ’25 Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby, G1, Croix du Nord) ’25 Aichi Hai (G3, Wide Latour) ’24 Hopeful Stakes (G1, Croix du Nord) Participation in the WASJ : 1st

Yuichi Kitamura notched his first Derby and classic victory with Croix du Nord in this year’s Tokyo Yushun after settling for second place in the Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2000 Guineas). He has marked more than 950 wins in JRA races alone and, as of June 22, stands 13th on the national leaderboard with 34 wins. In his 20th season, the 38-year-old jockey will make his first appearance in the World All-Star Jockeys and compete against outstanding jockeys gathered from in and outside of Japan.

Born and raised in Shiga Prefecture, Kitamura was initially interested in football as a young boy but, uncertain of continuing the sport due to his short stature, gave riding a try in junior high school which eventually led him to enroll in the JRA Horse Racing School in 2003. Debuted in 2006, his 14 annual wins that year more than tripled to 53 in 2008 when he claimed his first graded title with Schon Wald in the Daily Hai Nisai Stakes (G2).

Although his wins dropped to 41 mainly because of a five-month absence due to a fall injury in 2009, Kitamura registered graded titles along with more than 50 annual wins, except for 2014 and 2015, and boosted his personal-best to 90 wins in 2018 which placed him sixth in the jockey’s standings. His much-anticipated G1 victory came in 2019 in the Osaka Hai with ninth favorite Al Ain, followed by two more G1 wins that season—the Shuka Sho with Chrono Genesis and the Hanshin Juvenile Fillies with Resistencia.

Kitamura also enjoyed a rewarding season in 2020 when he added two more G1 titles, the Takarazuka Kinen and the Arima Kinen with Chrono Genesis, and concluded the year tenth in the national standings by collecting a total of 85 wins. However, in May 2021, diagnosed with more than eight vertebrae fractures from a brutal spill, Kitamura was ruled out of racing for more than a year. Following his comeback in June 2022, the Ritto-based jockey strived to return to form and steadily racked up wins—40 in 2023 and 59 in 2024 in which he claimed his sixth G1 victory with Croix du Nord in the Hopeful Stakes.

Kitamura’s overseas stints so far include runner-up efforts in the 2021 Dubai Sheema Classic with Chrono Genesis and the 2022 Hong Kong Cup with Danon the Kid. Meanwhile, he has notched four listed-race victories in the NAR racing circuit such as the 2018 Zen-Nippon Nisai Yushun with Nova Lenda and the 2020 JBC Ladies’ Classic with Fashionista.

JAPAN (JRA, Miho Training Center)

Keita Tosaki
	Date of Birth : July 8, 1980 ’25 Season Record : 374 mounts, 60 wins / ¥ 1,854,463,500 Career Record : 11,117 mounts, 1,629 wins Recent Career Highlights : ’25 Dubai Sheema Classic (G1, Danon Decile) ’25 American Jockey Club Cup (G2, Danon Decile) ’25 Hakodate Sprint Stakes (G3, Ka Pilina) Participation in the WASJ : 10th

Keita Tosaki, a three-time champion jockey, claimed his first overseas G1 title this year in the Dubai Sheema Classic with Danon Decile. The winner of the 2024 JRA’s Most Valuable Jockey (MVJ) title reached a milestone of 1,600 career JRA wins on March 22 when winning the Flower Cup (G3, Lesedrama) and is currently ranked atop the national leaderboard with 59 wins including four graded JRA events other than the Flower Cup. Tosaki’s best score among nine WASJ challenges so far is an overall second in 2017, but the 45-year-old aims for an even better position as WASJ champion this year.

Tosaki’s career began in 1998 at Oi Racecourse as a stable jockey for trainer Kazutaka Katori. He rode his first winner in April of that year, scored his 100th win in 2002 and landed his first major title in the Twinkle Lady Sho with Koei Sophia in 2005. The following year, he nearly doubled his wins to 123, and then rose to third in NAR racing with 212 wins in 2007, the same year he scored his first JRA win at Hanshin Racecourse. This began a remarkable streak of success as the four-time NAR leader in 2008–2009 and 2011–2012. Given the opportunity to race on JRA mounts, Tosaki scored his first JRA graded win with Glorious Noah in the 2010 Musashino Stakes and marked his first JRA G1 victory in the 2011 Yasuda Kinen with Real Impact.

After transferring to JRA racing in 2013, Tosaki quickly placed himself among the top five jockeys nationally with 113 wins, including a G1 title with Red Reveur in the Hanshin Juvenile Fillies. His success continued in 2014, when he led the national standings with 10 more wins than the runner-up and capped his remarkable second season with a victory in the year-end Arima Kinen aboard Gentildonna. He defended his champion-jockey title with 130 wins in 2015 and set a personal best with 187 wins in 2016.

Tosaki has ranked in the top seven on the national leaderboard ever since, except for 2020 when he was sidelined for five months with injury. His other G1 titles include the 2015 and 2016 Victoria Mile and 2015 Sprinters Stakes with Straight Girl, his first classic victory in the 2018 Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2000 Guineas) with Epoca d’Oro, the 2020 Champions Cup with Chuwa Wizard, the 2021 Shuka Sho with Akaitorino Musume, the 2023 Victoria Mile and Yasuda Kinen with Songline, the 2024 Satsuki Sho with Justin Milano and the 2024 Arima Kinen with Regaleira. His JRA awards include three Best Jockey for Races Won in 2014–2016 and five MVJ in 2014-16, 2022 and 2024.

JAPAN (JRA, Ritto Training Center)

Ryusei Sakai
	Date of Birth : May 31, 1997 ’25 Season Record : 367 mounts, 61 wins / ¥ 3,212,018,800 Career Record : 5,442 mounts, 574 wins Recent Career Highlights : ’25 Saudi Cup (G1, Forever Young) ’25 Neom Turf Cup (G2, Shin Emperor) ’25 Nagoya Grand Prix (Listed, Sunrise Zipangu) Participation in the WASJ : 3rd

Ryusei Sakai returned from a successful overseas campaign earlier this year in which he notched his much-anticipated first overseas G1 title with Forever Young in the Saudi Cup right after claiming the G2 Neom Turf Cup with Shin Emperor the same day. While missing his first Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby) title by 3/4 length partnered with Masquerade Ball, he is currently runner-up on the national leaderboard with 58 wins (JRA races alone) which include two G3 titles. The 28-year-old jockey will make his third consecutive appearance in the World All-Star Jockeys this summer in hopes to better his overall bronze finish marked last year.

Born in Tokyo as the son of a jockey-turned-trainer at NAR’s Oi Racecourse, Sakai graduated from the JRA Horse Racing School and made his racing debut in March 2016, riding for trainer Yoshito Yahagi who is well known for an array of overseas triumphs. The rookie made his grade-race debut in August in the Sapporo Kinen (16th) and concluded his first season with a total of 25 wins. In November 2017, Sakai set out to gain experience in Australia for a year and rode 16 winners during which he made his first G1 attempt in the 2018 Caulfield Cup (14th).

Back in Japan, Sakai claimed his first grade-race title in the 2019 Fillies’ Revue (G2, No One), the first of three graded victories he marked that season, and collected a total of 30 wins. He steadily improved his score to 42 in 2020 and 53 in 2021. His much awaited first JRA-G1 victory was in the 2022 Shuka Sho with Stunning Rose which was followed by the Asahi Hai Futurity Stakes triumph with Dolce More later that year. After capping off the 2022 season with 98 wins which placed him eighth on the national jockey leaderboard, he continued to enhance his game, ranking seventh with 107 wins in 2023 and fourth with 115 in 2024, during which he won the 2023 February Stakes and the 2023-2024 Champions Cup with Lemon Pop and the 2024 Takamatsunomiya Kinen with Mad Cool. He also grabbed major NAR titles such as the Mile Championship Nambu Hai in 2023 and 2024 with Lemon Pop and the Japan Dirt Classic and the Tokyo Daishoten in 2024 with Forever Young.

Under the expertise and guidance of Yahagi, the young jockey has shown impressive results overseas in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, France, Great Britain, Australia and the United States which include victories in the Godolphin Mile in 2022 and the 1351 Turf Sprint in 2023 with Bathrat Leon, and the Saudi Derby and the UAE Derby in 2024 with Forever Young let alone the aforementioned achievements earlier this season.

JAPAN (JRA, Ritto Training Center)

Yutaka Take
	Date of Birth : March 15, 1969 ’25 Season Record : 253 mounts, 34 wins / ¥ 1,281,699,000 Career Record : 25,137 mounts, 4,586 wins Recent Career Highlights : ’25 Takarazuka Kinen (G1, Meisho Tabaru) ’25 Meguro Kinen (G2, Admire Terra) ’25 Queen Sho (Listed, Awesome Result) Participation in the WASJ : 29th

Yutaka Take continues to produce impressive results as Japan’s longstanding top jockey—he has not missed a year without a grade-race victory in 39 years since his debut. This season, he is ranked 14th on the national leaderboard with 33 wins in JRA which include his 84th JRA-G1 victory with Meisho Tabaru in the Takarazuka Kinen. The legendary jockey, who has accumulated nearly 4,600 wins in JRA alone, will aim for his third champion title following 1992 and 2022 in the coming World All-Star Jockeys.

The third son of late trainer Kunihiko, Take started riding at 10 and has consistently achieved new milestones. He debuted in 1987 and immediately distinguished himself 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 a record 212 wins in 2005. In 2007, he became the youngest jockey to reach an unprecedented 3,000 wins.

His first G1 and classics win came 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 Ski Paradise trained by Andre Fabre. 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 races in the United Kingdom, France, Hong Kong and Dubai combined.

Take celebrated his 100th G1 victory (JRA, NAR and overseas) when he won the Mile Championship with Tosen Ra in 2013. He has a record of 365 grade-race wins in JRA alone, among which 84 are at G1 level. Horses he has partnered that subsequently earned Horse of the Year titles include Inari One, Oguri Cap, Air Groove, Deep Impact, Vodka, Kitasan Black and Do Deuce. Since his first JRA award title as a rookie in 1987, he has won 18 jockey titles for Races Won, 16 for Money Earned, 11 for Winning Average, nine Grand Prizes for dominating all three jockey categories in the same season, and three Special Awards.

JAPAN (JRA, Miho Training Center)

Norihiro Yokoyama
	Date of Birth : February 23, 1968 ’25 Season Record : 166 mounts, 23 wins / ¥ 396,666,000 Career Record : 21,650 mounts, 2,978 wins Recent Career Highlights : ’24 Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby, G1, Danon Decile) ’24 Nakayama Kinen (G2, Matenro Sky) ’24 Chukyo Kinen (G3, Al Naseem) Participation in the WASJ : 11th

Norihiro Yokoyama became this year’s recipient of the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Award (4th Horseracing Achievement Awards) for his outstanding decades of contribution to the horse racing sport. Now in his 40th season as a JRA jockey, the 57-year-old is second only to Yutaka Take in career wins (2,978) and continues to position himself among the top jockeys, becoming the oldest G1 and derby winner at the age of 56 in last year’s Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby). The veteran jockey aims to win the overall title in the renewed version of JRA’s international jockeys’ competition which would make him the first jockey to claim three champion titles.

The son of Tomio, a former G1-winning jockey, and also the father of active JRA jockeys, Kazuo and Takeshi, Yokoyama kicked off his career in 1986 and marked his first win at Tokyo Racecourse with Kioi God that April. He landed his first grade-race win in 1988 in the Winter Stakes (G3) and went on to capture his first G1 victory two years later in the Queen Elizabeth II Commemorative Cup with Kyoei Tap, which was just one out of eight graded stakes he marked that season.

He steadily accumulated wins and reached a milestone of 1,000 career wins (JRA races alone) in 2000, 2,000 wins in 2009 and 2,500 wins in 2014. He was ranked within the top ten on JRA’s national leaderboard between 1992 and 2012 and became the leader with 120 wins in 2010. He also earned the JRA Award for Best Jockey (Winning Average) title in 2010 and 2012.

Yokoyama’s 189 graded titles in JRA include 28 G1 victories such as the 1995 Mile Championship  and the 1996 Yasuda Kinen with Trot Thunder; the 1996 Tenno Sho (Spring) and the 1996 Arima Kinen with Sakura Laurel; the 1998 Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2000 Guineas) and the 1998 Kikuka Sho (Japanese St. Leger) with Seiun Sky; the 1999 Sprinters Stakes and the 2001 Yasuda Kinen with Black Hawk; the 2009 Tenno Sho (Autumn) and the 2009 Mile Championship with Company; the 2014 Takarazuka Kinen and the 2015 Tenno Sho (Spring) with Gold Ship; the 2009 Tokyo Yushun with Logi Universe; the 2014 Tokyo Yushun with One and Only; the 2010 Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks) with Saint Emilion; and the 2024 Tokyo Yushun with Danon Decile.

Among the eight World Super Jockeys Series and the two World All-Star Jockeys he has participated in so far, he has taken home the title twice in 1995 and in 2009.

JAPAN (JRA, Miho Training Center)

Takeshi Yokoyama
	Date of Birth : December 22, 1998 ’25 Season Record : 372 mounts, 56 wins / ¥ 1,202,270,000 Career Record : 5,966 mounts, 707 wins Recent Career Highlights : ’25 Tokyo Derby (Listed, Natural Rise) ’25 Haneda Hai (Listed, Natural Rise) ’25 Keio Hai Spring Cup (G2, Toshin Macau) Participation in the WASJ : 3rd

Takeshi Yokoyama reached the milestone of 700 JRA career wins on June 7 this year and is currently placed seventh in the national rankings with 52 wins. He has claimed two JRA grade-race titles and three NAR major titles so far this season including two legs of the Dirt Triple Crown—the Haneda Hai and the Tokyo Derby with Natural Rise. The 26-year-old jockey hopes to improve on his previous World All-Star Jockeys performances, 13th (2022) and 8th (2023), in his third bid for the title this summer.

Born in a renowned racing family beginning with his grandfather Tomio, a former jockey, his father Norihiro and elder brother Kazuo, both active jockeys, Yokoyama made his racing debut in March of 2017 and claimed 13 wins that year. While steadily compiling more annual wins, 35 in 2018 and 54 in 2019, he claimed his first graded title in the G2 Flora Stakes on Win Marilyn in 2020 and capped off that season with 94 wins, becoming the youngest jockey to top the Eastern Japan jockey rankings (6th nationally).

In 2021, Yokoyama scored his first G1 triumph in the Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2000 Guineas) with Efforia and captured two more G1 titles with the eventual 2021 Horse of the Year in the Tenno Sho (Autumn) and the “Grand Prix” Arima Kinen. Two additional G1 wins in 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. He capped off his most successful campaign yet that season with 104 wins and was ranked first in the Eastern division and fifth in the national standings.

Yokoyama rose to third in the national rankings with his personal-high of 127 wins in 2022 and finished third again with 126 victories in 2023 when he registered his sixth G1 title in the Satsuki Sho with Sol Oriens. Finishing sixth on the national leaderboard in 2024 with a total of 102 wins, he extended his streak of triple-digit victories to four consecutive years.

He also participated in the 2022 Shergar Cup, his first overseas endeavor, and marked a runner-up effort in one of his five starts as a member of the “Rest of the World” Team. He also rode in three overseas graded events in 2024 when he won the Korea Cup with Crown Pride and registered a fifth in the Breeders’ Cup Mile with Geoglyph.

JAPAN (JRA, Ritto Training Center)

Christophe Lemaire
	Date of Birth : May 20, 1979 ’25 Season Record : 239 mounts, 61 wins / ¥ 1,749,758,100 Career Record : 9,187 mounts, 2,031 wins Recent Career Highlights : ’25 Victoria Mile (G1, Ascoli Piceno) ’25 Aoba Sho (G2, Energico) ’25 Nakayama Kinen (G2, Sixpence) Participation in the WASJ : 10th

Christophe Lemaire renewed JRA’s history on April 26, registering 2,000 JRA wins in his 9,085th career start, and became the tenth jockey but the fastest to reach the milestone. While also racing abroad, given riding opportunities in India, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Australia and the United States this year, he ranks third in races won on JRA’s national leaderboard with 57 winners, including the G1 Victoria Mile with Ascoli Piceno. He has also ridden two winners in graded events abroad in the 1351 Turf Sprint and the UAE Derby as well as two winners in NAR’s major events, the Kumotori Sho and the Kanto Oaks. The 2018 WASJ champion returns for the series this year in his bid to claim his second overall title.

Since debuting as a regular JRA jockey in 2015, the French native has led all jockeys in Japan seven times and has 146 grade-race titles, including 49 G1 victories. He has partnered with multiple G1 winners, including Major Emblem, Satono Diamond, Soul Stirring, Rey de Oro, Almond Eye, Fierement, Gran Alegria and Equinox. In 2018 he registered 215 annual wins and annual earnings of 4.66 billion yen—surpassing the long-standing records previously set by the legendary Yutaka Take—while renewing another record with eight annual G1 wins. His JRA Award Best Jockey titles include seven for Races Won (2017-21, 2023 & 2024), four for Winning Average (2015, 2016, 2018 & 2024), eight for Money Earned (2016-21, 2023 & 2024), five for Most Valuable Jockey (2017-21) and two Grand Prizes (2018 & 2024).

Born in Chantilly and the son of Patrice, a leading jump jockey in the 1980s, Lemaire began as an amateur rider in 1996 at the age of 16 and turned professional after acquiring his license in 1999. He won his first G1 title in France in the 2003 Prix Jean Prat and was soon one of his country’s top jockeys and a rising star internationally with G1 titles in France, England, the United Arab Emirates, Australia, Hong Kong and the United States. Lemaire began racing in Japan in 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).

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