2019 JRA Awards

BEST TWO-YEAR-OLD COLT

BEST TWO-YEAR-OLD FILLY

BEST THREE-YEAR-OLD COLT

BEST THREE-YEAR-OLD FILLY

BEST OLDER COLT OR HORSE

BEST SPRINTER OR MILER

BEST DIRT HORSE

BEST STEEPLECHASE HORSE

BEST TRAINER (RACES WON)

Takayuki Yasuda climbed to the top of the national standings for the first time, landing the 2019 Best Trainer for Races Won after his annual wins soared from his personal best of 49 set in 2018 to 64. In his 26th year as a trainer, Yasuda saddled winners of four grade-race events—Diatonic in the Swan Stakes (G2), Trois Etoiles in the Keisei Hai Autumn Handicap (G3) and Danon Smash in the Keeneland Cup (G3) and the Silk Road Stakes (G3)—as well as major NAR titles; the Sparking Lady Cup with Fashionista, and the Hyogo Gold Trophy with Due Process. Although winless at the G1 level, he registered a second-place finish with Cadence Call in the NHK Mile Cup.

A Kyoto native with no racing-related background, Yasuda first pursued a career as a jockey, debuting in 1972, and claimed his first major victory three years later. He reached the top ten in the national rankings for the first time in 1990, when he was placed sixth, before capturing his first major G1 title in the 1991 Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2000 Guineas) aboard Tokai Teio, which was followed by another major triumph, the Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby) with the same colt.

Yasuda opened his yard in 1995 after obtaining his trainer’s license the previous year and won his first graded race with Silver Cockpit in the 2000 Kisaragi Sho (G3). After ascending to seventh in the standings with 39 wins (JRA only) in 2009, he captured his first G1 victory in the 2010 Japan Cup Dirt with the exceptional mount Transcend. Together, they notched up victory in the February Stakes and another Japan Cup Dirt title the following year. In between the two G1 wins, the horse finished second to Victoire Pisa in the 2011 Dubai World Cup, with many astonished by the one-two Japanese finish.

By the end of 2019, the seasoned trainer had pocketed 38 grade-race wins in which 11 were at the highest level. Other major winners included 2011 Sprinters Stakes and 2012 Takamatsunomiya Kinen winner Curren Chan, and 2013 February Stakes champion Grape Brandy; however, the most extraordinary and lucrative star from his stables until now was 2013 Horse of the Year Lord Kanaloa. The King Kamehameha horse claimed two consecutive Sprinter Stakes (2012, 2013), the Takamatsunomiya Kinen (2013), the Yasuda Kinen (2013) and not only became the first Japanese runner to claim the Hong Kong Sprint in 2012 but succeeded in defending the title the following year.

BEST TRAINER (WINNING AVERAGE) & (TRAINING TECHNIQUE)

Mitsumasa Nakauchida claimed two of JRA’s annual awards for trainers; his second title for Best Trainer (Winning Average) with a strike rate of 22.5% and his first award for Best Trainer (Training Technique) which is judged based on points acquired by number of annual starts, winners and purses. He also concluded the season finishing fourth on the national leaderboard, reaching a personal best of 48 wins, including eight grade-race titles, and was close to winning a G1 title three times, finishing second in the Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2000 Guineas) with Velox, the Tenno Sho (Autumn) and the Mile Championship with Danon Premium.

Raised on a yearling farm run by his father near Ritto Training Center, Nakauchida started horseback riding in his early teens and left Japan to study abroad when still a high-school student. Beginning his overseas school days in Ireland, he moved to England to study Equine Business at West Oxfordshire College while gaining on-the-job training, exercising for top trainers such as Richard Hannon Sr. and Christiane Head-Maarek. He won two races as an amateur rider in England before graduating from college and moving to the U.S.A. to work under Hall of Famer Robert Frankel. He deepened his knowledge as a horseman at major training farms such as Darley and Coolmore, where he learned the art of breaking in and laying the groundwork with young horses.

Returning to Japan and graduating from JRA’s Horse Racing School, Nakauchida became assistant trainer to Mitsuru Hashida in 2007, acquired his training license in 2012, worked as apprentice for Hideaki Fujiwara and then opened his own yard in 2014, scoring seven wins. He tripled his score to 23 in 2015 and landed his first grade-race title with Vous Etes Jolie in the Niigata Nisai Stakes in 2016, when his win total rose to 31, 20th on JRA’s national leaderboard. He reached his 100th career win on October 15, 2017, making him the fastest trainer in JRA history to reach this milestone, and won his first JRA Award for Best Trainer (Winning Average) that year after concluding the season with 46 wins, eighth on the national leaderboard, which included his first G1 victory with Danon Premium in the Asahi Hai Futurity Stakes and marking a win rate of 21.4%.

BEST TRAINER (MONEY EARNED)

Yoshito Yahagi won his first JRA Award for Best Trainer (Money Earned) title with 2,214,248,900 yen earned during 2019 while concluding the season with 58 wins and placed second on the national leaderboard. The two-time champion trainer enjoyed success both in Japan and abroad, dominating JRA’s two Grand Prix G1 titles, the Takarazuka Kinen and the Arima Kinen, as well as the prestigious Cox Plate in Australia with Lys Gracieux. Also with talented three-year-old Loves Only You and two-year-old Contrail, winners of the Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks) and the Hopeful Stakes respectively, Yahagi is well equipped to aim for further success in the current 2020 season.

The son of Kazuto Yahagi, a former trainer at NAR’s Oi Racecourse, Yoshito has always been around horses. At first, his father did not approve of him becoming a horse trainer, but he finally agreed on the condition that Yahagi would strive to become a JRA trainer and that he would first learn the art of training outside Japan. His father’s advice helped him to acquire important training basics while spending time in Australia, where he worked at Randwick in New South Wales and at Flemington, Victoria and Toowoomba in Queensland, after which he trained in Britain. Upon his return to Japan, he introduced the interval training method while helping at his father’s yard, then enrolled in the stable employee course at JRA Horse Racing School.

After working as a stable lad, Yahagi became an assistant trainer for a number of JRA trainers, including Sadataka Sugaya, from whom he learned the business side of running a successful training yard. Although it took him more than 10 years to obtain his license, it was not long before his unique training philosophy and staff management proved effective. He made the top 10 in the national rankings in his fourth season as a trainer, achieved the runner-up position in the following year and maintained his position within the top10 over the past eight seasons, during which he was champion trainer in 2014 and 2016 and presented with the JRA Award for Best Trainer (Races Won) title.

Yahagi’s other notable horses include 2010 Best Two-Year-Old Colt Grand Prix Boss, 2012 Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby) winner Deep Brillante, 2016 Dubai Turf victor Real Steel and 2018 Yasuda Kinen champion Mozu Ascot.

BEST JOCKEY (RACES WON) & (MONEY EARNED) & MOST VALUABLE JOCKEY

Christophe Lemaire continued to dominate the JRA racing scene during 2019, claiming his third consecutive Best Jockey title for Races Won by a comfortable 12-win margin and his fourth title for Money Earned, while missing by a slim margin Winning Average, which denied him a second consecutive title for the Grand Prize. The season was highlighted by his successes with 2018 Horse of the Year Almond Eye in the Dubai Turf and the Tenno Sho (Autumn), which attracted much attention both within and outside Japan, while he also demonstrated his outstanding riding skills in the Oka Sho (Japanese 1000 Guineas, G1, Gran Alegria), the Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2000 Guineas, G1, Saturnalia), the Tenno Sho (Spring) (G1, Fierement) and the Sprinters Stakes (G1, Tower of London). He also claimed NAR’s top graded title, the Kashiwa Kinen, with Gold Dream.

Since debuting as a regular JRA jockey in 2015, the French native has already become Japan national leader three times and collected 72 grade-race titles, 22 of which were at the highest level, and has partnered with multiple-G1 winners such as Major Emblem, Satono Diamond, Soul Stirring, Rey de Oro, Almond Eye and Fierement. He renewed a number of JRA records in 2018, during which he exceeded long-reigning Yutaka Take in annual wins (215), annual G1 titles (eight) and annual earnings (4,660,235,000 yen). His JRA Award Best Jockey titles so far include three each for Races Won (2017-19) and Winning Average (2015, 2016, 2018), four for Money Earned (2016-19) and one for Grand Prize (2018), as well as three for Most Valuable Jockey (2017-19).

Born in Chantilly, 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 as well as 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 in the Arima Kinen (2005 Heart’s Cry) followed by the Queen Elizabeth II Commemorative Cup (2008 Little Amapola), the Japan Cup Dirt (2008 Kane Hekili, 2013 Belshazzar) and the Japan Cup (2009 Vodka).

BEST JOCKEY (WINNING AVERAGE)

Yuga Kawada claimed his third JRA Award for Best Jockey (Winning Average) following his victories in 2013 and 2014. He concluded his 2019 season with a career-high 15 JRA graded wins, which included his G1 Champions Cup title with Chrysoberyl. He also turned in five runner-up efforts and four thirds in G1 events, which brought him to a close second in Money Earned. He was also second in Races Won by scoring a personal-best 152 wins. He captured his first champion title in the World All-Star Jockeys Series held in August and also made overseas expeditions, leading the Rest of the World team to victory as captain of the Shergar Cup in Great Britain and coming in fifth in his first International Jockeys’ Championship in Hong Kong.

Born into a racing family—his father and uncle are jockeys-turned-trainers and his grandfather was a trainer at Saga Racecourse (NAR)—Yuga started learning 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, gradually accumulating 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 (Japanese 2000 Guineas), marking 73 wins that included six grade-race victories. His ranking was boosted to ninth in 2010, with 83 wins, and his annual wins reached three-digit figures for the first time the following year, which placed him third on the leaderboard with 109 wins. He has been consistently ranked within the top seven since then, his highest ranking being a second in 2013 and 2019.

His G1 wins so far include the Kikuka Sho (Japanese St. Leger) with Big Week in 2010; the Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks) with Gentildonna in 2012; the Oka Sho (Japanese 1000 Guineas) with Harp Star and the Queen Elizabeth II Cup with Lachesis in 2014; the Yasuda Kinen with Maurice and the Takarazuka Kinen with Lovely Day in 2015; 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; the Yasuda Kinen with Satono Aladdin and the Asahi Hai Futurity Stakes with Danon Premium in 2017; and the Takamatsunomiya Kinen and the Sprinters Stakes with Fine Needle in 2018.

BEST JOCKEY (NEWCOMER)

Arata Saito achieved a personal goal by claiming the JRA Award title for Best Jockey (Newcomer) with 42 wins in his first season as a JRA jockey.

The son of two-time G1 winning trainer Makoto Saito, Arata grew up in Ibaraki Prefecture riding horses. He won the JRA’s national pony racing championship “Jockey Babies” in 2013 and enrolled in the Horseracing School three years later. Upon graduation last February, Arata was presented with a special award by the Irish Ambassador given to individuals excelling in riding techniques.

Instead of heading straight to his father’s yard at the Miho Training Center, Arata decided to undergo an apprenticeship with trainer Takayuki Yasuda at Ritto Training Center, making his debut on March 2nd, 2019. In his tenth career start the next day, he marked his first win which was followed by another on the same race card, this time on a runner trained by his father. Steadily accumulating wins, he cleared the minimum 30-win mark required to qualify for the JRA Award for Best Jockey (Newcomer) on October 6. His first and only graded ride was in July in the G3 Hakodate Kinen where he rode 13th-pick Black Bago to a 14th-place finish.

BEST STEEPLECHASE JOCKEY

In his ninth year as a jockey, Kazuma Mori claimed his first JRA Award for Best Steeplechase Jockey, capturing the champion title in jump racing with 15 wins. His competent performances at the graded level during the season include winning the Kokura Summer Jump (J-G3) with Meisho Dassai, marking three runner-up efforts in the Tokyo High-Jump (J-G2), the Tokyo Jump Stakes (J-G3) and the Niigata Jump Stakes (J-G3), and coming in third in two G1 events, the Nakayama Daishogai and the Nakayama Grand Jump.

Born in Kanagawa Prefecture, Mori entered the JRA Horseracing School in 2008, began his career as a flat race jockey from the Masahiro Matsunaga stable at Ritto Training Center in 2011 and landed his first win in his ninth start. Concluding his debut season with four wins, he started riding steeplechases from the following year and finished fifth in his first graded start, the Kokura Summer Jump, with Nobori Duke.

Mori accumulated more wins over the years and started to distinguish himself as a steeplechase jockey, claiming the 2015 Kyoto Jump Stakes (J-G3) with Dantsu Mutant and coming in fourth in the J-G1 Nakayama Daishogai with the same horse, despite being posted only ninth favorite. He captured his second graded title in the Niigata Jump Stakes (J-G3) with Good Sky in 2017 and was among the top jockeys in J-G1 jump events, finishing third in the 2016 Nakayama Grand Jump with seventh-pick Meisho Arawashi and in the 2018 Nakayama Daishogai with sixth-choice Meiner Prompt.

While steeplechase races started to account for the majority of his rides from 2018, he continued to compete in flat races. Though without any graded wins, he has accumulated 29 career wins in flat racing and was runner-up in three graded events, the 2013 Kobe Shimbun Hai (G2), the 2014 Niigata Daishoten (G3) and the 2015 Sekiya Kinen (G3). He has also ridden in G1 flat races, taking part in the Takamatsunomiya Kinen (G1) with Rhein Spirit for three consecutive years from 2017, with 10th in 2019 his best result. He was invited to take part in the Prix Longines Future Racing Stars for young jockeys in June 2014, which took place at Chantilly Racecourse in France, and rode Usbeke to sixth place.

JRA EQUINE CULTURE AWARD

The JRA Equine Culture Award recognizes noteworthy achievements and contributions to Japanese equine culture. Nominations for the 2019 award included horse-related cultural events and publications that were respectively held or published between November 2018 and October 2019.

Winner: The Royal Family

Recipient: Kazumasa Hayami

Results of the 2019 JRA Awards (Total Votes: 274)

 

2019 JRA Trainer Ranking

2019 JRA Jockey Ranking