One of the most interesting weekends on the Japanese racing calender is here again. On Saturday and Sunday this weekend, Hanshin racecourse (located just outside Osaka) will once again host the World Super Jockeys Series - the 19th time this event has taken place. As always, the series sees the best of Japan's jockeys up against some of the best jockeys in the world, competing for the honour of winning the series through accumulating the most points in 4 rides. In each of the 4 races, 14 horses will face the starter, and to ensure that each jockey has a reasonably even chance of winning the series, each field is divided into four rated groups - the top chances (assessed independently) rated A, the next best chances rated B etc. Each jockey is randomly allocated one horse of each rank in each of the 4 races, so overall, each jockey will ride 1 rank A horse, 1 rank B horse, 1 rank C horse and 1 rank D horse. Below is a brief introduction of each of the 14 riders competing in this year's series:
The first representive of North America is Rafael Bejarano. Rafael began riding in Peru, before moving to the USA in May, 2005 where he has been quick to earn success. In 2004, at the age of just 22, Rafael rode 455 winners to become the leading jockey, by wins in North America. He has also been successful in major races, recently claiming the Breeders Cup Fillies and Mares on Intercontinental. This will be Rafael's first time in Japan.
The other representative of North America is Edgar Prado. Like Rafael, Edgar also began his career in Peru, and he has been one of North America's consistent jockeys over the past decade. From 1997 to 1999, Edgar was the leading jockey in North America by wins, and he too was successful at the recent Breeders Cup meeting - winning both the Juvenile Fillies and the Sprint. It is well known that Edgar loves travelling to Japan, and this is his 4th time in the WSJS - which includes once winning the series when it was held at Nakayama racecourse back in 1994.
The first of 3 representatives from Europe is Michael Kinane. Michael is competing in the WSJS for the 12th time this year, giving him the honour of being the jockey who has competed most in this series over the years. He is well known to Japanese fans because of that, but he was also in the headlines here this year when riding Electrocutionist to beat the Japanese challenger Zenno Rob Roy in the International Stakes in the United Kingdom this year.
The next European representative is Kieren Fallon, who like Michael Kinane, comes from Ireland. Kieren was the leading rider in the United Kingdom by both wins and prizemoney in 2004, and currently is the leading rider by prizemoney for 2005. He hasn't ridden in the WSJS for 2 years, but he is having a wonderful year, including winning both the 1000 and 2000 Guineas, and of course the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe on Hurricane Run.
The final representative of Europe is Stephane Pasquier from France. Stephane made his debut in France as an apprentice in 1994 and was successful in just his second ever ride. He is currently the 2nd leading rider in France on wins. This will be Stephane's 2nd time to Japan, after riding Policy Maker to finish 4th in last year's Japan Cup.
From Australia, representing Oceania, is Darren Beadman. Darren has been the leading rider by wins for the past 3 seasons in Sydney Australia - and in the 2004/05 season, his 186 wins made him the leading jockey in Australia. This year has been a very successful year for Darren, with one of the most impressive performances being his 6 Group 1 wins in less than a month (5th March - 2nd April). This will be Darren's 4th time competing in the WSJS.
Also representing Oceania, but coming from New Zealand is Leith Innes. Leith debuted in 1994 and in the 2003/04 season, he became the leading jockey in New Zealand by wins. Although he rode in Hong Kong during the 2004/05 season which saw his number of wins dropped, Leith still managed to win plenty of big races, including 4 Group 1s, 4 Group 2s and 3 Group 3s to still end up as the leading jockey by prizemoney during the season. Although Leith has ridden in both Hong Kong and also Singapore, this will be the first time he has ridden in Japan.
The final overseas jockey is Douglas Whyte representing Asia. Although debuting in South Africa, Douglas Whyte has put together an amazing record riding in Hong Kong in recent years. Not only has he been leading jockey for the past 5 seasons, in 2003/04 he became the first jockey to ever win more than 100 wins in one season. On July 10, 2004, he rode in Japan and charmed the Japanese fans winning 5 races (in which he has rides) in a row, including the main race of the day, the Group 3 Hakodate 2yo Stakes. This is his 3rd WSJS, and he tied for first in the series last year.
Of the Japanese jockeys, the Japan Racing Association (JRA) has 5 representatives. From West Japan, Yutaka Take was chosen as he is the current leading jockey by wins in the West Japan area, and of course, he also the leading jockey by wins in Japan overall. Well known even outside Japan, Take is having another fabulous year - maybe his best ever - picking up his 200th win for the season last week in the Group 1 Japan Cup Dirt on Kane Hekili. He also rides the undefeated triple crown winner Deep Impact, who is being labelled one of the best horses ever to run in Japan.
No. 2 with number of winners in West Japan is Shinji Fujita. This year Shinji won the Group 1 Yasuda Kinen on Asakusa Den'en beating the Hong Kong champion Silent Witness. Australians will also know of Shinji as the rider of Eye Popper who made the trip down to Melbourne to run in the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups, and finished a close 2nd in the Caulfield Cup.
As the 3rd and last respresentative of West Japan, Yuichi Fukunaga was chosen this year. Although he is only 4th on the leading jockeys table by wins, Yuichi has been very successful in big races this year - the highlight of the year for him was being the rider of the first ever Japanese trained horse to win a US Group 1 race, on Cesario in the American Oaks.
From East Japan, Norihiro Yokoyama has been chosen, as he is currently the leading jockey by wins. His wins this year have included 2 Group 2s and 3 Group 3 races - two of those on the promising middle distance horse Craftwork. He is also the regular rider of Admire Japan, who has been the only 3yo in Japan to get close to the unbeaten triple crown winner - Deep Impact.
The final representative from the JRA is Eiji Nakadate. Best known for his good rides on front running horses, Eiji has won 2 Group races this year, the Group 3 Chunichi Sports Falcon Stakes, and the Group 3 Cluster Cup.
The other jockey competing in the WSJS this year, is the representative of the National Association of Racing (NAR), Yasunari Iwata. The NAR is a racing organisation run by local governments of Japan, separately from the JRA. In recent years, there has been continued cooperation between the two organisations, and having an NAR representative is always a great feature of the WSJS. Yasunari is one of the most highly rated young jockeys in Japan, and his dominance of NAR racing in Osaka, Japan has been amazing. Still just 31 years of age, he has already winner over 2,800 NAR winners, and he has had great success when competing in JRA races, including a win in the Group 1 Kikka Sho (the Japanese equivalent of the St Leger) on Delta Bruce last year.
The WSJS will be held with 2 races on Saturday 3rd December, and 2 races on Sunday 4th December, and you will find a summary of the results here on Sunday after the placings have been finalized.
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