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2008 News

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Third time's a charm! Mendizabal captures first WSJS title

Finishing seventh in 2004 and fourth in 2006, Ioritz Medizabal from France captured his first World Super Jockeys Series title this year in his third attempt with a total of 45 points, followed by Hong Kong contender Douglas Whyte in second with 42 points and Futoshi Komaki in third with 38. Defending Champion of the series and representing Australia, Craig Williams finished fourth acquiring 35 points.

Day 1 concluded with Mendizabal in sixth place with 17 points from finishing second in the Golden Saddle Trophy and tenth in the Golden Spur Trophy. The second day began with a third place finish in the Golden Boots Trophy, in which he was still trailing 7 points behind Komaki at this stage, and then a second in the final leg, the Golden Whip Trophy, earned him 28 points for Day 2 which connected to his overall victory. "Every JRA race I ran here was extremely worthwhile. This was my third challenge and I never dreamed of winning over so many outstanding jockeys. I'm so happy," Mendizabal said.

Meanwhile, runnerup Whyte said, "I'm fortunate to have many fans here and I'm happy to have been given the chance to come back and race in Japan. I'm glad I did better than last year's eleventh, but it's a shame that even though I tried hard I couldn't win."

Komaki, who led the ranking up to the final leg but was deprived of his chance to win the title by Mendizabal, commented, "I truly hoped that I could hold on to the lead till the end, since I was on top after the third race. Unfortunately the last race didn't go as well as I had hoped, but I'm happy to have been able to participate in this series, not to mention becoming third best in the world."

> Result of the 22nd World Super Jockeys Series (Day 2 & final)

> Result of the 22nd World Super Jockeys Series (Day 1)