Hong Kong
Alexis Badel| Date of Birth | : | December 5, 1989 |
| '21/'22 Season Record | : | 611 mounts, 50 wins / HK$ 117,173,710 |
| '22/'23 Season Record | : | 517 mounts, 35 wins / HK$ 89,593,175 |
| Recent Career Highlights | : | '23 Hong Kong Derby (Voyage Bubble) '22 Chairman's Sprint Prize (G1, Wellington) '22 Queen's Silver Jubilee Cup (G1, Wellington) |
| Participation in the WASJ | : | 1st |
Alexis Badel capped off his third Hong Kong-based 2022/23 season, claiming major titles such as the Hong Kong Derby onboard Voyage Bubble and the Premier Bowl with Wellington, and was placed ninth in the jockey rankings with 35 wins out of 517 rides. Outside of Europe, the French-born jockey has also ridden in Canada, Singapore, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates and will make his debut on Japanese turf in this summer's World All-Star Jockeys event.
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 a listed Grand Prix du Nord title, 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 with 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, and while riding five group-race winners, he marked his personal best of 104 wins and was ranked 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.
From the 2016/17 season, Badel completed successful short-term stints in Hong Kong, including his first group-race victory in the 2019 January Cup (G3) with Simply Brilliant, and fully relocated to Hong Kong from 2020/21. He immediately scored 58 wins and was sixth in the Hong Kong jockey rankings and was sixth again in the following 2021/22 campaign with 50. Five of his 12 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.
Australia
Rachel King| Date of Birth | : | July 31, 1990 |
| '21/'22 Season Record | : | 469 mounts, 38 wins / AUS$ 6,141,125 |
| '22/'23 Season Record | : | 413 mounts, 31 wins / AUS$ 7,517,825 |
| Recent Career Highlights | : | '23 Tancred Stakes (G1, Arapaho) '22 Sydney Cup (G1, Knights Order) |
| Participation in the WASJ | : | 1st |
Rachel King claimed her third group-one title in the Tancred Stakes on board Arapaho in March, concluded the 2022/23 season with 31 wins and was placed 12th in the Sydney Metropolitan Jockey Premiership. The established English-born rider has experience riding in countries such as the United States, Turkey, Qatar and Oman as well as in Europe and will make her debut in Japan, representing Australia, in the coming World All-Star Jockeys series this summer.
King, whose father was an amateur jockey and trainer, was born in Waterperry, near Oxford, and aspired to become a jump jockey from a young age, riding point-to-pointers while gaining additional experience in flat racing at Mick Channon's stables during school holidays. After graduating from school, she rode as an amateur rider for Alan King, had a short-term apprenticeship with Mark Usher and worked for Clive Cox as an amateur rider and secretary before being employed as a stud secretary at Hillwood Stud.
In 2014, King moved to Australia to gain experience and, after working at Bart and James Cummings Stables for two months, became apprentice for Gai Waterhouse and marked a win in March 2015 which was the first of 17 she notched in the New South Wales district that season (2014/15). She topped all apprentices in the district with a total of 88 wins at the end of her 2016/17 campaign, nearly tripling the 31 wins she registered the season before. King concluded the season in ninth in the 2017/18 Sydney Jockey Metropolitan Premiership, which was highlighted by her first group-race win in the Newcastle Newmarket Handicap (G3, Lanciato).
Her first group-one win was in 2018/19 when she rode Maid of Heaven to victory in the Spring Champion Stakes and was placed 11th with 29 wins in Sydney. She rose to ninth (44 wins) the following season and further improved to third (64 wins) in her next 2020/21 campaign, establishing herself as one of the top jockeys of the region. In April 2022, she captured her second group-one victory teamed with Knights Order in the Sydney Cup—becoming the first female rider to claim the title—and capped off her 2021/22 campaign 10th on the Sydney jockey leaderboard.
Brazil
Joao Moreira| Date of Birth | : | September 26, 1983 |
| '21/'22 Season Record | : | 694 mounts, 132 wins / HK$ 182,602,240 |
| '22/'23 Season Record | : | 285 mounts, 86 wins / BRL 1,857,279 |
| Recent Career Highlights | : | '23 Grande Premio Brasil (G1, Raptor's) '23 Grande Premio Roberto E Nelson Grimaldi Seabra (G1, Kenlova) |
| Participation in the WASJ | : | 5th |
Joao Moreira, widely known as the "Magic Man," returned to Brazil last December and immediately scored six G1 titles this year—the Grande Premio Francisco Eduardo e Linneo Eduardo de Paula Machado (Quantify), the Grande Premio Juliano Martins (Figaro), the Grande Premio ABCPCC (Oriana Do Iguassu), the Grande Premio OSAF, the Grande Premio Roberto E Nelson Grimaldi Seabra (Kenlova) and the Grande Premio Brasil (Raptor's). He is also active overseas, riding in Hong Kong, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Dubai and Australia where he registered two G1 victories in the Sires' Produce Stakes and the Champagne Stakes with Militarize. The globe-trotting jockey will make his fifth appearance in the coming World All-Star Jockeys to aim for his second overall champion title since 2015.
Born in Curitiba in the southern part of Brazil, Moreira began his jockey career in 2000 based in Sao Paulo where he rode more than 1,000 winners. Relocating to Singapore in 2009, the Brazilian jockey secured four consecutive premiership titles between 2010 and 2013, during which he registered a record of 206 annual wins in 2012.
While renewing various records in Singapore, his move to Hong Kong in October 2013 proved to be another great success. Moreira claimed the champion titles four times there in 2014/15, 2015/16, 2016/17 and 2020/21 and renewed the number of wins in a single season three times, his personal best reaching 170 wins in 2016/17. His 24 G1 victories in Hong Kong include five with Able Friend and four with Beat The Clock. He also guided Rapper Dragon to become the first horse to win all three legs of the Four-Year-Old Classic Series in 2017. He is also recognized abroad as the winner of the Al Quoz Sprint, the Dubai Golden Shaheen, the Epsom Handicap and the Coolmore Stud Stakes in 2014 as well as the 2015 Newmarket Handicap and the 2017 Oakleigh Plate.
Moreira rode in Japan for the first time in the 2014 Yasuda Kinen and rode under short-term licenses in 2016, 2017 and 2018. He returned to Japan this year for the February Stakes with Canadian raider Shirl's Speight. He has marked 117 wins in JRA races, which include the 2018 Queen Elizabeth II Cup with Lys Gracieux. He is also well appreciated in Japan for his successes with Japanese-trained runners abroad including the Champions Mile with Maurice (2016), the Hong Kong Vase with Satono Crown (2016) and Glory Vase (2019, 2021) and the Queen Elizabeth II Cup with Neorealism (2017) in Hong Kong as well as the 2017 Dubai Turf with Vivlos.
Great Britain
Luke Morris| Date of Birth | : | October 20, 1988 |
| '22 Season Record | : | 521 mounts, 52 wins / £ 911,807 |
| '23 Season Record | : | 287 mounts, 21 wins / £ 274,766 |
| Recent Career Highlights | : | '22 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe (G1, Alpinista) '22 Yorkshire Oaks (G1, Alpinista) '22 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud (G1, Alpinista) |
| Participation in the WASJ | : | 1st |
Widely regarded as Britain's busiest jockey, Luke Morris registered his 2,000th career win in Great Britain in January this year, joining Ryan Moore, Lanfranco Dettori, Jamie Spencer, Jim Crowley, Paul Hanagan and Joe Fanning as one of the current jockeys accomplishing the same impressive feat. He was chosen as the recipient of the special 'Lester Piggott Honorary Award' last year, especially owing to his success with Alpinista in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. While having experience riding outside of Europe such as the United States, Canada and the United Arab Emirates, the 34-year-old makes his debut in Japan this year in the coming World All-Star Jockeys series.
Born in Oxford and relocating to Newmarket as a child, Morris comes from a racing background, his grandfather Joe Tate, uncle Jason Tate and cousin Ryan Tate all being jockeys. After graduating from the British Racing School, he became apprentice to Michael Bell and rode his first winner in November of 2005. While steadily tallying wins, his first big race victory came in the Northumberland Plate on Juniper Girl in 2007. He rode Gilt Edge Girl to notch his first group-race victory in the 2010 Ballyogan Stakes (G3) before landing his first group-one win with the same mare in the Prix de l'Abbaye de Longchamp four months later.
In 2011, Morris registered 62 wins in the Flat Jockeys Championship, emerging to 17th place on the leaderboard, and became first jockey for Sir Mark Prescott the following year. After being placed 10th with 83 wins that year, he notched 86 in 2015 and 84 in 2016, concluding both seasons in fifth in the jockey rankings, his personal best so far. While many top riders ride abroad during the winter season, Morris is known to stay and energetically ride in Britain, topping the All-Weather Championships in 2010/11, 2014/15, 2015/16, and 2017/18, and has had more than 1,000 rides combined annually since 2010.
His second G1 title was marked in 2016 when he claimed his second Prix de l'Abbaye de Longchamp, this time with Marsha, and went on to notch another G1 title, the Nunthorpe Stakes with the same filly the following year. He has enjoyed much success since, especially with the Frankel mare Alpinista with whom he has won the Grosser Preis von Berlin, the Preis von Europa, the Grosser Preis Von Bayern in 2021, the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud, the Yorkshire Oaks and the Arc last year.
United States
Umberto Rispoli| Date of Birth | : | August 31, 1988 |
| '22 Season Record | : | 593 mounts, 91 wins / $ 8,113,756 |
| '23 Season Record | : | 300 mounts, 48 wins / $ 3,440,180 |
| Recent Career Highlights | : | '23 San Clemente Stakes (G2, Anisette) '22 Rodeo Drive Stakes (G1, Going to Vegas) '22 Gamely Stakes (G1, Ocean Road) |
| Participation in the WASJ | : | 1st |
Italian born Umberto Rispoli has been based in Southern California since the end of 2019 and has thrived on the west coast, finishing 19th in the North American jockey rankings in 2020, 14th in 2021 and 23rd last season. He has captured several G1 titles in the United States—2021 Santa Anita Derby (Rock Your World), 2021 Shoemaker Mile Stakes (Smooth Like Strait), 2021 and 2022 Rodeo Drive Stakes (Going To Vegas) and 2022 Gamely Stakes (Ocean Road). In 2021, Rispoli made his classics debut in the Kentucky Derby on Brooklyn Strong (15th) and was runner-up in the Breeders' Cup Mile with Smooth Like Strait. The 34-year-old rider will represent the U.S. in his first World All Star Jockeys appearance.
Son of a former jockey and from San Severino Marche, Rispoli commenced his apprenticeship in Italy in 2005 and immediately topped the apprentice rankings with 82 wins that year. As first jockey for the powerful stable of Stefano Botti, he climbed to the pinnacle of the jockey standings for the first time in 2009 with 245 annual wins, smashing the longstanding record of 229 set by Gianfranco Dettori more than two decades ago. He repeated the feat in becoming champion jockey the next season while registering his first G1 victory in the Premio Lydia Tesio (Aoife Alainn). In 2011, he notched another G1 title in the Premio Presidente della Repubblica (Estejo) before relocating to France in 2012.
During the five years he rode for French trainer Mikel Delzangles, he rode more than 230 winners and landed major victories such as the 2012 Prix du Cadran (Molly Malone) and the 2014 Criterium International (Vert de Grece), as well as the 2013 Gran Criterium (Priore Philip) and the 2015 Premio Presidente della Repubblica (Cleo Fan) in Italy. Winter stints in Hong Kong from 2011 motivated Rispoli to race fulltime in the Chinese city from the 2016/17 season. He rode 31 winners in the 2017/18 season and was ranked eighth in the jockey standings.
In Japan, he has scored 40 wins in 254 JRA starts riding under short-term licenses in 2011, 2013 and 2014, and has scored graded wins such as the Nikkei Shinshun Hai (G2, Rulership), the Kyoto Kinen (G2, To the Glory) and the Takamatsunomiya Kinen (G1, Kinshasa no Kiseki), all in 2011. Rispoli also guided Japanese horse Rulership to victory in Hong Kong's Queen Elizabeth II Cup in 2012.
France
Marie Velon| Date of Birth | : | February 8, 1999 |
| '22 Season Record | : | 762 mounts, 67 wins / € 1,681,705 |
| '23 Season Record | : | 434 mounts, 41 wins / € 1,075,215 |
| Recent Career Highlights | : | '23 Prix Ganay (G1, Iresine) '22 Prix Royal-Oak (G1, Iresine) '22 Prix Foy (G2, Iresine) |
| Participation in the WASJ | : | 1st |
Marie Velon continues to produce successful results with Iresine with whom she claimed her second group-one title in the Prix Ganay in April. The winner of the 2020-22 Cravache d'Or, who has ranked within the top 10 in the national leaderboard over the past three seasons, stands 14th with 41 wins as of the end of July. She participated in the International Jockeys Challenge in Saudi Arabia last year and will ride for the first time in Japan in the World All-Star Jockeys where she will aim to become the first female jockey to win the championship.
Born in Lyon, France, Velon became interested in horse racing when she started going to the local racetracks with her family when she was five and began riding ponies. At the age of 12, her uncle and former jockey Antoinat took her to the Bernard Goudot stables in Chazey-sur-Ain near Lyon where she rode horses for three years. She joined the AFASEC horse racing school at fifteen and approached Alain de Royer-Dupre herself to become his apprentice where she made her debut in October 2016. However, she moved to Jean-Pierre Gauvin's stable in 2017 in search of more riding opportunities and marked her first win in September. She concluded the season with four wins out of 44 starts.
She significantly increased the number of wins and climbed to 35th on the leaderboard with 42 wins in 2018 and to 32nd the following year with 40 wins, and became one of the leading female jockeys. In 2020, she concluded the season with 84 wins, setting the record for most wins in a year by a female jockey—she was ranked seventh on the leaderboard and became the first female jockey to reach the top 10. In 2021, she won her first listed race in the Prix Ronde de Nuit in March and claimed her first group race in the La Coupe (G3) in June with Iresine. She was ranked 10th that year with 77 wins, the highest number of wins among female jockeys.
The year 2022 turned out to be a great season for Velon and Iresine, as the pair won two races in June and went on to win the Prix Foy (G2) in September, then captured their first group-one victory in the Prix Royal-Oak in October, with which she became the third female jockey to win a group-one race in France and the first French female jockey to accomplish the feat. While ranking ninth on the leaderboard with 67 wins out of 762 starts between March and October, she rewrote her own record for most wins in an entire year by a female jockey by accumulating 87 wins.
JAPAN (NAR Representative; Kochi)
Minoru Miyagawa| Date of Birth | : | February 10, 1982 |
| '23 Season Record | : | 231 mounts, 64 wins *NAR only |
| Career Record | : | 13,801 mounts, 2,197 wins *NAR only |
| Recent Career Highlights | : | '22 Fukunaga Yoichi Kinen (Lala Medaille d'Or) '22 Mikurodo Sho (Black Runner) '22 Tosa Shunka Sho (Marine Sky) |
| Participation in the WASJ | : | 1st |
Based at NAR's Kochi Racecourse, last year's leading jockey Minoru Miyagawa stands second on Kochi's leaderboard this season with 64 wins as of June 25. The 41-year-old earned his ticket to the coming World All-Star Jockeys as the NAR representative by winning the NAR Jockeys' Championship held on May 23 and July 6—he marked a second and two ninths followed by a win in the final leg, in which he also reached the milestone of 2,200 wins in NAR racing.
Born and raised in Kochi Prefecture located in Shikoku Island, his elder brother and wife are both jockey-turned-trainers at Kochi Racecourse. Miyagawa made his debut as a registered jockey of the Kochi Horse Racing Association and scored a win in his first career start in October 1999. Steadily accumulating victories and raising his ranking on Kochi's leaderboard since then, he joined the top 10 jockeys in 2002, top five in 2011 and finally captured his first champion title with 136 wins in 2022. Though being severely injured due to a fall accident in 2009, which ruled him out of racing for over a year and left him blind in his left eye, he marked his 1,000th career victory in 2013, 2,000th in 2022 and was awarded the NAR Grand Prix Best Jockey (Winning Average) title in 2021 and 2022.
He has marked numerous major victories at Kochi Racecourse, especially with Strong Boss, with whom he won the 2004 and 2005 Takeyoriwake Sho and the 2005 and 2007 Nijuyommangoku Sho. His partnership with Lala Medaille d'Or has also proved successful, as the pair won six out of seven starts in 2022 including the Nijuyommangoku Sho, the Fukunaga Yoichi Kinen and the Kuroshio Mile Championship.
He claimed this year's Sasaki Takemi Cup Jockeys Grand Prix in January, an annual event held at NAR's Kawasaki Racecourse and contested between top jockeys representing JRA and NAR's local racecourses, and will make his first appearance in JRA racing in the coming World All-Star Jockeys.
JAPAN (JRA, Miho Training Center)
Keita Tosaki| Date of Birth | : | July 8, 1980 |
| '23 Season Record | : | 405 mounts, 57 wins / ¥ 1,359,895,000 |
| Career Record | : | 9,591 mounts, 1,380 wins |
| Recent Career Highlights | : | '23 Yasuda Kinen (G1, Songline) '23 Victoria Mile (G1, Songline) '23 Lord Derby Challenge Trophy (G3, Industria) |
| Participation in the WASJ | : | 8th |
Keita Tosaki, a three-time champion jockey since switching to JRA from NAR ten years ago, claimed his 10th career JRA-G1 title this season with Songline in the Victoria Mile, which was quickly followed by another G1 victory, also with Songline, in the Yasuda Kinen just three weeks later. With five grade-race titles among 55 wins in JRA, he is currently ranked second in the eastern division while fifth on the national leaderboard and is close to reaching another milestone of 1,400 career JRA wins. Tosaki's best score among seven WASJ challenges so far is an overall second in 2017, but the JRA Award winner for Most Valuable Jockey (MVJ) of 2022 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 that year, scored his 100th win in 2002 and landed his first major title in the Twinkle Lady Sho with Koei Sophia in 2005. In the following year, he nearly doubled his wins to 123 then rose to third in the NAR's national jockey rankings with 212 wins in 2007, the year when he scored his first JRA win at Hanshin Racecourse. This began a remarkable string of success as the four-time NAR leader in 2008, 2009, 2011 and 2012. Given opportunities on JRA mounts, Tosaki scored his first JRA grade-race win in 2010 in the Musashino Stakes with Glorious Noah. He followed this with 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 wins more 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 marked his personal-best 187 wins in 2016.
Tosaki has ranked in the top seven on the national leaderboard ever since, except for 2020, when he was absent from racing for five months due to injury. His other G1 titles include the 2015 and 2016 Victoria Mile and the 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 and the 2021 Shuka Sho with Akaitorino Musume. His JRA Awards include Best Jockey for Races Won titles between 2014 and 2016 and four MVJ titles in 2014-16 and 2022.
JAPAN (JRA, Miho Training Center)
Takeshi Yokoyama| Date of Birth | : | December 22, 1998 |
| '23 Season Record | : | 384 mounts, 60 wins / ¥ 1,401,695,000 |
| Career Record | : | 4,428 mounts, 486 wins |
| Recent Career Highlights | : | '23 Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2000 Guineas, G1, Sol Oriens) '23 Spring Stakes (G2, Bellagio Opera) |
| Participation in the WASJ | : | 2nd |
Takeshi Yokoyama is currently placed fourth in the national rankings with 59 wins as of the end of June (JRA alone). He scored his sixth G1 victory with Sol Oriens in an outstanding performance in the Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2000 Guineas) before narrowly missing the Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby) title with the bay colt by a neck margin. He has also picked up three other graded titles so far this season. As the present leading jockey of Eastern Japan, the prominent young rider will make his second World All-Star Jockeys series appearance with an aim to perform better than last year in which he was a disappointing 13th.
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 made his racing debut in March of 2017, claimed his first win in his 42nd start and collected a total of 13 wins in his debut season. He steadily compiled more wins annually, 35 in 2018 and 54 in 2019, made his G1 debut in the 2019 Tokyo Yushun (15th) and reached a milestone of 100 career wins at the end of that season. In 2020, he 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).
Takeshi's breakthrough came in 2021 when he scored his first G1 triumph in the Satsuki Sho with Efforia and captured two more G1 titles with the eventual 2021 Horse of the Year in the Tenno Sho (Autumn) and the year-end "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 that 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.
While winless at the G1 level during the following 2022 season, Takeshi registered his 400th career win and capped off the year with his personal-high of 127 wins which placed him third in the national premiership. He participated in the Shergar Cup that year, 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.
JAPAN (JRA, Ritto Training Center)
Yuga Kawada| Date of Birth | : | October 15, 1985 |
| '23 Season Record | : | 257 mounts, 80 wins / ¥ 2,870,112,700 |
| Career Record | : | 11,858 mounts, 1,899 wins |
| Recent Career Highlights | : | '23 Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks, G1) '23 Oka Sho (Japanese 1000 Guineas, G1) (both with Liberty Island) |
| Participation in the WASJ | : | 6th |
Yuga Kawada continues to produce outstanding results this season, presiding on top of the JRA national rankings in striking rate and a few wins short of the leader in races won. Last year's JRA champion jockey added two JRA-G1 titles—the Oka Sho (Japanese 1000 Guineas) and the Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks) with Liberty Island—and the Dubai World Cup title with Ushba Tesoro this year, and registered his 1,900th career win on July 1. The 37-year-old will aim for his second champion title in the coming World All-Star Jockeys following 2019.
Born into a racing family—his father is a jockey-turned-trainer and his grandfather was a trainer at Saga Racecourse (NAR)—Kawada 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 victories. He has ranked consistently in the top seven since then, placing second four times in 2013, 2019, 2020 and 2021, and finally reaching the top with 143 wins in 2022 when he swept the JRA Award Best Jockey titles for Races Won, Winning Average and Money Earned to become the fourth Grand Prize winner.
His other classic titles include the Kikuka Sho (Japanese St. Leger) with Big Week in 2010, the Yushun Himba with Gentildonna in 2012, the Oka Sho with Harp Star in 2014 and Stars on Earth in 2022, and the Tokyo Yushun with Makahiki in 2016, making Kawada only the eighth jockey in history to claim all five classic races for three-year-old colts and fillies. He has also won the Yasuda Kinen three times and the Asahi Hai Futurity Stakes and the Takamatsunomiya Kinen twice, which are all part of his career total of 23 JRA-G1 titles. In 2021, Kawada won two overseas G1 titles with Loves Only You in Hong Kong and the U.S., the latter of which made him the first Japanese jockey to claim a Breeders' Cup title (Filly & Mare Turf).
JAPAN (JRA, Ritto Training Center)
Yutaka Take| Date of Birth | : | March 15, 1969 |
| '23 Season Record | : | 301 mounts, 40 wins / ¥ 1,255,965,800 |
| Career Record | : | 24,142 mounts, 4,431 wins |
| Recent Career Highlights | : | '23 Osaka Hai (G1, Jack d'Or) '23 Tulip Sho (G2, Mozu Meimei) '23 Kyoto Kinen (G2, Do Deuce) |
| Participation in the WASJ | : | 27th |
Yutaka Take continues to produce impressive results as Japan's longstanding top jockey. This year, he scored his 80th JRA-G1 victory in the Osaka Hai with Jack d'Or and became the oldest G1 winning jockey at the age of 54 years and 19 days. The legendary jockey reached a milestone of 4,400 career wins in JRA alone in February and has not missed a year without a grade-race victory in 37 years since his debut. As defending WASJ champion, he will aim for his third title in the coming series which would place him as the only jockey with three champion titles (including the former World Super Jockeys Series)—he is currently one of six jockeys to have won two titles so far.
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 355 grade-race wins in JRA alone, among which 80 are at G1 level. Horses he guided to victories and subsequently won 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 two Special Awards.
JAPAN (JRA, Ritto Training Center)
Christophe Lemaire| Date of Birth | : | May 20, 1979 |
| '23 Season Record | : | 320 mounts, 79 wins / ¥ 2,984,828,100 |
| Career Record | : | 8,016 mounts, 1,710 wins |
| Recent Career Highlights | : | '23 Takarazuka Kinen (G1, Equinox) '23 Tenno Sho (Spring) (G1, Justin Palace) '23 Dubai Sheema Classic (G1, Equinox) |
| Participation in the WASJ | : | 8th |
Christophe Lemaire continues to compile much success, most recently with the Horse of the Year Equinox on whom he won the Takarazuka Kinen and extended the colt's G1 winning streak to four following the Tenno Sho (Autumn), the Arima Kinen which he won last year, and the Dubai Sheema Classic in March. He reached his 1,700th JRA win on June 17 in his 7,985th career start, the fastest in JRA history, and tops the JRA's national leaderboard with 77 wins including nine graded titles as of the end of the first half of the season. 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 five times and has collected 120 grade-race titles including 40 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, Ritto Training Center)
Mirai Iwata| Date of Birth | : | May 31, 2000 |
| '23 Season Record | : | 455 mounts, 61 wins / ¥ 1,139,634,000 |
| Career Record | : | 3,435 mounts, 364 wins |
| Recent Career Highlights | : | '23 Kyoto Kimpai (G3, Elusive Panther) '22 Kyoto Shimbun Hai (G2, Ask Wild More) '22 Kyoto Himba Stakes (G3, Lotus Land) |
| Participation in the WASJ | : | 1st |
Mirai Iwata is a prominent young jockey who is now placed third in the national rankings with 60 JRA wins, which include the G3 Kyoto Kimpai with Elusive Panther in January. He is on pace to improve his personal record of 103 annual wins he scored last season. The 23-year-old will make his first appearance in the World All-Star Jockeys, in which his father Yasunari claimed an overall title in 2005—the event was then held under the name, the World Super Jockeys Series.
Born in Hyogo Prefecture as the son of active jockey Yasunari Iwata, he enrolled in the JRA Horse Racing School in 2016. He then became apprentice to trainer Hideaki Fujiwara and made his racing debut in 2019. He scored his first victory in his 36th start in March, rode his first graded start in the CBC Sho (10th) in June, made his first G1 debut in the Mile Championship (9th) in November and capped off his rookie season with 37 wins.
In the following 2020 season, Iwata reached a milestone of 100 career wins in December and more than doubled his annual wins to 76, which placed him ninth on the national leaderboard only in his second season, while marking three runner-up efforts in his 32 graded starts. He celebrated his 200th career win in December 2021 and increased his wins in a single season to 88 to be ranked sixth nationally. Though winless in his 51 grade-race starts that year, he guided 11th pick Soft Fruit to fourth in the G1 Queen Elizabeth II Cup.
In February 2022, Iwata claimed his much-awaited graded victory with Lotus Land in the G3 Kyoto Himba Stakes, his 98th graded challenge, and went on to mark a runner-up effort with the same mare in the G1 Takamatsunomiya Kinen. He added another graded title with Ask Wild More in the G2 Kyoto Shimbun Hai in May, though the pair finished 12th in the following Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby). He reached his 100th seasonal win on December 24 at the age of 22 years, six months and 24 days to become the second youngest jockey to accomplish the feat following legendary Yutaka Take, and concluded the 2022 season with 103 wins to place himself sixth again in the national standings. In the NAR racing circuit, he has notched three major titles, the Ladies' Prelude with Pretty Chance and the JBC Ladies' Classic with Valle de la Luna in 2022 and the Marine Cup with Per Aa this year.
JAPAN (JRA, Ritto Training Center)
Ryusei Sakai| Date of Birth | : | May 31, 1997 |
| '23 Season Record | : | 379 mounts, 54 wins / ¥ 1,131,639,000 |
| Career Record | : | 3,974 mounts, 344 wins |
| Recent Career Highlights | : | '23 February Stakes (G1, Lemon Pop) '23 1351 Turf Sprint (G3, Bathrat Leon) '22 Asahi Hai Futurity Stakes (G1, Dolce More) |
| Participation in the WASJ | : | 1st |
Up-and-coming jockey Ryusei Sakai claimed his third G1 title this year in the February Stakes with Lemon Pop and went on to land an overseas graded victory in Saudi Arabia in the 1351 Turf Sprint with Bathrat Leon a week later. He reached a milestone of 300 JRA-career wins on January 21 and is ranked fifth in the western division and seventh on the national leaderboard with 50 wins (JRA races alone) as of the end of June. In his eighth season as a jockey, the 26-year-old will take part in the World All-Star Jockeys for the first time.
Born in Tokyo as the son of a jockey-turned-trainer at NAR's Oi Racecourse, Sakai graduated from the JRA Horse Racing School in 2016 and immediately made his racing debut in March, 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 Fillies' Revue (G2, No One) in 2019, the first of three graded victories he marked that season, and pocketed a total of 30 wins. He steadily improved his score to 42 in 2020 during which he made his first Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby) challenge (4th, Satono Impresa) and to 53 in 2021. His much awaited first G1 victory was in the 2022 Shuka Sho with Stunning Rose and was followed by the Asahi Hai Futurity Stakes triumph with Dolce More later that year. He capped off the season with a personal-high of 98 wins and ranked eighth in the national jockey rankings.
Under the expertise and guidance of Yahagi, the young jockey has already shown impressive results in overseas stints in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, France, Great Britain, and Australia, including the G2 Godolphin Mile victory with Bathrat Leon in 2022 and the aforementioned 1351 Turf Sprint win earlier this season. He also put in a third-place effort in both the 2021 and the 2022 Prix de la Foret with Entscheiden. In NAR races, Sakai grabbed two major titles in 2020, one of which was the Japan Dirt Derby teamed with Danon Pharaoh.
