TOM Queally will travel to Japan at the end of the month to compete in the World All-Star Jockeys competition.

Inspired by the popularity of the Shergar Cup in the UK, the jockeys challenge will be held on the 26th and 27th of August. First run in 1987, either on Tokyo or Hanshin racecourse, it was moved north to Sapporo racecourse in Hokkaido for the first time in 2015.

The winner of both the team and individual contests is determined by a points based system awarded in four races held over two days. The mounts for each race are drawn randomly and this will take place on the 23rd August.

A team of six international riders plus one rider from the NAR (Japanese National Association of Racing) will form Team World All-Star (WAS). Team JRA will consist of seven Japanese based riders from the Miho and Ritto training centres.

For Team WAS, Queally will be joined by Australians Kerrin McEvoy and Katelyn Mallyon, who will not only be making their first appearance in the WASJ but it will also be their first time riding in Japan.

Canadian-based jockey, Eurico Da Silva will be making his first appearance in the WASJ having ridden just once in Japan when riding in the Japan Cup in 2014.

French rider Anthony Crastus of France is the only other European on the international team. Both he and Queally will be competing in the WASJ for the first time.

No stranger to racing in Japan, Crastus rode for three consecutive spells in the JRA from 2009-2011. He rode 22 winners from 310 rides in that time, including two graded race wins.

It will be Queally’s second time riding in Japan. The Irishman rode for a brief period between January and February in 2012 when he partnered two winners from 58 rides.

Finally for the international riders team is Hong Kong’s leading jockey Joao Moreira, now a household name within Japanese racing circles given his regular trips to the land of the rising sun.

He has also struck up a successful affiliation with many of the successful Japanese raids to Hong Kong.

Most recently Moreira has partnered Japanese-trained Maurice, Satono Crown and Neorealism to Group 1 successes in Hong Kong.

Moreira walked away as the leading rider in his debut year in the WASJ in 2015. He finished in fifth place at last year’s event.

The JRA team line-up is headed by defending individual champion Mirco Demuro, accompanied by leading riders such as Christophe Lemaire, Keita Tosaki and Yutaka Take.