INSPIRED by the popularity of the Shergar Cup in Britain, the international World All-Star Jockeys (WASJ) will be held for the 23rd time this weekend. First run in 1987, either at Tokyo or Hanshin racecourse, the event was moved north to Sapporo racecourse in Hokkaido for the first time in 2015.

The winner of both the team and individual championships is determined by a points based system awarded in four races held over two days. The mounts for each race are drawn randomly and the lottery took place this week.

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

Colm O’Donoghue will represent Ireland on Team WAS for the first time competing in the World All-Star Jockey’s Challenge. A familiar face in Japan, O’Donoghue has ridden under a short-term licence in Japan in 2011, 2012 and 2018 registering 10 winners from 92 rides. The highest profile of those winners came in the 2018 Group 2 Copa Argentina aboard Perform A Promise.

Making his second appearance in the WASJ representing the United States will be Julien Leparoux. The French-born rider will be remembered fondly by Japanese fans because of his partnership with Japan’s three-year-old Master Fencer in two of the Triple Crown races in the US this year. The pair finished sixth in the Kentucky Derby and fifth in the Belmont Stakes.

Lisa Allpress (New Zealand), Mickaelle Michel (France) and Karis Teetan (Hong Kong) fill the remaining places for foreign riders on Team WAS. All three are making their first appearance in the WASJ.

The two native riders from the NAR making the team of seven are Fumio Matoba and Tomohiro Yoshimura. 2018 NAR Champion Jockey, Yoshimura currently remains on top of the NAR championship with 184 wins.

Just two weeks shy of his 63rd birthday, Matoba was last seen competing in the WASJ in 2009 when renewing his own record as the oldest jockey to ride in a JRA race. His phenomenal career, spanning 47 years, has so far accumulated 7,200 winners from 41,300 rides.

The JRA team line-up is headed by defending individual champion, Christophe Lemaire, accompanied by leading riders such as Suguru Hamanaka, Keita Tosaki, Kosei Mura and Yutaka Take taking part in the WASJ for the 25th time. Fresh from captaining the winning ‘Rest of the World’ team in the Shergar Cup, Yuga Kawada will make his fourth appearance in the Japanese version.

The final member of Team JRA will be 22-year-old fan favourite Nanako Fujita, making her WASJ debut. Fujita became the first Japanese female jockey to ride in a Group 1 earlier this year. In June, Fujita won the Women Jockey’s World Cup in Sweden. The only active female jockey in the JRA, she represented Japan in the Shergar Cup as a member of ‘The Girls’ team.

Blast Onepiece enhances Arc appeal

The 2000-metre Group 2 Sapporo Kinen was the main race at Sapporo racecourse last weekend. Four individual Group 1 winners lined-up in an enthralling renewal with €60,000 first prize up for grabs.

The Sapporo Kinen is often used as a domestic based trial race for intended runners for the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. Group 1 winners Blast Onepiece and Fierement are both intended participants for the French showpiece. In 2015 Harp Star and Gold Ship finished first and second respectively before going on to finish sixth and 14th in the Arc.

Drawn from stall one, in the familiar Silk Racing Club colours Blast Onepiece raced in mid-division towards the rail. The four-year-old found the necessary racing room in the final furlong and a half, quickening smartly to split rivals and pass the line a winner by a neck. The lightly-raced son of Harbinger and 2018 Group 1 Arima Kinen winner has been priced as short as 16/1 for France’s most prestigious race.

Over a vastly inferior distance, Fierement made eyecatching late progress to finish in third just over a length behind the winner. He is a dual Group 1 winner over both 3200 and 3000 metres.