Japanese horse racing faces a crisis after its governing body has sacked or held back all of its trainee jockeys for being overweight or breaking rules on the use of mobile phones.
Applications for the Japan Racing Association’s (JRA) school have been falling for three decades, but every year at least three riders have qualified for a licence as a professional jockey. In 2026, however, there will be none: four of the cohort of seven have left the course and three more have been forced to repeat a year because of failures to meet the association’s standards.
“The racing school has traditionally educated its students on not only technical aspects but also on the importance of observing and thoroughly adhering to laws, regulations and compliance, and has made every effort to ensure that this is the case whenever any incidents arise,” the JRA said in a statement.
“But the truth is that the number of students who passed the 42nd jockey class has now dropped to zero due to dropouts and extensions to the training period. We take this responsibility very seriously.”
Some of the trainees failed consistently to control their weight. Others broke rules limiting the use of mobile phones, a violation which ended the career of the most prominent female jockey, Nanako Fujita.
Nanako Fujita celebrates after Kimon Boy winning at Sapporo in 2019
LO CHUN KIT/GETTY IMAGES
Thanks partly to a computer game called Pretty Derby, which features anthropomorphised racehorses modelled on real life thoroughbreds, racing is enjoying a boom among spectators, but recruiting jockeys is difficult. Japanese sporting institutions demand absolute commitment and discipline from their athletes, but such regimes are increasingly unattractive to young people.
Sumo has become dominated by foreign wrestlers, especially those from Mongolia, as Japanese youths turn away from the sport. Racing faces similar problems. In 1997 applications for the JRA Racing School’s jockey course peaked at 761, but by 2020 they had fallen to 111.
The association has compromised by relaxing the maximum weight for jockeys, from 49kg (7st 10lb) an increase of 2.5 kg. Trainees are now also allowed to wear contact lenses. As a result, 192 people applied for the latest three-year course.
Jockeys are sequestered on the Friday before a weekend race meeting to reduce the risk of illegal gambling or race fixing
But there are still limitations on where and when jockeys are allowed to use mobile phones. Officially, these are intended to prevent them from communicating with other people before a meeting, to prevent illegal betting or race fixing. But they are also part of the atmosphere of discipline and constraint which is said to be beneficial to the sport.
In many countries jockeys are banned from using their phones shortly before a race and in the jockeys’ room. In Japan, they are sequestered in special quarters from 9pm on Friday evening before a race weekend.
Violation of such rules ended the career of Fujita, who by the age of 27 had ridden 166 winners and who twice rode in the Shergar Cup at Ascot. In October last year she was suspended for using a phone in a restricted area. She surrendered her licence soon after.
Racing in Japan has become more popular thanks in part to Pretty Derby
“Going forward, we will strive to further improve the educational environment and enrich the curriculum so that students can properly understand and practice autonomy and independence while complying with the law,” the JRA said.
“[We will] also foster the ethical standards necessary to become a jockey and develop the high level of awareness required for the profession of jockey, which is responsible for ensuring fairness.”
AloJapan.com