Tom Queally to ride in World All-Star Jockeys event

Formerly called the World Super Jockeys Series since its establishment in 1987 and held over two days in late November or early December at either Tokyo or Hanshin Racecourse, it was given a new title and moved to the last weekend of August and to Sapporo Racecourse in northern Japan in 2015.

This year’s event welcomes six outstanding jockeys from France, Canada, Australia, Hong Kong and United Kingdom in joining one NAR (National Association of Racing; local public racing) jockey and seven JRA jockeys in their bid for the title.

A team competition was added to the regular individual contest since 2015, in which the overseas and NAR jockeys form “Team WAS (World All-Star)” and compete against “Team JRA” to attain the most points as a team.

The first two of the four-race series will be conducted on August 26th (Sat), while the third and fourth will be held the following day.

Joining Queally are Parisian Anthony Crastus (already a familiar figure in Japan), Eurico Da Silva (a three-time champion jockey at Woodbine), Australians Katelyn Mallyon and Kerrin McEvoy and "Magic Man" Joao Moreira.

Christophe Lemaire, Mirco Demuro and Yutaka Take will all feature in the JRA team.

Mounts are selected by a random draw with points rewarded for finishing positions and Queally will be hoping for better fortune than that enjoyed by Jamie Spencer (14th), Ryan Moore (14th) and Hayley Turner (7th) in the last three renewals.