Joe the Jet

So styled on his own website, right about now, Kanichiro (Joe) Fujii could well be lazing by a pool in France, after being treated to a slap up meal by his trainee-chef sister.

Joe, who regularly rides for the Burridge Stables, is taking a week off to visit France, family and – in particular – the training stables of Criquette Head at Chantilly, following an introduction from friend and co-jockey Ryan Plumb.

Joe’s hometown is Nara, just outside Osaka in Japan, although he hasn’t lived there for many a year. He was the first in his family to become involved in the world of horses and as a child rode for fun but by the age of twelve was avidly watching races and longing to train as a jockey. It’s a hard route in his native Japan with harsh weight restrictions (for example, around four hundred youngsters apply for just ten apprenticeships on the JRA training circuit there) so Joe decided to try his luck in Australia.

By age 15 Joe was enrolled in a school for apprentices in Murwillumbah on the Gold Coast and picking up experience riding track work. A short spell in Singapore found him learning from the bottom up, working for Malcolm Thwaite first as a syce and later again as a track rider and then it was back to Australia, Sydney this time, where he worked for several different trainers picking up rides in the bigger races. The Australians took to Joe and he admits he’s lucky to have been supported by both his family at home and his adopted “family” over there.

Joe completed his apprenticeship last year and returned to Singapore where he rode a winner on his first day here! He now rides mainly for the Takaoka (Jade, Optimum Note and Ghi Beads) and Burridge stables for whom he has notched up some success, particularly with Trigger Express, as well as recent rides on Who is Jimmy and Mighty Rajah.

When his contract finishes at the end of August, Joe tells me he’s looking forward to heading back to Japan – not only to the new experience of riding professionally there for the first time, but to catching up with his long-time girlfriend as well. While the Burridge family wish him well, there’s no doubt he’ll be missed here in Singapore.

It's a Plumb Job