SHOTARO KAWASHIMA
One of my first blog entries, made back in mid-September, was a piece on the legendary trainer, Masayuki Kawashima. All four of Kawashima-sensei's sons work at the Funabashi Keiba track in various roles, with his second youngest boy, Shotaro, being a jockey riding for the MK Stable.

Shotaro was born in Chiba in October 1990, and made his debut as a jockey in May 2008. His first race was for his father's stable, while his first win came whilst riding one of the horses from the stable belonging to his brother, Masakazu Kawashima.

Three months after his debut, Shotaro became the youngest ever winner of the dirt grade Cluster Cup, which probably had a large bearing on him picking up the NAR 'Best Newcomer' award. With 136 race victories to his name so far, and an impressive win rate of almost 16%, the future doubtless holds a lot of promise. One thing is for sure, the pride attached to the Kawashima name in NAR racing is being suitably upheld by this quiet but tough competitor...