HIRONORI SATO
Now my 'translation team' is back on the scene, we can continue our series on Japanese jockey profiles once more. Today, we'll take a look at Hironori Sato...

Based at the Kawasaki Keiba track, Hiro was born in Yokohama in June 1979. Hiro's father was a horse racing fan, so he was exposed to Keiba from an early age. He clearly remembers being inspired by an NHK TV programme on racing, but his high school era was dominated by studying electrical engineering and playing rugby.

Courtesy Shinsuke Ogawa

Things started to come together after he became bored with studying and told his rugby coach he wanted to be a jockey. As it happens, the coach was a friend of Hiromi Yamazaki's. The pair tried to sway him away from the game, telling him how hard it was and that he was better to continue with his studies, but he came away even more determined to ride - he wanted to be in the photos on Yamazaki-san's wall, just like his heroes.

After shedding no less than 7kg in a short space of time, he entered jockey school, and ultimately made his debut in October 1998 with the Nakajima Stable. His first of 454 wins (so far!) came five months later, and in 2000, he moved to the Yamazaki Stable following the retirement of his former boss.

Dedicated to honing his skills, there was a time when he would take out 20 horses in a morning, with image training and visits to the sports gym on days off. This led to him being held up as a young star at Kawasaki at the turn of the millennium. Still not satisfied, he has now moved into the Joba arena, further improving his level of communication with the horses he rides.

In the picture, we can see Hiro's wife, Satomi, who is well-known in the equine world, and his son, Shoma, who's already making an impression in the Jockey Babies series, looking set to proudly wear the white/blue silks made famous by his father for the next generation of Keiba fans. He's not keen on the idea of his daughter Miku becoming a jockey, but I wouldn't rule it out just yet - with horses running this deep in the family bloodlines, you never know!