MASASHIGE HONDA
Continuing our series on jockeys, today we take a look at Masashige Honda. Born in Tokyo in March 1988, he got his licence in September 2005, and competed in his first race during the following month. Based at the Shibuya Stable at the Funabashi track, 'Mar-kun' rode his first winner in February 2006, and has clocked up well over 100 since.

In February 2009, he entered the record books after riding an outsider to victory to give a winning punter who picked the top three horses in order a huge 19,110,000 yen pay-out. At first, he assumed it was 1,900,000 yen! But the win brought a great deal of publicity for the young rider, bringing him a JRA ride later in the year.

He's proved that with the right horse he can do the business. So far this year, with the favourite underneath him, he's ridden to victory four times out of every fifth entry. This colourful character has even managed to garner the support of Sophie - unless, of course, he's riding against some other guy in black and yellow!