TAKASHI MIZUNO 
Having made a gentle comeback from injury today, now seems as good a time as any to profile Takashi Mizuno. Known as 'The Prince Of Urawa', Mizuno-san was born in November 1972, the son of a trainer based at the old Takasaki racecourse. As it happens, his twin brother was a JRA jockey who has since become a trainer.

Anyway, having made his debut at the Takasaki track on 10th April 1990, Takashi won his first race on the next day. A further 2060 NAR victories have followed that one, with his win rate standing at 12.6%. In the meantime, he made his first of over 100 JRA appearances in October 1996, riding Dandy Tesio on that occasion - a horse named by someone that's obviously a big fan of Federico Tesio like me.

Takasaki Keiba, where Mizuno-san was leading jockey three times, closed its gates at the end of 2004, and so he moved to Urawa and the Hamamura Stable in the following year. He spent a month racing in Australia in 2007, and now belongs to the Kojima Stable at Urawa.

When not racing, Mizuno-san enjoys spending time on the computer. As with so many of the truly professional riders, he hones his skills in several different ways. To augment his regular training, he uses IT gadgets to record impressions of all the horses he rides to provide a useful reference source, enabling him to quickly remember a mount's characteristics. I wonder how many other jockeys do this, or something similar?

PS. Within three days of making his comeback, 'The Prince' had already made a return to winning form. He then proved it was no fluke by winning again on the following two days...