Take Tops In Japan

By Jude T. Feld

The Thoroughbred Times reported Wednesday that Yutaka Take, the only Japanese jockey to ride in the Kentucky Derby (G1), surpassed Yukio Okabe on July 21 as the Japan Racing Association’s all-time leader in victories.

Take scored with Hishi Once More at Kokura racecourse to register his 2,944th career victory on the JRA circuit.

According to the JRA, Take also has compiled 129 wins on Japan’s local circuit and 104 wins overseas.

Equineline lists Take, 38, with 21 career wins in the United States, including the 1991 Seneca Handicap (G3) at Saratoga Race Course with Senor Swirl. He finished 14th in the 1995 Kentucky Derby with Ski Captain and is winless with four Breeders’ Cup mounts.

This news comes as no surprise, as Take is a world-class jockey. He has won races all over the globe including France and Dubai.

What is amazing about this story however is that a guy born and raised in Los Angeles actually gave a leg-up to Take and watched him ride one of those 21 winners. That guy is me.

It all started in 1988 when Tomio Yasuda showed up at Santa Anita for a little working vacation. His entourage appeared at my barn office looking for horses to breeze and as luck would have it, Pat the Tenor was set to go a half.

Tomio relished the chance to work a horse on the Santa Anita oval and breezed the handsome chestnut a solid four furlongs in :48, coming the last quarter in :23 flat. The diminutive Japanese jockey, who was one of his country’s best at the time, was all smiles as he returned to the barn.

“He is a happy horse,” Tomio said through his interpreter. “He worked very easy. We have a good rapport.”

I asked Tomio if he would still be in the United States on December 29.

“Yes, we are here until the 30th,” he said.

“Well, you can ride him in the seven-furlong race then,” I told him. “I will name you on.”

His smile looked like the rising sun.

On race day, Tomio appeared in the paddock for the sixth race, sporting Robert Moreno’s Dodger blue racing silks, ready for action.

“I know you are a talented rider,” I told him. “This horse will give you a good three-eighths run. Use it at the end.”

Pat the Tenor, broke with the field and settled into stride for the long run down the backside. Tomio let him run a little nearing the three-eighths pole and the son of Bold Tropic (SAF) responded, picking up horses one by one. Although the duo mounted a decent closing charge, they had to settle for third.

“Good effort,” Tomio said dismounting, still a wide grin on his face. “He would like a longer race.”

I thanked him for a job well done and he weighed out and headed back to the jock’s room.

His interpreter found me in my box and told me Tomio wanted to invite me to dinner with the owners and some of our friends. We went to Pasadena’s famous Japanese restaurant, Shogun, where 10 of us dined on sushi, sashimi and teppan grilled steak and lobster with the saki and Suntori whiskey flowing like water.

It was a $2,500 party for Tomio’s $450 jock mount and when he had to ask his wife for his credit card, he asked his interpreter to explain why.

“Tomio spent $75,000 last month on parties with clients, he stated. So his wife made him turn over his credit card.”

I was hooked on Japanese jockeys right then and there.

Six years later, in December of 1994, a youthful Yutake Take appeared at my door looking for a horse to work. This time, it was Code Four Adam.

A California-bred son of Delinsky, Code Four Adam was munching grass at Rancho Porrata when my brother Bob’s late father-in-law, Bill McLaughlin, fell in love with him. He purchased the barely broken two-year-old for $3,000 and gave him to Ron Ellis to train.

Ellis was far from impressed with the colt and after training him a while transferred him to the care of Patty Sterling, whose father Larry was the trainer of the “White Tornado,” Vigors.

Code For Adam did little to endear himself to Sterling and it looked like “Grampa Bill” had bought a bum.

After a meeting of the minds with his father-in-law, my brother called me.

“You know about Bill’s horse,” Bob said sheepishly. “Evidently he’s not much. I know you should have had him in the first place and if you want me to tell him to (pull the plug), I will. But, as a personal favor to me, would you take this horse and try him? If you say he can’t run, Bill promises to give up the dream.”

Who knows what makes horses run? But whatever we did, agreed with Code Four Adam. His seven furlong work in 1:27 2/5 on November 24 gave us some hope and his :59 3/5 from the gate on December 18 showed he had speed.

Take worked him a half-mile on Christmas Eve, and rode him on December 29.

Breaking sharply from the gate, Take sent him right to the front. They made every pole a winning one, widening with every stride to win by five and a half lengths in 1:10 3/5. The winners circle was pandemonium with tons of Bill’s drinking buddies, family members and a slew of the Japanese press corps.

The next morning Take stopped by the barn to see how Code Four Adam came out of the race and I asked him to autograph some winners’ circle pictures.

“He never signs,” his interpreter, Aki, said.

This time was different, as Take grabbed the Sharpie I had in my hand and sat down at my desk, autographing every picture, his entourage, amazed.

“This is unprecedented,” Aki told me. “He is like Michael Jordan in Japan. He cannot go anywhere without people after him. It is a difficult life for him sometimes. It is hard for him to have fun.”

Take got up from my desk, smiled and handed me the Sharpie saying something to Aki.

“Yutaka would like to thank you very much for giving him the opportunity to ride a winner in the United States,” Aki said. He is very grateful.”

“Yesterday was a wonderful day,” I said. “He made so many dreams come true. It was really a lot of fun.”

“Better than Disneyland,” Aki relayed. “Yutaka say, ‘Better than Disneyland.’”

This entry was posted on Friday, July 27th, 2007 at 4:00 pm and is filed under Featured Articles. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.