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The story
On November 15, the G1 Queen Elizabeth II Cup was run over 2,200 meters on turf at Kyoto Racecourse, and 57-year-old jockey Yutaka Take rode the No. 7 favorite Laughter Lines to a thrilling come-from-behind win, sweeping wide on the outside in the stretch. It was his 4th G1 win of the year, following the Yasuda Kinen, Takarazuka Kinen, and Kikka Sho, putting him within reach of sweeping G1s at four different tracks this season. On 5ch, users debated how he’s pulled further ahead in career G1 wins — after years of hearing “it’s only a matter of time before Lemaire overtakes him” — and discussed why he can still deliver results at 57.
Surpassing Lemaire, 57-Year-Old Yutaka Take Scores His 4th G1 Win This Year — Racing Fans Stunned: “This Is His Prime, Right Now”
The JRA’s G1 Queen Elizabeth II Cup was contested on the 15th over 2,200 meters on Kyoto turf, with Yutaka Take piloting Laughter Lines (3-year-old filly, trained by Ogasa) to a powerful closing win. With this masterful ride marking his 4th G1 victory of the year at age 57, racing fans can’t stop praising him.
While the favorite Camnyac set the pace up front, Take and Laughter Lines patiently held back toward the rear. Once shifted out wide in the stretch, the horse unleashed a full-throttle closing kick.
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
When's he gonna get his last graded-stakes win, I wonder
But this year he's pulling even further ahead, what gives
Well, it's the horse that's doing the running
What mainly declines with age is cardiorespiratory function and recovery speed, so it doesn't really affect jockeys that much
As for muscle strength, female jockeys are actually at more of a disadvantage than a man nearing 60, so age isn't that big a drawback
What's genuinely impressive about guys like Kazu (soccer's Kazuyoshi Miura) and Take is
that with all their accomplishments, they've kept their motivation up and kept grinding through brutal training
Age doesn't make training any less brutal, and both soccer and horse racing come with dietary restrictions, so the mental toll is no joke
He fell off The Tike at the Mainichi Sho, got seriously injured, then forced his way back way too soon and strung together a bunch of terrible rides, just torching his credibility
Iwata and Uchida earned trust in his place, and that's how he ended up sidelined
Even when he's the favorite in a trial race he'll calmly just use it as a prep run, and even when he gets blasted for it online he doesn't care, and he never panics in G1s either
Young jockeys these days who get rattled and clap back when they get criticized online will never reach that level
When he was sidelined, good horses just didn't come his way, so he couldn't win
Takarazuka Kinen (Meisho Tabaru, 2nd favorite) Hanshin
Kikka Sho (Going to Sky, 3rd favorite) Kyoto
Queen Elizabeth II Cup (Laughter Lines, 7th favorite) Kyoto
All he needs now this year is Nakayama (the Hopeful or the Arima) and the Champions Cup at Chukyo to complete a full sweep of every G1 host track in 2026
Sixpence — subbed in as a last-minute replacement rider and nailed it first try
Meisho Tabaru — G1 win spanning two generations of the same ownership
Going to Sky — trainer's first-ever G1 win in just his 3rd year training
Laughter Lines — trainer's first-ever G1 win after 22 years training
Makes no sense
Then goes and commits to a decisive all-out sweep from the outside in the stretch… you definitely knew, lol
Every race except the Yasuda Kinen, even the weather sided with him
Takarazuka → heavy rain right before the race suddenly wrecked the track condition
Kikka Sho → rain was forecast but never fell, good track condition
Queen Elizabeth II Cup → it rained but it didn't matter either way
For reference, Rose Bud was also great on a heavy track
People used to joke back then that she came with high-performance webbed feet
He's coming up on 40 years in his career, you know?
Are they secretly swapping in a new guy on the sly or something?
There's still one senior jockey ahead of him who hasn't retired yet, so Take can't retire either
Then out of nowhere he comes flying through with a closing kick from a completely different dimension
Wish he'd won yesterday's race too…
You clearly don't know what his actual prime looked like
He was way more insane back then
Kitasan Black retires — thought it was over
Do Deuce retires — thought it was over
2026 — his prime (yet again, lost count which time now)
Both his whip and his wit are razor sharp
Takarazuka → "My prime has finally arrived, huh (lol)"
Kikka Sho → "My peak has finally come"
Queen Elizabeth II Cup → "(My G1 win count is) still nowhere near enough"
Habu's kid is a daughter, after all (shogi legend Yoshiharu Habu, implying no heir to carry on)
Take, Habu, and Furuta, huh (Koji Furuta, legendary baseball catcher)
Though the self-discipline required must be brutal
Yutaka's said he's never had trouble with dieting
His younger brother dieted so hard his bones got brittle and he had to retire early
The next most recent one before this was Rose Kingdom's Japan Cup win 16 years ago
And before that, Vermilian
Background and Key Points of Debate
At 57, Yutaka Take is still an active jockey in Japan’s central horse racing, and this year he’s racked up four G1 wins — the Yasuda Kinen, Takarazuka Kinen, Kikka Sho, and Queen Elizabeth II Cup — putting a sweep of all four host tracks within reach. What split the thread was the question of age and jockeying: against comparisons to an aging soccer player, some pushed back, arguing that for jockeys, experience and mental fortitude matter more for winning than cardiorespiratory capacity or muscle strength, so age has less impact. The thread also brought up Take’s history of a fall and serious injury at the Mainichi Sho, after which he returned too soon, rode poorly, lost trust, and went a long stretch without getting top horses — meaning his current run isn’t simply a story of “still strong despite his age,” but also a comeback and reassessment after that slump. The contrast with his younger brother Koshiro Take, who retired early after dieting damaged his bones, also underscores how much a jockey’s career longevity hinges on whether they struggle with weight management.
*This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Geinou/Sports News+) thread “[Horse Racing] Surpassing Lemaire, 4th G1 Win This Year… Fans Stunned by 57-Year-Old Yutaka Take: “This Is His Prime, Right Now”.”
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