Celebrating a Marriage Announcement! Popular jockey Nanako Fujita “told this magazine just before her debut” about her unexpected suffering and the person she admires.

The horse racing world is overflowing with congratulations.

On July 10, popular jockey Nanako Fujita (26) announced her marriage. The man she is marrying is a JRA (Japan Racing Association) employee in his 20s. They began dating around fall of last year through their shared hobby of game playing, and decided to marry because they were attracted to the man’s calm personality. Fujita made the following comments in response to a representative interview with the press.

Many of my friends in my hometown (Editor’s note: Kita-Soma County, Ibaraki Prefecture) got married, and naturally I felt the desire to ‘get married too. When I decided to get married, retirement did not cross my mind at all. I still have to work even harder as a jockey, and there are many things I have yet to accomplish.

Fujita has been in the spotlight as the first female JRA jockey in 16 years. In February 2004, this magazine closely followed her at the JRA Mihura Training Center in Inashiki-gun, Ibaraki Prefecture, just before her debut. We would like to reproduce the article and introduce some of the unexpected anguish she spoke of at the time and the person she admired.

‘His fur is beautiful and ……’

I’m so embarrassed!

When this magazine’s photographer asked him to “turn around and smile,” rookie jockey Fujita (then 18) blushed primly. Although he was not used to being photographed, he spoke enthusiastically about how he became a jockey (comments below by Fujita).

I first became interested in horses when I was in the sixth grade of elementary school. I happened to see a live horse race on TV at home, and I was fascinated. I begged my father to let me go to the Tokyo Racecourse (in Fuchu City), and when I saw the horses, I was fascinated by their beautiful fur. I made up my mind that I would definitely become a jockey.

However, after graduating from junior high school, she entered a horse racing school, which was a boarding school and a male-dominated society. As a woman, Fujita faced many hardships.

Even though I was a woman, I had to do the same things as the men,” she said. The strength training was especially tough: squats with a 20 kg barbell and crab-walking ……, in which the horse moves sideways with its back bent down. I once cried alone in the dormitory because I couldn’t complete a task in which I had to make a horse run a certain distance within a set time, while other male students could do it.

She wakes up at 5:00 a.m. every morning. Except for Mondays, which are his days off, he rides every day and cooks for himself at the Miho Training Center. She admires Lisa Allpress, a New Zealand female jockey who has won more than 1,000 races.

I had a chance to talk with Ms. Allpress when she came to Japan last summer (’15), and she gave me some valuable advice. She said, ‘For a light-weight woman to keep her stance on a horse, it’s important to build leg muscles. Her advice helped me get through some tough muscle training.”

Finally, Fujita smiled and said, “I was so occupied every day that I forgot to give chocolate to my teacher, Yasuhiro Nemoto, on Valentine’s Day. With his marriage, Fujita will be able to lead a fulfilling life both publicly and privately.