Rising star Daisuke Sasaki is one of three jockeys the JRA (Japan Racing Association) has sanctioned in the latest smartphone crackdown as it continues its hardline approach in the aftermath of top female rider Nanako Fujita’s suspension and shock resignation last month.
Sasaki, 20, is in his third season and has broken through with three juvenile Group 3 wins this term, among a tally of 74 wins that place him 10th in the JRA jockey standings. He and fellow young rider Ryuto Yokoyama, 21, received stiff 30-day suspensions for their involvement in the contravention of smartphone rules, while Takezo Nagano, 22, received a one-year suspension for using his phone in a restricted area and for providing race information to relatives. Nagano has asked the JRA to accept his resignation.
The JRA’s rules prohibit jockeys from using communication devices during the time they are in the JRA’s ‘jockey lockdown’ hostel facilities, located on-site at the racecourses, and anywhere at the track for the duration of the weekend racing.
That period is usually from Friday evening at 9pm – by when jockeys are supposed to have handed in their communication devices to a lockbox – until they leave the racecourse after racing on a Sunday evening, during which time no electronic communication with any person outside of the facility is allowed, including their partners and children.
These latest suspensions again raise questions about the JRA’s overall ‘lockdown’ approach in the current age of ubiquitous electronic communication, and the culture around it, as well as whether its hardline handling of the rule breakers is an effective strategy in addressing the issue fully.
Sasaki and Yokoyama are suspended from November 14 to December 13. Both were found guilty of being involved in communications during jockey lockdown.
Sasaki was present when fellow rider Shota Kobayashi, 21, used his phone during lockdown on May 4 and May 14 to communicate with outside parties via the LINE app, and a photo of Sasaki was found on Kobayashi’s phone, which was taken during the lockdown period. Sasaki was judged to have been indirectly involved in the rogue communication and therefore a party to it.
Yokoyama had already been released from lockdown when he engaged in communication with Nagano on March 16 and May 25 of this year, but as Nagano was still in lockdown at that time, the JRA deemed that Yokoyama had also broken the rules.
The JRA had already sanctioned Nagano and Kobayashi for breaking the smartphone rules in late September, and Nagano was found to have used his phone again on October 5 and 6. During his arbitration committee hearing on November 12 to determine the length of that suspension, further evidence was presented that Nagano had also passed information about races to family members during a period when he was sidelined with a leg injury.
The penalties are the latest in the JRA smartphone scandal, which has seen mostly young jockeys hit hard for breaking the rules: this often involves a jockey handing in one phone while keeping a second hidden in their ‘controlled’ hostel room.
Fujita, 27, is so far the most high-profile casualty of the clampdown: the former darling of the JRA’s push to encourage female participation in the sport handed in her licence in October of this year after she was punished retroactively for using her phone in the spring of 2023, despite having already been warned formally at that time for her actions. The JRA reaction came after a tabloid-style article about her ‘lockdown’ phone use was published in an entertainment magazine.
In May 2023 six young jockeys were suspended for breaking the rules around communication devices being used during ‘jockey lockdown,’ those riders being Seina Imamura, Naho Furukawa, Manami Nagashima, Nana Kawaharada, Miku Kobayashi and the late Taiga Tsunoda.
Tsunoda took his own life in August 2024. He was under investigation by the JRA at the time for driving his car on the track after racing at Hakodate racecourse.
Also, in June of this year, Genki Mizonuma, 21, was found to have used his phone during jockey lockdown and in July he received a nine-month suspension ∎
