No matter what conditions get thrown up at Ipswich on Saturday, it won’t be as difficult as when jockey Nozi Tomizawa ploughed through the snow to win races in Korea.
The Japanese jockey makes a rare foray into Saturday metropolitan racing for Ipswich Cup day and is one of the great journeymen of Queensland racing.
After failing to get into the Japanese riding academy, Tomizawa moved to Australia on a wing and a prayer in the hope of one day becoming a jockey.
With more than two decades under his belt now, Tomizawa has also ridden back home in Japan, Macau, China and Korea.
While he jokes he has worked out the quirks of the Ipswich track during his time in Queensland, it is nothing on some of the other tracks he has ridden in a globetrotting career.
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“I couldn’t become a jockey in Japan, so when I came here I had to do one year in Queensland, one in New South Wales and one in South Australia,” he said.
“I had never sat on a horse before I came out here when I was 16 or 17. I am from Tokyo, when I finished my apprenticeship I always wanted to race in Japan because the racing is so different.
“I applied to ride in Japan, but they would only take me as a foreign jockey because I did my time in Australia, so I got a three-month contract in the provincials, Tokyo City Keiba.
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“I have been in Macau, Korea and even a short time in China. In Seoul it snows all the time, so you are riding in that in January and February, it’s very different to anything you have ever experienced.”
To become an apprentice in Japan, jockeys must meet strict physical demands at a young age, which Tomizawa said he was never going to reach.
He instead kicked off his apprenticeship for Tony Sears in Toowoomba, before also doing time with Ron Quinton in Sydney.
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“When I was 15 I tried to join the jockey academy in Japan but it is hard to get in, you have to be below 43kg, the height has to be below 160cm and I was too tall and too big, I couldn’t get in so I came to Australia,” he said.
Tomizawa will link up with long-term friend Kevin Kemp in the T L Cooney with Can’t Getwhatiwant as he looks to strengthen his Toowoomba connection.
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“Over the years, since I went to Toowoomba, I have done a lot of riding for Kempy, it would be over 20 years now,” he said.
“I’m not at the metro meetings much these days, especially on a Saturday, so this is a good opportunity for me.
“I seem to have a lot of luck when I ride for Kempy, especially in the Toowoomba and Ipswich areas.”
Originally published as Journeyman Nozi Tomizawa goes from snow winners in Korea to Ipswich Cup pressure cooker