Kazushi Kimura

With a record closing day handle of $8,530,593, Woodbine's 2021 Thoroughbred meet concluded Sunday with meet titles for trainer Mark Casse, jockey Kazushi Kimura, and owner Gary Barber. Casse secured the leading training title with 110 wins from his 539 starts and earnings of $8,189,186. Martin Drexler trailed in second by wins with 56. It was Casse's 13th time atop the Woodbine leaderboard and his 27 stakes victories at the Toronto oval in 2021 were 19 more than his closest rival. Casse, who is a member of the Hall of...

Grade I-winning jockey Kazushi Kimura, who was named the 2019 Eclipse Award Outstanding Apprentice Jockey, will spend the winter of 2020/21 riding primarily for Prince Sultan bin Mishal bin Abdulaziz in Saudi Arabia, he confirmed to the TDN on Sunday. "Yes," Kimura told the TDN regarding his Saudi Arabian posting. "I'm gonna ride in Saudi Arabia until the middle of March, then I will be back to Woodbine before the opening day." Kimura, who was also Canada's Outstanding Apprentice Jockey in 2018, celebrated four graded winners in 2020 led by...

Woodbine Entertainment, in conjunction with Kraft-Heinz Canada, have announced the launch of the Heinz Challenge, six-week series during which a Thoroughbred jockey from Woodbine will be paired with a harness driver from Woodbine Mohawk Park to compete for a charitable donation of $5,000 from Woodbine. The series will be broadcast live during 'Racing Night Live' on TSN. The four competing jockeys are Rafael Hernandez, Kazushi Kimura, Justin Stein and Emma-Jayne Wilson, while the participating drivers are Jody Jamieson, Bob McClure, Doug McNair and Louis-Philippe Roy, who replaces the injured James...

Japanese-born, Woodbine-based Kazushi Kimura built on a strong first season of riding in 2018 (104 wins, $2,451,326 in earnings) in 2019, booting home 148 winners (17%) and racking up $4,746,556 in earnings. Those stats were good for third-best by wins and fourth-best by earnings at Woodbine's April to December meet. He lost his bug Oct. 26. Accepting the Award... "First, I want to say congratulations to everyone. I am proud of the Eclipse Award and to be nominated with so many great trainers, owners and jockeys. Let me say thank...