Kenichi Ikezoe

On October 23, Ikezoe became a Triple Crown jockey as the two won the Kikuka Sho, making Orfevre the 7th Triple Crown horse ever.

This victory also made Ikezoe the youngest jockey ever at just 32 years old, although there was a moment after the race where the horse veered off to the outer railings and shook Ikezoe off.

This victory made Ikezoe the 6th person ever to win all 5 of the Classic races in Japan.

On November 20 of that same year, Ikezoe became 's replacement jockey for the Mile Championship after the horse's regular jockey,, was suspended on unrelated matters.

This was the first time Ikezoe rode the horse since the Satsuki Sho from a year before, but they were able to pace well in a good position and finished first.

On June 24 of that same year, Orfevre and Ikezoe won their 5th Grade 1 race after winning the Takarazuka Kinen.

On December 25, Orfevre and Ikezoe won the Arima Kinen after earning the 2nd most fan votes and being the most favored to win, making it the first time since Narita Brian to win 4 Grade 1 races as a 3 year old.

Ikezoe ended the season with 6 Grade 1 wins out of a 14 graded race victory, ending the year on a high note.

From January 5 to 6, Ikezoe entered the Meydan Masters International Jockey Championship that was held at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai.

On his second race, the third race of the sixth, he rode and won with Street Act, marking his first win of the year with his first ever victory abroad.

On March 25 of that same year, he and Curren Chan won the Takamatsunomiya Kinen after taking the lead early on and leading the pack for the rest of the race.

Kenichi Ikezoe (池添謙一, born July 23, 1979 ) is a Japanese jockey affiliated with the Ritto Training Center of the Japan Racing Association.

Dubbed "The Grand Prix Man (of the Heisei era)", he has won the Arima and Takarazuka Kinen, the two races considered to be the Grand Prix races in Japanese horse racing, 7 times in total.

Ikezoe enrolled in the after wanting to be like Yutaka Take.

He made his jockey debut on the 2nd race held at Hanshin on March 1, 1998; where he rode Natural Color and came in 6th out of 12 horses.

Ikezoe rode his first race abroad on July 13, 2001, at the Deauville-La Touques Racecourse with Hathaari.

Originally, Take was supposed to ride the horse, but because he had injured himself in the race prior, Ikezoe was chosen as a last minute replacement.

As he was not prepared to ride any horses that day, he had to borrow Take and Olivier Peslier's horse gear for the race.

Ikezoe worked on the stable and horse training from the day after.

Ikezoe won his first Grade 1 race on April 7, 2002, when he rode at that year's Oka Sho.

That year, he was invited by Mirco Demuro to race in the Italian 1,000 Guineas.

In 2003, Ikezoe won the Sprinters Stakes and Mile Championship with, and the following year won the Mile Championship once again with the same horse.

That same year, Ikezoe won the Shuka Sho with Sweep Tosho.

The horse would go on to also win the Takarazuka Kinen and the Queen Elizabeth II Cup in 2005.

On September 9, 2007, Ikezoe became the 73rd jockey ever to win a total of 500 JRA races.

He would also win the Hanshin Juvenile Fillies of that same year with Tall Poppy.

On May 25, 2008, Ikezoe and Tall Poppy won the Yushun Himba, winning his 9th Grade 1 race.

However, he was issued a 2-day suspension as the horse had suddenly veered towards the inside on the final stretch, which was deemed a dangerous riding by the judges.

Ikezoe himself seemed to be aware that he interfered with the other horse, as during the interview he had gone pale during the winner interview, saying that he "gave the other horses unnecessary trouble".

On June 28, 2009, Ikezoe won the Takarazuka Kinen with Dream Journey.

Later that year, the two would go on to also win the Arima Kinen.

On April 24, 2011, Ikezoe won his first Triple Crown race as he won the Satsuki Sho with Orfevre.

One month later, the two won the second leg of the Triple Crown, the Japanese Derby, making Ikezoe a Derby jockey after 7 attempts in his 14 year long career.

On October 2, Ikezoe won the Sprinters Stakes with Curren Chan, leading the filly to her first Grade 1 victory after 3 consecutive graded race victories.

On that same day, Ikezoe became leading jockey of Sapporo Racecourse for the season as the racecourse finished all of its scheduled races with Ikezoe having the most victories at 18.

On the 14th of that same month, Ikezoe won his first race with Tayasu Social at Chukyo.

Later on that same year, Ikezoe won his first graded race at the Kitakyushu Kinen, which was held at Hanshin that year due to the usual Kokura Racecourse going through renovations.

. Ikezoe won 38 races that year, earning him the JRA Award for Best Jockey (newcomer).

His horse was the 18th most favored to win out of the 20 entrants, but managed to come in second place behind Demuro.

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