Thore Hammer Hansen wins this year's WASJ.
Thore Hammer Hansen won two of the four-leg series held over two days to become the second German-based World All-Star Jockeys champion after Andreas Suborics who won the series twice in 2004 and 2006. The 25-year-old rider collected a total of 73 points by finishing fourth with ninth pick Tera Stellar in the first leg, winning the second leg with ninth pick Patrick Handsome and third leg with race favorite Bergun and finishing 10th with 13th pick Lux Deneuve in the fourth leg.
"I'm overwhelmed by the Japanese fans. It's a great honor to take part in this competition with some of the world's great jockeys. It was obviously very nice to know that I won the challenge after the third leg. When you've got good horses underneath you, it gives you a much better chance of winning the race. I love Japan and I really look forward to coming back here again."
Seven points behind in second was Craig Williams from Australia. The 2007 champion, who was fourth with 21 points at the end of Day One, finishing 13th and second in the first two legs, added 45 points on Day Two by coming in third in the third leg with eighth pick Cosmo Opinion and winning the last leg with fifth choice Pink Jin.
"It's always a privilege to come back to Japan. It's a great competition with world-class riders and I'm very fortunate to be part of it and experience it again. I'm very pleased to have achieved such good results."
Ryusei Sakai, who was second at the end of Day One with 31 points, collected 9 points, finishing sixth and 13th in the last two legs on Day Two to come in third with 40 points.
"After finishing third last year, my goal was to win the title this year, so I was disappointed to be third again. But it gives me a new goal for next year. It was fun to compete with Williams who took care of me in Australia."
Thanks to the impressive performances of Thore Hammer Hansen and Craig Williams, Team WAS collected 246 points, 44 points over Team JRA, to claim the team competition for the first time since the team competition began in 2015.
2025 WORLD ALL-STAR JOCKEYS POINT CHART
| Standing | Jockey | Team | August 23, 2025 | August 24, 2025 | Total Points | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st Leg | 2nd Leg | 3rd Leg | 4th Leg | ||||||||
| 1 | Thore Hammer Hansen (GER) | WAS | 4th | (12) | 1st | (30) | 1st | (30) | 10th | (1) | 73 |
| 2 | Craig Williams (AUS) | WAS | 13th | (1) | 2nd | (20) | 3rd | (15) | 1st | (30) | 66 |
| 3 | Ryusei Sakai | JRA | 1st | (30) | 14th | (1) | 6th | (8) | 13th | (1) | 40 |
| 4 | Francisco Goncalves (ARG) | WAS | 2nd | (20) | 6th | (8) | 10th | (1) | 6th | (8) | 37 |
| 4 | Takeshi Yokoyama | JRA | 5th | (10) | 7th | (6) | 2nd | (20) | 11th | (1) | 37 |
| 6 | Masashige Honda (NAR) | WAS | 14th | (1) | 4th | (12) | 8th | (4) | 3rd | (15) | 32 |
| 7 | Christophe Lemaire | JRA | 11th | (1) | 3rd | (15) | 7th | (6) | 7th | (6) | 28 |
| 8 | Norihiro Yokoyama | JRA | 3rd | (15) | 13th | (1) | 12th | (1) | 5th | (10) | 27 |
| 9 | Yuichi Kitamura | JRA | 12th | (1) | 5th | (10) | 11th | (1) | 4th | (12) | 24 |
| 9 | Yutaka Take | JRA | 10th | (1) | 9th | (2) | 14th | (1) | 2nd | (20) | 24 |
| 11 | Keita Tosaki | JRA | 6th | (8) | 10th | (1) | 4th | (12) | 14th | (1) | 22 |
| 12 | Alexis Badel (HK) | WAS | 8th | (4) | 11th | (1) | 5th | (10) | 12th | (1) | 16 |
| 13 | Karis Teetan (HK) | WAS | 7th | (6) | 8th | (4) | 9th | (2) | 9th | (2) | 14 |
| 14 | Cristian Torres (USA) | WAS | 9th | (2) | 12th | (1) | 13th | (1) | 8th | (4) | 8 |
| Team WAS (World All-Star) : 246 points | Team JRA : 202 points | ||||||||||
*1st: 30 points / 2nd: 20 points / 3rd: 15 points / 4th: 12 points / 5th: 10 points / 6th: 8 points / 7th: 6 points / 8th: 4 points / 9th: 2 points / 10th: 1 point / 11th: 1 point / 12th: 1 point / 13th: 1 point / 14th: 1 point / ER= Excluded from running (by stewards): 6 points
FF=Fail to Finish: 1 point
Turnover for the Day: ¥ 13,199,496,300 Attendance: 18,215
