South African champion jockey Lyle Hewitson celebrated a winning start to his short Japanese campaign when he won on his fourth ride at his opening meeting at Nakayama today.
Lyle arrived from Hong Kong this week and got into his stride quickly when Masahaya Nice(JPN) won the 14 360 000 JPY 2400m on the dirt for trainer Teiichi Konno. The race stake equates to the approximate equivalent of R2,1 million rand.
Lyle said afterwards that he we was thrilled to break the ice so early.
Nakayama is located in Funabashi, Chiba in Japan and has two grass courses, a dirt course, and a jump course. It has a crowd capacity of over 160 000.
Lyle is sponsored by trainer Sakae Kunieda (JRA Miho Training Center) and his contract owner is Katsumi Yoshida.
His short term licence expires on 4 May.
