Hitomi Miyashita is pictured aboard Real Speed at Nagoya Racecourse on Nov. 18, 2021. (Kyodo)

       NAGOYA (Kyodo) -- Hitomi Miyashita won her 1,000th race aboard Real Speed in a locally operated race at Nagoya Racecourse on Thursday, becoming the first female jockey from Japan to reach the career milestone.

       The 44-year-old Kagoshima Prefecture native made her debut in 1995 but hung up her boots once in 2011. She came out of retirement in 2016 and rode 100 winners in a racing season last year, a feat no other Japanese woman had ever achieved.

       Miyashita won another race later in the day, bringing her win total to 1,001.

       Nanako Fujita, 24, racked up win No. 100 on the main Japan Racing Association circuit in April 2020. Fujita debuted in 2016 as JRA's first female jockey in 16 years.

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