ABOUT HORSE TRAINER
MITSUMASA
NAKAUCHIDA
Mitsumasa (Mitsu) Nakauchida was born on December 18th, 1978 at Shigaraki Farm, a pre-training facility in Western Japan. He has spent his entire life around horses.
Moved to Ireland
Mitsu left home at 16 years old and transferred to a school in Ireland. This is when his career in the horse racing industry truly began. Mitsu’s first hands-on experience with training came from J.J. Lennon of Co. Wicklow. Thanks to the care and guidance of many generous Irishmen and women, he was able to learn a lot about Irish culture and their amazing horsemanship skills.
Attended college in the UK
Mitsu majored in Equine Business at West Oxfordshire College. During his time there, he spent four months working for Sir Mark Prescott in Newmarket for a course placement. For over three years Mitsu rode out every morning for Richard Hannon Sr. and Sylvester Kirk. He used to drive one hour to get to Richard Hannon’s yard in Heritage, Wiltshire, before going to college classes. While Mitsu was riding out for Mr. Hannon, he became close with assistant trainers Richard Hannon Jr. and Sylvester Kirk. Eventually, Mr. Kirk went out on his own and started training in Lambourn. Mitsu decided to help him set up his stable, knowing he would go through the same process at some point in his life.
Mitsu even spent some time as an amateur jockey and had two winners out of roughly ten rides. During his summer holidays, he worked for Christiane Head in Chantilly, France. Ms. Head helped him get a job with American Champion trainer, Robert Frankel.
Moved to the United States
After graduating from college in the UK, Mitsu moved to the US and worked for Champion trainer Robert Frankel as an exercise rider in Los Angeles, California. He also traveled to Kentucky, New York, and many other states with horses. Mitsu’s fondest memories of Mr. Frankel were while traveling with him to see the entire American Triple Crown and the prestigious Saratoga meeting. Mr. Frankel’s trust in Mitsu was never more evident than when he was put in charge of caring for Mr. Frankel’s beloved dog, Happy.
Moved back to Japan
After returning home, Mitsu began working as an assistant trainer for Mitsuru Hashida. It was an eye-opening experience since up to this point Mitsu had been completely immersed in western training methods for 11 years and had to relearn everything about Japanese training methods and culture. Mr. Hashida helped Mitsu get the local experience needed to be able to pass the challenging Japan Racing Association(JRA) trainer’s examination.
In 2012, Mitsu passed the JRA trainer’s exam and launched the Nakauchida Stable in March 2014.