Yuichi Fukunaga (福永 祐一, Fukunaga Yūichi; born 9 December 1976) is a Japanese horse trainer and former jockey who has won 29 Grade 1 races in Japan and abroad. He is affiliated with the Japan Racing Association (JRA) in Rittō. His father is former jockey Yoichi Fukunaga who was said to be a "genius" during his active career, and his uncle is Takashi Kitamura, also a former jockey. His wife is former Fuji TV announcer Midori Matsuo. Since July 2016, he has a management contract with Horipro together with Yuga Kawada, the entertainment production with which his wife is also affiliated. On 8 December 2022, following his trainer license being issued by the JRA, Fukunaga announced that he would retire as a jockey at the end of February next year and make a transition in to becoming a horse trainer. Two months later, Fukunaga rode his final races in Japan at the February Stakes on 19 February, and finished his racing career at the Riyadh Dirt Sprint on 25 February, 2023, where he rode Remake which finished 3rd behind Elite Power. Retirement ceremonies of Fukunaga were held at Tokyo Racecourse on 19 February and on the Hanshin Racecourse on 4 March. Fukunaga officially opened his stable on 6 March 2024. Upon opening his stable, he received a number of horses from outgoing trainers, including Danon Scorpion and Dualist from Takayuki Yasuda. Later that year, Fukunaga won his first group race as a trainer, when he won the CBC Sho with Drop of Light. 12 October 2026 was a particularly successful day for Fukunaga. On that day he won both of the main races of the two JRA race meetings held that day, the October Stakes at Tokyo Racecourse with Ask Sexy More, and the Swan Stakes at Kyoto Racecourse with Diamond Knot. On top of this, he would finish the day off with his first JpnI victory of his trainer career when he won the Mile Championship Nambu Hai with Meisho Hachiro.
Source: “Yuichi Fukunaga”, English Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0), excerpt