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Mirco Demuro (, January 11, 1979) is an Italian jockey based in Japan. His younger brother, Cristian Demuro, as well as their sister, Pamela, is also a jockey. Their late father Giovanni was also a jockey.
Demuro first came to Japan in 1999, and won his first graded race in the country in 2001 when he won the Kokura Daishoten with .
Demuro's first Japanese Grade 1 race victory came at the Satsuki Sho with Neo Universe on April 20, 2003. The two went on to also win the Japanese Derby held on June 1, making him the first non-Japanese jockey to win the Tokyo Yushun.Pages 138-139 of Yushun (July 2003 issue) The crowd celebrated the jockey with a "Mirco" chant, to which Mirco showed tears of joy.Pages 25-27 of Yushun (July 2003 issue) Mirco later recalled that "the joy he felt that day was comparable to that of when he won the Derby Italiano. Being watched on and cheered by so many fans at horse racing is a rare occurrence, especially when that is the Derby. It was as though I became Hidetoshi Nakata from soccer".
With Neo Universe clinching two Triple Crown races, many anticipated the horse to win the third leg of the Triple Crown. However, the policy of tanki menkyo system employed by the Japan Racing Association at the time did not allow for foreign jockeys to ride in Japan for more than three months a year; something which Mirco had already used up by that point. The JRA had to change the rule to allow for foreign jockeys (such as Demuro) to ride the same horse at a GI race if said horse had already won two other GI races in the same year; allowing for him to continue riding Neo Universe. However, he was unable to win the third leg of the Triple Crown, as the horse finished third at the Kikka Sho.
The following year, Demuro became the first foreign jockey to win the Satsuki Sho for two years in a row after winning the race once again with Daiwa Major.
In March 26, 2011, Mirco Demuro became the winning jockey of the Dubai World Cup with Victoire Pisa, who was sired by Neo Universe. This was the first time a Japanese horse had won the race, and for Demuro became the first GI win outside of Italy and Japan; with Demuro commenting that this was his best race ever. On October 28, 2012, Demuro won the Tenno Sho with Eishin Flash. The race was spectated by Akihito and Empress Michiko, and after performing the winning run, Demuro, in defiance of JRA policy specifically forbidding jockeys to get off their horse until the post-race weigh-in barring incapacitation, dismounted from the horse and kneeled to the Emperor and Empress. This action was briefly put into question by JRA judges, but was ultimately deemed that "the winning jockey only did as he was instructed, which was to show appropriate respect to The Emperor and Empress" and was not punished for his actions.
Demuro became the first foreign jockey to take the JRA full-time jockey license exam in 2013, but could not pass the exam. Demuro, together with Christophe Lemaire, passed the exam in January 2015, making them the first jockeys from abroad to become a full-time JRA jockeys. 2015年度 調教師・騎手免許試験合格者 (Japanese)
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