The 2024 JRA Awards Selection Committee convened on January 7 at JRA Headquarters in Minato City, Tokyo, and Yutaka Take (55) was honoured with the JRA Special Award for Jockeys for the fourth time. His recognition stemmed from receiving the Medal with Yellow Ribbon in the autumn honours, making him only the second active JRA jockey after Yoshitomi Shibata to achieve this distinction, and becoming the first jockey in history to record 4,500 JRA wins.

Regarding the honours, Take commented, "Receiving the Medal with Yellow Ribbon is a great honour that I believe was awarded to the entire horse racing community. As for reaching 4,500 JRA wins, I am deeply grateful to the horses and all the connections who have supported me. I aim to achieve even more in the future."

Previous recipients of the JRA Special Award include Masato Shibata in 1993, Katsumi Minai in 1994, Hiroshi Kawachi in 1997, Yutaka Take in 2007, 2013, and 2018, Shigefumi Kumazawa in 2016, Kazuo Fujisawa in 2020, and Yoshitomi Shibata in 2022.

The JRA Special Award for horses requires a recommendation from at least three-quarters of the selection committee members and approval from the JRA Chairman. For trainers and jockeys, the award is given at the discretion of the JRA Chairman if deemed necessary.