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Christophe Patrice Lemaire (Japanese:クリストフ・ルメール (Kurisutofu Rumeru), born 20 May 1979) is a French-born jockey. He has enjoyed much of his success on the Japanese flat racing circuit, with the most wins at Japan Racing Association racetracks for five consecutive years since 2017.[1]
Career
Lemaire began racing in 1999, after he obtained the license required for a French jockey. From there, he has steadily built up a good track record, becoming the seventh leading jockey in 2003, and winning the French Group 1 Grand Prix de Paris in the same year.
In 2002 he also began racing in Japan Racing Association races using the 3-month short-term licence (短期免許, tanki menkyo) system, taking part mainly at local racecourses such as Chukyo Racecourse and Kokura Racecourse. Within a few years he had already placed in Japan's major Grade 1 stakes races, finishing second in the 2004 Autumn Tenno Sho on Dance in the Mood, second in the 2004 Japan Cup on Cosmo Bulk, and second in the 2005 Mile Championship on Daiwa Major.
Lemaire secured his first Japanese graded stakes victory, and first Japanese Grade 1 win, aboard Heart's Cry in the 2005 Arima Kinen. The victory broke the winning streak of Triple Crown winner and eventual Horse of the YearDeep Impact. It was also the fourth straight year that a foreign jockey won the Arima Kinen, following three consecutive wins by Olivier Peslier.
Lemaire became a full-time JRA jockey with Italian jockey Mirco Demuro in February 2015.[4][5] He was scheduled to start riding in Japan in March of that year, which would have been his first time in Japan after a demotion at Kyoto Racecourse in November 2014. However, he was suspended by stewards of the Japan Racing Association (JRA) for 30 days after he used Twitter the night before he was scheduled to participate in races at Hanshin Racecourse.[6][7] JRA regulations bar any outside contact by jockeys from 9 PM the night before racing until after they have ridden in their final race of the day.[8] After he served his suspension, Lemaire marked his first victory as a JRA jockey on April 6 with a graded race victory at the Osaka Hai.[9]
In 2017, he became the first foreigner to be Japan's leading jockey, winning 199 JRA races in the year. In 2018, he won Yushun Himba for the second time, on his 39th birthday.[10] In October 2018, he rode Almond Eye to her victory at the Japan Fillies Triple Crown and won the championship for the second consecutive year, breaking Yutaka Take's long standing record for wins in a year in Japan (215 wins vs 212).[11][12]
In 2019, he retained his title in Japan for the third consecutive year, winning 5 G1 races as well as the Dubai Turf, the first international G1 win of Almond Eye. In 2020, he again won the championship–for the 4th consecutive time–by winning a total of 204 races in JRA including 8 G1. He also established a new record of consecutive wins at the Emperor's cup (Tenno Sho Autumn) by winning this bi-annual race (spring and autumn) for the fifth consecutive time. This meant that Almond Eye became the Japanese horse with the most G1 wins (8 in Japan and 1 international). At the end of the 2020 season, Lemaire was ranked number 1 in the world, according to the TRC Global Jockey Ranking, taking the lead from Frankie Dettori before retaining his title, for the 5th consecutive year in 2021.[13]
In 2022, despite major wins at the Tenno Sho (Autumn) and the Arima Kinen, he lost his title. 2023 saw his come-back to the highest rank of horse racing in Japan: not only did he win the JRA championship but also broke the record in terms of prize money. This year was also marked by the remarkable achievement of Equinox, named worldwide horse of the year by Longines, and with whom Christophe Lemaire won 4 major G1 races.
Early 2022, in parallel to his racing career, he also co-founded the fashion label CL by C.ルメール.[14]
^ ab"2021年度JRAリーディングジョッキー、リーディングトレーナーが決定！" [2021 JRA Leading Jockey, Leading Trainer have been decided] (in Japanese). Japan Racing Association. 28 December 2021. Retrieved 28 December 2021.
^"開催競馬場・今日の出来事". Japan Racing Association (in Japanese). 2015-03-01. Archived from the original on 2015-03-04. Retrieved 2024-05-04. ３月１日（日）第１回阪神競馬第２日に騎乗予定であったＣ．ルメール騎手は、騎乗予定日の前日２月２８日（土）の阪神競馬場調整ルーム内において、携帯電話を使用し外部との通信を行ったことが判明したため、３月１日（日）から３月３０日（月）まで３０日間の騎乗停止となりました。
