Christophe Lemaire Pushes Limits in Japanese Racing
Elle
Nov 14th 2025
Likes
Share:
Formerly French, Christophe Lemaire has been quite instrumental in shaping his heritage in the land of the rising sun through his amazing success for a long stretch, thus bringing back the fans’ excitement and consolidating his status as the most reliable performer of the sport. His victories this fall have been on an entirely different level of brilliance, thus making him the standout figure of the racing scene in Japan once more.
Since October 19. Christophe Lemaire has been on a hot winning rate. He has managed to win three consecutive Japan Racing Association JRA Group 1 titles as well as the Jpn1 JBC Classic. His accuracy and timing have been so perfect that he has recorded a 46 percent winning rate during this period. This has been the main factor that has led him to the top of the jockey standings. It is still hard to believe that for the rider who has been crowned the leading jockey seven times in the last eight seasons, this year’s performance could be even better.
What makes this surge even more compelling is Christophe Lemaire’s mindset. He often refers to his recent success as part of a “cycle of positivity,” an approach that connects confidence with performance in a self-reinforcing rhythm. “Recently, the horses I’m riding are very fit and well, they perform very well,” he says.“I think having a few straight wins, you become more confident and it is that confidence which guides you to make the correct decisions, It’s a positive cycle.”
But Christophe Lemaire’s influence extends far beyond the track. Hand in glove with his love of the sport and his unflagging determination to extend the horizon of the horse racing community, Tokyo native brought into being a novel local Kyoto initiative: a race-themed café and boutique, which is destined to become the source of the great and wide dissemination of the sport’s thrilling nature to the newest and broader audience. This undertaking is an expression of his idea that it would be best if the race were opened up to and enjoyed by people going outside the circle of the regular fans.
Currently, such focus of the person is different globally. Christophe Lemaire was snapped up to come and take part in a contest of Hong Kong Jockey Club’s International Jockeys’ Championship in Happy Valley. As a jockey who has been operating in Japan for the last ten years, the invitation is of particular significance to him.
“It’s been a few years since I didn’t get the call, even though I won the leading jockey title in Japan,” Christophe Lemaire explains. “As a foreigner riding here, I understand it’s not easy to be chosen to represent Japan. But this year they invited me, and I’m proud to represent my second home. Japan is as big as France in my heart.”
The IJC line-up this December will feature some of the world’s most accomplished riders, including Zac Purton, James McDonald, Joao Moreira, Hollie Doyle, Rachel King, William Buick, Umberto Rispoli, and Mickael Barzalona. Ryan Moore is also expected to join if his recovery from a fractured femur stays on course.
Christophe Lemaire’s background at the competition is like an additional substance of mystery. In 2009, he was one of the three-way tie champions of the IJC title with Moore and Johnny Murtagh, and he has only been a runner-up since then. After a long break, he is coming back to Happy Valley with a fresh feeling of expectation.
“Riding in Happy Valley is always exciting because the place is so iconic and unique,” he says. “ Racing at night in the middle of the city, on a tight and technical track, is something special. The atmosphere and energy there give you an extra lift.”
Christophe Lemaire at JRA looks to be concentrating mainly on Japan even after we found out that he will be heading to Hong Kong. With the sensational filly Stellenbosch, he will be competing in the Queen Elizabeth II Cup this weekend, targeting a record of four consecutive JRA Group 1 wins. After his last streak, the public is quite expectant but he keeps a calm head.
“Supporters are very optimistic following three Group 1 victories, but the main thing is the horse’s health,” he states. “I kept everything the same in my manner of riding. If you have confidence in your riding, you will be making all the correct decisions at the right times. This is what, in my opinion, counts the most.”
It has been this serene confidence that has marked Christophe Lemaire’s triumph in both Japan and worldwide. His knack for maintaining his cool when things get heated, relating to the flow of the horse, and throwing in a daring but very much a gut-feeling decision is what keeps being different from the rest of the people.
While Christophe Lemaire’s “cycle of positivity” continues, his two-fold function of a champion jockey and a sports ambassador is paving the way to a bigger legacy. Christophe Lemaire, the racehorse industry, and the sport are the biggest winners of the interaction between the two spheres, which are different from each other, but he managed to harmonize them perfectly. By the way of equestrian sport, as well as through enterprises like his Kyoto café, he is assisting horse racing in accessing new markets, mixing the old with a modern view which mirrors his own way that is now extending harmoniously between France, Japan, and the global level.
