THE first foreign born jockey to win the leading riders title in 2017, Christophe Lemaire has all but cemented his second championship. He currently holding an unassailable 60-winner lead over Mirco Demuro.

However, with five days of racing, including three Group 1 races, remaining in 2018, Lemaire has the opportunity to claim further records. At present he sits on 211 winners for the year with a 27% strike rate.

Lemaire has the distinct chance of eclipsing legendary Japanese rider Yutaka Take’s long-held record of 212 winners in a season. The French-born rider also has the possibility to improve upon his own record of eight JRA Group 1 wins in a year, a record he once again equalled when winning the Japan Cup.

EXCEPTIONAL YEAR

It has been quite an exceptional year for foreign jockeys in Japanese racing. At the time of writing writing, a Japanese-born jockey has not won a JRA Group 1 race since Yuji Kawada was successful aboard Fine Needle in the Sprinter Stakes on September 30th. Since then foreign-born jockeys have won eight consecutive top-level races. These included three winning riders availing of the three month short-term licence, William Buick, Joao Moreira and Christian Demuro. One aspect of 2018 that has tarnished the year for overseas jockeys was when Joao Moreira learned in October that his mandatory exam to become a full-time JRA jockey had been unsuccessful. A champion rider in Hong Kong, Moreria finished his time in 2018 with 76 JRA winners at a 37% return of wins to rides.

This is the highest strike rate achieved by any rider in the top 100 JRA jockeys list. He currently sits in 10th position in the leading riders table despite a vastly inferior number of rides.

The notoriously difficult JRA jockey’s exam consists of two parts. Conducted in English, the initial exam is a written test on topics such as JRA racing regulations and Japanese racing knowledge both current and historical.

Upon successful completion of part one, the applicant must then sit a verbal exam and interview to assess their ability to converse in Japanese.

With no appeal process possible, the Brazilian will have to wait until October 2019 if he wishes to sit the examination again.