The Road to the Kentucky Derby has been an international experience this year.
On the horse front, Japan's Crown Pride and the United Arab Emirates-based Summer Is Tomorrow race in the 1 1/4-mile contest, with both having qualified in the UAE Derby Sponsored By Mubadala (G2) at Meydan. There, they finished 1-2, securing the qualifying points for the Derby.
Among jockeys, the Derby has a French connection. Five French-born riders have mounts.
Three of those jockeys—Florent Geroux, Julien Leparoux, and Flavien Prat—now reside and compete in America, while the other two, Christophe Lemaire and Mickael Barzalona, travel occasionally to the states to ride for stakes opportunities.
One opportunity is Saturday's $3 million Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1), with Lemaire on Crown Pride and Barzalona aboard Summer Is Tomorrow.
Lemaire got acquainted with the Churchill Downs strip and his mount in guiding Crown Pride to a half-mile workout in :46 3/5 May 4 beneath the Twin Spires.
"As an American jockey, as a European jockey, or an Asian jockey, the Kentucky Derby is an iconic race. It's the horse race of America," Lemaire said Thursday on Horse Racing Radio Network. "There are a couple of races around the world like this, like the Melbourne Cup (G1), like the Epsom Derby (G1) in England—very specific national race—and the Kentucky Derby, of course with its history, it's a legendary race that we all dream to ride."
It is a race that Geroux and Prat have both won by disqualification. Geroux's 2021 mount, Mandaloun , was placed first upon the disqualification of Medina Spirit for a medication violation, and Prat took the race in 2019 when Country House was elevated to first after Maximum Security was disqualified for interfering with other horses.
Geroux rides Arkansas Derby (G1) winner Cyberknife this year, while Prat is aboard Toyota Blue Grass Stakes (G1) winner and morning-line favorite Zandon . Leparoux is on multiple graded stakes winner and quick-starting longshot Classic Causeway .
Leparoux tweeted a picture of his countrymen and others at dinner May 3.
French Dinner 🇫🇷 @TheRealJeffRuby pic.twitter.com/UFzmCZazko
— Julien Leparoux (@JulienLeparoux) May 4, 2022
"I was in the background. I was serving the wine," Lemaire told HRRN in jest.
"Obviously for Julien, Flo, and I, it's—I wouldn't say easy, but it makes a lot more sense to be in the Derby," Prat said to BloodHorse. "I think it's a great opportunity for Christophe and Mickael. You know, when you ride in Europe or even in Japan, I think it's hard to find a mount for the Derby, (but) it seems like the Kentucky Derby is getting a bit more open to international racing, and yeah, it's great to have five French riders."
WATCH: Prat Talks Riding Zandon, Shahama in KY Derby, Oaks
Though Barzalona and Lemaire are better known to race fans outside this country than in it, they have experienced American success.
Barzalona piloted Talismanic to capture the 2017 Longines Breeders' Cup Turf (G1T). Lemaire's stake victories came earlier in the 2012 Secretariat Stakes (G1T) on Bayrir and the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1T) later that year aboard Flotilla.
Typical for jockeys from overseas, those rides came in turf races. The Kentucky Derby is a rare chance on dirt. Lemaire informed HRRN that the Derby will only be his second American race on dirt.
He's accustomed to riding on both dirt and turf in Japan, where he shifted his tack around the turn of the century.
Crown Pride's owner, Teruya Yoshida, "sponsored me to go to Japan," Lemaire told HRRN. "So this was 22 years ago, and this week, I'm going to ride his horse in the Kentucky Derby for the first time. That's amazing."
Crown Pride is set to become the fourth Japanese horse to race in the Kentucky Derby.
He follows the same road to the race as Lani, who, after winning the UAE Derby after first racing in Japan, finished ninth in the 2016 Derby. Weeks later, he ran fifth in the Preakness Stakes (G1) and third in the Belmont Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets (G1).
Late-running Master Fencer has the best finish of any of Japan's starters, crossing the wire seventh under Leparoux in the 2019 Derby before being elevated to sixth on Maximum Security's disqualification.
This week Lemaire has been enjoying the moment alongside his peers.
"We know each other from France and we went our own way, you know, all around the world," Lemaire noted to HRRN. "So it's nice to be all together at the same place, five French jockeys at the Derby. I think it's historic, you know. So for us, it's a great joy."
