It was while watching France’s daily flagship event, the Quinté, as a youngster that Aurélien Lemaître decided to attend apprentice school in Gouvieux. 18 years on, he is having the best season of his career and ranks among the top-ten of his profession. 

His spring got off to a flying start with success on board Blue Rose Cen in the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches and Prix de Diane, and second in the Prix du Jockey Club with Big Rock. With results like that in the three classics he rode in, it is no wonder the young jockey has been thrust into the limelight.

Blue Rose Cen now stands alongside With You and Call The Wind, the first two Gr.1 races Lemaitre won, but for Christopher Head’s father, Freddy. It is with the younger Head’s horses that he has been given a fresh start, after having spent a large part of his career in the service of Freddy. Since his debut in 2005, Lemaitre has amassed 768 wins, 32 group races comprising five Gr.1s. He joined the top-ten list with 87 victories, in the Prix Marcel Boussac, on Arc day last year.

Discreet and loyal, how he describes himself, Lemaître is confident that these big successes have helped to increase his popularity and made him ‘bankable’. It is not only with Blue Rose Cen and Big Rock that he has made his name, he is also associated with Ramatuelle, currently the best 2 year-old in France. 

On the eve of the Deauville meeting where Big Rock and Ramatuelle are expected to do battle in the Jacques le Marois and Morny respectively, and despite Blue Rose Cen’s disappointing trip to Goodwood, it must be said that Aurélien Lemaître has not changed one bit since being cast into the spotlight.