Professional jockey journey has just begun for young Frederic Lenclud

Lenclud, who ended his apprenticeship and became a journeyman rider just last week, will be aboard the same filly who helped him open the meet in winning fashion; in today’s historic Spinaway, he’s back aboard Le Mi Geaux, who he partnered to a win in the Grade III Schuylerville on opening day.

“With all these big riders over here,” said Lenclud, gesturing toward the jockeys’ room as he walked back after a victory last Monday aboard Yan Yan, “It’s always hard to get those mounts. So I’d like to thank the owner again, and the trainer, for letting me ride the horse back.”

Unlike many riders who come to their craft at a young age, Lenclud, who turned 23 on April 29, doesn’t have family in racing. The native of Lamdrecis, France was actually advised by a school guidance counselor to consider a career as a jockey because of his slight build. He spent several years honing his craft at a racing school in Chantilly and began his competitive career in England before moving to the United States to work for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott and later, Ian Wilkes in Kentucky.

Lenclud’s life as a “bug boy” began on that Kentucky circuit in summer 2009. Apprentice riders, often called “bugs” because of an asterisk that appears beside their names in the program, ride with a 10-pound weight allowance until they’ve piloted five winners. The allowance then drops to five pounds for a year; once he’s ridden enough winners, the apprentice becomes a journeyman.

Lenclud earned his first win in the United States on July 11, 2009, piloting the Wilkes trainee Bearpath to his maiden victory at Ellis Park. Lenclud kept the mount on the big bay for a few more allowance wins that summer; both scored their first graded win this past March 27, when they teamed up to win the Grade III Pan American Handicap at Gulfstream.

Riding at Oaklawn Park this winter and spring, Lenclud rode 24 winners to rank as the leading apprentice at the meet; perhaps more noteworthy, he finished seventh overall in the standings, at a meet where the top three were journeymen 

Terry Thompson, Corey Nakatani and Calvin Borel. Lenclud also stopped in at the short Keeneland spring meet to ride five winners, good for a tie for ninth in the overall standings there.

The Churchill Downs spring/summer meet was a breakout one for Lenclud. He put together an overall record of 249-29-41-30, finishing in the money over 40 percent of the time. His 29 victories made his, again, the leading apprentice at the meet and ranked him sixth overall in the standings. Ahead of him were Borel, who rode his third Kentucky Derby winner at the meet; Corey Lanerie, a Kentucky mainstay; Robby Albarado, whose career includes the ride aboard two Horse of the Year honorees; journeyman Francisco Torres; and Shaun Bridgmohan, another fierce competitor. Behind Lenclud in the standings were well-respected journeymen Jamie Theriot and Nakatani, as well as defending Eclipse Award winner Julien Leparoux, one of the riders to whom Lenclud is most often compared. That’s no insult. Leparoux came to America from France as a young apprentice and proved wildly successful on the Kentucky circuit; he earned the Eclipse as leading apprentice in 2006 while leading the nation in wins. Four years later, Leparoux has five Breeders’ Cup victories and another Eclipse on his resume.

Lenclud made headlines on May 6 at Churchill Downs when he piloted three winners in one day. Fittingly, he was the first apprentice to pull off that feat since Leparoux in the spring of 2006.

On the heels of that Churchill meet, Lenclud jumped into even deeper water at Saratoga this summer. The cutthroat New York jockey colony includes multiple Hall of Famers — and some riders who are surely headed there someday — and Eclipse Award winners; even the best riders can find themselves going through dry spells or struggling for mounts.

Lenclud, although riding mostly longshots, has more than held his own. His record through Saturday stands at 118-7-9-13, with those seven victories ranking him 14th in the standings. He’ll again finish the meet as the top apprentice.

“It’s actually went a lot better than what I was expecting,” Lenclud said. “It’s always better that way, you know? I was a little ambitious, I thought maybe I could try to win five. I’m already on my seventh. So I’m pretty happy with that.”

Lenclud has drawn rave reviews for some of his signature rides at the meet this summer. Over a sloppy track on opening day, he guided longshot Le Mi Geaux to a late-running win in the Schuylerville, a race where even trainer Rick Dutrow thought she was perhaps overmatched. On Aug. 19, Lenclud found himself second to last early aboard the maiden Mountain Town; he began picking off horses in the upper stretch and then, in a nifty piece of riding, found a seam on the rail at the sixteenth pole and burst through for the victory.

Now, his goal is to finish the meet strong before returning to Kentucky for the fall.

“I’m going to try to win more and more here if I can,” he said. “That’d be nice, if I can win without my bug, you know? So people see I can win without it.”