Leparoux embarked on his professional riding career in the summer of 2005 at
Saratoga Race Course where he earned his first win on July 26 on Easter Guardian. For 2006, Julien Leparoux won 403 races to
lead all jockeys in the United States. His total wins and earnings of $12,491,316 for the year were the most by an apprentice jockey in racing history. He was voted the 2006
Eclipse Award for Outstanding Apprentice Jockey. Leparoux "lost the bug" in September 2006, referring to the five-pound weight allowance an apprentice (bug) jockey is given. Despite this, Leparoux continued winning riding titles, including Turfway's winter/spring meet, Keeneland's spring meet and Churchill Downs' spring/summer meet. On June 27, 2007, Leparoux became only the fifth jockey in the 133-year history of
Churchill Downs to ride six winners on a single card. On November 11, 2008, he rode seven winners on a single racecard at Churchill Downs, tying a twenty-four-year-old record set by
Pat Day on June 20, 1984. Leparoux had a career best year in 2009, capped by wins in the
Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile on Furthest Land, the
Filly & Mare Sprint on Informed Decision and the
Juvenile Fillies on She Be Wild. In 2012, Leparoux decided to switch from the Kentucky circuit (Churchill Downs, Keeneland and Turfway Park) to New York, then moved to California to be closer to his then-fiancée's family. At the end of 2013, now married, he moved back to Kentucky. "I wanted to come back here for my career, the same routine I was used to," explained Leparoux. "I'm still young where I want to be at the top and ride a lot of races and try to win as much as I can... And we want to start a family, and I think Kentucky is a great place. It requires a lot of moving around for a family, but a lot of jockeys do it." Leparoux had one of his best chances to win the
Kentucky Derby in 2012 with the talented colt
Union Rags but could only finish seventh after a troubled trip. Leparoux told the horse's trainer that he had heard a pop (indicative of a possible injury) with three-eighths of a mile remaining in the race, but no problem was found the day after. The trainer called the race a disaster and replaced Leparoux for the Belmont Stakes with John Velazquez. Union Rags won the Belmont but never raced again due to an injury to his suspensory ligament. The highlights of 2016 included several notable wins on Tepin, including the
Queen Anne Stakes at
Royal Ascot in June. Leparoux was also invited to ride Sir Dudley Digges in Canada's most prestigious event, the
Queen's Plate at Woodbine racetrack on July 3. He rode in 11 races at Churchill Downs the day before the race, then flew to Toronto with only a few hours of sleep and won at odds of 16-1. Leparoux rode
Classic Empire to victory in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile.
Keeneland statistics Leparoux is a regular rider at the Keeneland spring and fall race meetings and has achieved a number of milestones at the track. , he has: • Tied for fourth by stakes wins (52) and fifth by total wins (403). • Won the leading rider title 10 times. • Won the 2015 Breeders' Cup Mile (G1) on Tepin on Oct. 31. • Won six races on a 10-race card on April 20, 2012, tying Craig Perret and Randy Romero for the most wins on a single card. ==Year-end charts==