Background
The son of a pastry chef, Jean-Luc Samyn was one of three children.
The son of a pastry chef, Jean-Luc Samyn was one of three children.
At age thirteen, he went to work for the stable of trainer John Cunnington at Chantilly, a racecourse about 50 kilometers (31 mi) north of Paris city center. After a visit to the United States, Jean-Luc Samyn returned permanently to compete. In 1976, he was the top apprentice jockey at Garden State Park in Cherry Hill, New Jersey and then at Keystone Racetrack in Bensalem, Pennsylvania.
In 1977, Samyn relocated to race at New York Racing Association tracks where he has been based ever since.
Samyn had a long a successful association with the late United States. Racing Hall of Fame trainer, Philip G. Johnson, winning more than four hundred races together. On November 20, 1985, Jean-Luc Samyn rode in the Japan Cup at Tokyo Racecourse, then immediately flew to Los Angeles, California where he rode in the Matriarch Stakes at Hollywood Park Racetrack.
According to his NTRA biography, this is believed to be the first time a jockey has ridden in a stakes race on different continents on the same day. In 2000, Samyn swept New York"s final prep races for the three Breeders" Cup turf races with wins in the Flower Bowl Invitational Stakes, Turf Classic Invitational Stakes, and the Kelso Handicap.
During his more than thirty-year career in American flat racing, Jean-Luc Samyn has earned wins in a number of major New York races including the Grade I Flower Bowl Invitational Stakes a record four times.
As at 2009, Samyn is the dean of New York"s jockey colony.