Soumillon banned for 60 days after controversial Saint-Cloud incident
Christophe Soumillion, widely regarded as one of the world’s best jockeys, was yesterday hit with a massive 60-day ban for his part in a controversial incident during the running of the Prix Thomas Byron (Gr 3, 1600m) at Saint-Cloud.
Race day stewards came down hard on the Belgian-born rider after he elbowed fellow jockey Rossa Ryan around a 1000 metres from home, forcing Ryan to be unseated from the Ralph Beckett-trained British raider Captain Wierzba (Night Of Thunder), who continued to gallop unharmed with the rest of the field.
Soumillon and his mount Syros (Wootton Bassett) crossed the line three-quarters of a length behind the Aidan O’Brien-trained winner Continuous (Heart’s Cry), before being placed last of the five finishers.
“It’s a very big ban. I accept the sentence for what I did, it was a terrible mistake and I have to be a future example to others,” Soumillon told Sky Sports Racing.
“I received a little bit of pressure from Rossa on my outside, I was just behind him at the time. I put my elbow against him just to let him know I was going to the inside and unfortunately when I asked my horse to stay there, he went a little bit to the right and I pushed him for a stride or two and he fell off.
“Straight away I knew I’d made a mistake. I’m terribly sad with what happened because I hate seeing stuff like this and when you are viewing that, it’s even more terrible.
“I want to apologise to everyone. I’m happy that the horse and Rossa are fine, but for all the people who love racing, it was not a nice act from my side and I’m terribly sorry.”
Soumillon insisted the incident was not intentional.
He added: “I didn’t do it on purpose. I was just trying to keep my position. Maybe I did it with a little too much power, but it was a misjudgement from my side.
“I can understand the criticism, but I wasn’t trying to make Rossa fall off. I don’t understand what happened at that moment because we were going really fast, but it’s a terrible thing. I know a lot of people will not excuse me, but I feel really bad for it.”
After walking away from the incident unscathed, Ryan told the Racing Post: “I just got a bump and lost my balance. It’s just one of those things that happens. I feel disappointed for Ralph and his team bringing him out here, but we’ll move on.
“The horse is fine, I’m fine. That’s the main thing. I’m 100 per cent.”
Soumillon’s ban will start on October 14 and run until December 12, meaning he will be free to ride at Longchamp this weekend where he is due to once again partner French Derby (Gr 1, 2100m) Vadeni (Churchill) in tomorrow’s Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (Gr 1, 2400m).
Soumillon will, however, miss a number of big meetings where he would be expected to be in action, including British Champions Day, the Breeders’ Cup, the Japan Cup and the Hong Kong International Races, while his chance of winning the Cravache d’or – the French Flat jockeys’ championship – appears over. He is 21 winners behind Maxime Guyon.