Christophe Soumillon: Leading French jockey loses contract with Aga Khan after elbowing Rossa Ryan off horse | Racing News
2 min readChristophe Soumillon has had his retainer with Aga Khan ended with
immediate effect after elbowing fellow jockey Rossa Ryan off his horse last Friday at Saint-Cloud.
The Belgian, who has been champion jockey in France 10 times and has won major races all over the world, has had a controversial summer.
He first picked up a lengthy ban when winning the Eclipse at Sandown on Vadeni, allowing his mount to drift to his right shortly after the line in celebration, narrowly avoiding a major incident.
Then on Friday at Saint-Cloud, Soumillon moved to his right mid-race in the Prix Thomas Bryon, sticking out an elbow, which forced Rossa Ryan on Ralph Beckett’s Captain Wierzba to be unseated in a horror incident.
Speaking exclusively to Sky Sports Racing in the immediate aftermath of the race, Soumillon said: « I received a little bit of pressure from Rossa on my outside as I tried to keep a better position behind Ryan [Moore, on Continuous].
« I put my elbow against him just to make him understand I wasn’t going to the inside. Straight away I knew I made a mistake and I’m terribly sad with what happened because I hate seeing stuff like this.
« I really want to apologise to everyone. I’m happy Rossa is fine but this was not a nice act on my side and I’m terribly sorry. »
Soumillon was given a 60-day suspension by the France-Galop stewards but the fact the ban did not kick in immediately angered many and he was allowed to take his high-profile mounts on Arc weekend, and he went on to finish second in the big race itself on Vadeni.
A statement issued on social media by the Aga Khan Studs read: « Following last Friday’s incident at Saint-Cloud, which resulted in the fall of Rossa Ryan, the Aga Khan Studs have taken the decision to cease their retainer with Christophe Soumillon with immediate effect.
« From this week onwards, Soumillon may still ride in the Aga Khan silks on occasion at the discretion of the French trainers and the Aga Khan Studs team.
« At this stage, there is no intention to retain a jockey in France for the foreseeable future.
« Christophe Soumillon was the Aga Khan’s retained rider in France from 2002 to 2009 and from 2014 to 2022. »