Young star gets vote of confidence

Irish Champion Stakes Profile of Christophe SoumillonBrian O'Connor looks at the career to date of the Belgian jockey who rides Azamour today in place of the injured Mick Kinane

Christophe Soumillon has never been to Leopardstown before but as first experiences go you would think that Azamour in today's Baileys Irish Champion Stakes would be pretty much the ideal partner for France's top jockey.

After all Azamour is the hot favourite, the defending champion and many people's idea of being just about the best horse running anywhere in the world right now.

Except it's not as easy as that.

To the uninitiated Leopardstown might look straightforward enough. Mostly flat with a gradual uphill finish and a long sweeping bend, it does look innocuous. Hardly a doom-laden Epsom or Chester. But there's a bite to it that those who know it well are only all too aware of.

"I would say of all the tracks in Ireland, it is definitely the one that takes most riding," asserts the former champion jockey Christy Roche who for years was acknowledged as the unrivalled master around the Foxrock course. "It's hard to explain why but I do know that the lads who know it have a definite advantage."

Roche was a Champion Stakes winner on Assert 23 years ago and was beaten a whisker on St Jovite in 1992. He has been impressed by what he has seen of Soumillon on television but concedes that Michael Kinane's injury does bring a small element of doubt into the Azamour equation.

"Soumillon looks an excellent rider. Loads of bottle and he looks like he doesn't give a bollocks what people think of him. Azamour is a great ride for him too, not difficult and he can simply follow what he wants through. If he waits long enough, he'll win.

"But no one rides Leopardstown like Mick. It's just a place where you can get into an awful lot of trouble. From the five-furlong pole to the two mark is where it happens.

"There's an awful lot of turn and a lot of fellas just make their run way too soon. That's why Soumillon should wait as long as he possibly can," Roche advises.

Crucially Soumillon will ride the track before the big race and as one of the most impressive big-race riders in Europe at the moment there is no doubt his brain will be ticking over at a rate of knots processing the bits of information that can be so crucial. A short but spectacular career to date proves few can do the computations quicker.

Now 24, Soumillon, who was born and raised outside Brussels in Belgium, has graduated to become the unquestioned number one rider in France. Already this year he appears guaranteed of another Cravache d'Or, the French jockeys championship, and is reportedly a more mature version of the youngster who burst on the classic scene with Anabaa Blue's French Derby success in 2001.

Even then the words cocky and Soumillon were being used the same way as salt and pepper. Dalakhani's majestic three-year-old career in 2003 even threw up the startling image of his rider's contemptuous waving to the opposition in another French Derby triumph. But time apparently is starting to smooth some of the edges.

Soumillon is now married, to Sophie, the 1998 Miss France no less, and the couple are soon to become parents for the first time. Professionally there is also the knowledge that his principal boss, the Aga Khan, retains the utmost confidence in his jockey.

Already this year the pair have struck Group One gold in Ireland with Shawanda's Oaks triumph but that confidence is most important in the light of what happened to Soumillon in his previous most high profile challenge in Ireland.

The memory of how an impetuous and ill-judged ride on Dalakhani in the Irish Derby blighted an otherwise spotless career has to still nag at the jockey. It could have happened anywhere in the world, but the fact it happened here will add a certain frisson to today's challenge.

"That was part of a learning curve for Christophe but tell me anyone who has never been on a learning curve. Yes, it would have been nice for Dalakhani to remain unbeaten, but it wasn't to be and everything was redeemed subsequently," says Pat Downes, bloodstock manager to the Aga Khan in Ireland.

"He's a confident young man and some interpret that as cockiness sometimes. But he's obviously a top-class rider and providing he stays hale and hearty the best should still be ahead of him. He is quite tall but seems able to manage his weight so that shouldn't be a factor," Downes adds.

There is also the encouraging evidence that Soumillon himself clearly believes he is still far from the finished article. In an interview during the summer he declared: "I've only developed 70 per cent of my true potential."

For those struggling to keep up with him already around Longchamp and Chantilly, it's little wonder that such statements arouse accusations of arrogance that carry more than a little whiff of jealousy.

In the same interview Soumillon expressed the hope he would be able to ride an international star who would raise his profile even further outside France.

With Michael Kinane itching to get back in the saddle after the fractured wrist that ruled him out of today Azamour looks like being a once-off opportunity.

But the fact that he was the automatic name to substitute for the six-time Champion Stakes winning legend will have been noted by Soumillon.

"Lots of countries have their own styles of riding. Like it's different in the US say compared to here," says Christy Roche. "When I look at Azamour I can see everything about him being Mick's style. The way he sits still on the horse, and then winds him up, everything. Soumillon is very good, but is he a Mick?"

No doubt, Christophe would take the view that he doesn't want to be Mick and is quite happy being himself.

And that sort of confidence on board that sort ability looks a winning combination.

Born: June 4th, 1981 in Brussels

Apprentice: To Cedric Boutin and then Andre Fabre in 1999.

First Classic: Anabaa Blue in 2001 Prix du Jockey Club.

Other French Classics: 1,000 Guineas - Musical Chimes (2003); 2000 Guineas - Vahorimix (2001) and Clodovil (2003); Derby - Dalakhani (2003); Oaks - Latice (2004.)

Retained by: The Aga Khan since October 2001.

Arc de Triomphe: Dalakhani (2003)

Irish Classics: Shawanda (2005 Oaks)