Christophe Soumillon will be crowned France’s champion jockey for the tenth time after reigning title-holder Pierre-Charles Boudot announced he would have no more rides this year.
Soumillon, 37, led his younger rival by only nine winners, 182 to 173.
Christophe Soumillon
However, the Frenchman took to social media to announce that he would not ride the remaining four flat meetings this year and, therefore, would be handing over the Cravache d’Or to his Belgian adversary.
A weary but proud Soumillon – constantly among the top three jockeys over the past five years – said that this was a “reward for hard work” and conceded that once he got “past a certain age, it would become harder”.
“The last three or four weeks, battling with Pierre-Charles for the title, have been a lot of fun from my point of view,” said Soumillon, who is currently ranked 25 in the TRC Global Rankings. Boudot is #38.
Soumillon now sits five titles behind record holder Yves Saint-Martin, who won 15 championships.
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