When Ryan Moore was ruled out for most of 2025 due to injury, many feared Coolmore’s sensational season was suddenly in jeopardy.
Moore’s lingering femoral stress fracture eventually proved too much to bear, even though most jockeys would be sidelined by such an injury.
In fact, after the injury flared on Irish Derby Day, Moore still won five more Group 1 races, keeping Aidan O’Brien on track for the most Group or Grade 1 wins worldwide in a calendar year. O’Brien now has 18, chasing his own record of 28 set in 2017.
The Coolmore operation is a well-oiled machine: every cog has a purpose. That only added to the anxiety when Moore was sidelined.
Moore is Mr Dependable, a rider who reads a race like few others. The Englishman’s calm temperament is key when it comes to the big moments – something his partnership with Coolmore provides him with plenty of chances to prove.
That’s why Coolmore’s move to name Christophe Soumillon interim number-one rider was so startling. Sure, his ability to read a race is comparable with Moore, but temperament? More like temperamental.
Soumillon is more like Coolmore’s retained jockey from the 2000s, Kieren Fallon. He has had a colourful career but, when the Belgian is in top form, he is Adonis on horseback.
His rush of blood when he elbowed Rossa Ryan off his horse days before the 2022 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe was a reminder that, unlike Moore, Soumillon is prone to moments of madness.
But for all the controversy in his two-decade career, Soumillon remains the jockey most idolised by his peers, who admire his brilliance, a confidence bordering on arrogance, and his supreme horsemanship. He’s a cult figure in Hong Kong – beloved by punters, owners and trainers alike – and some of the biggest names on the international racing scene are enamoured by him.
Which brings us to Soumillon’s masterpiece in last Saturday’s G1 Irish Champion Stakes, a crucial race in building the racetrack legacy of star three-year-old Delacroix, especially in the absence of his rival Ombudsman.
Ever since champion mare, the late Tepin, foaled Delacroix in Tipperary in April 2022, he’s been earmarked as a future star for Coolmore’s breeding operation.
Of course that’s the case for most horses on Coolmore’s books, and few ever make it. But Delacroix stands out as a stallion prospect because he has no Galileo or Sadler’s Wells blood, offering a complete outcross to the vast majority of Coolmore mares.
While Delacroix was strong in winning the G1 Eclipse Stakes at Sandown in July, sweeping home from a near-impossible position, brilliance had not been a hallmark of his career. He had not built up an imposing record, nor had he looked a generational star—until the Irish Champion.
From pillar to post, it was perfect from Soumillon. From the outside stall, he easily moved Delacroix into the running lane, one from the inside.
As his weakening stablemate Mount Kilimanjaro fell back towards the field at the two-and-a-half-furlong mark, Soumillon darted back to the inside and Delacroix improved instantly. It was push-button acceleration we hadn’t seen from him at the elite level.
That also allowed Soumillon to angle out to the best going down the stands-side rail, with nothing to hamper him on his outside. He had first opportunity to make use of that ground, and it proved significant.
A three-quarter-length margin over Anmaat perhaps reflects the work Soumillon did to put Delacroix into those positions, but there was no doubting his superiority. And the stallion ads in years to come will replay that final two furlongs again and again.
He may not be Mr Dependable but Soumillon is Mr Majestic, adding that touch of flair that lets his horses soar. ∎
