FOR the second week running the champion jockey, Christophe Soumillon, was at the centre of a row concerning the state of the turf at ParisLongchamp.

And, while the role of France Galop, the sport’s governing body, in this ongoing controversy is far from beyond reproach, Soumillon’s own conduct has prompted some to ask if the Belgian is getting too big for his boots?

After the front-running U S Navy Flag momentarily lost his front legs before the halfway point of the Poule d’Essai des Poulains, Soumillon, who was not adversely affected by the incident, took it upon himself to rage at the stewards.

He claimed that the course was dangerous, just as he had done seven days earlier, and demanded that the upcoming Poule d’Essai des Pouliches should avoid the troublesome patch of ground by being moved from the ‘moyenne piste’ to the ‘grande piste’.

The facts of the matter are these: the ground on parts of the ‘moyenne piste’ is patchy and chewed up, partly owing to an inexcusable lack of attention by the groundstaff during the two and a half fallow years while racing was suspended for grandstand redevelopment and partly as a result of the extremely volatile weather over the preceding couple of months.

Aidan O’Brien himself, trainer of U S Navy Flag, is a stickler for walking the course before he allows members of his string to run, and fell some way short of criticising the racing surface, simply saying: “U S Navy Flag gave the impression of having stumbled or having taken a false step. We didn’t report anything to the stewards.”

CONSULTATION

But the combustible Monsieur Soumillon was not to be placated. And, having called for the trainers of all 14 Pouliches starters to take part in a hastily-arranged consultation, the stewards made the decision to switch the fillies’ classic to the ‘grande piste’.

Ironically, France-Galop had only months before (again after consultation with racing professionals) taken the decision to move the Poulains and Pouliches off the ‘grande piste’, as the mile start on that course is close to a bend and therefore puts horses drawn wide at a considerable disadvantage.

All of this was not lost on Mauricio Delcher, whose Pouliches fancy, Coeur De Beaute, was drawn 14 of 14.

Even before his filly had stayed on strongly from the rear to finish a never-nearer short neck second in the classic, Delcher said: “What was a bad draw on the ‘moyenne piste’ is now a much worse draw on the ‘grande piste’.”

“You shouldn’t change things at the last minute and it’s certainly not normal that a single person decides on behalf of everyone else. The decision should not depend on the opinion of just one jockey.”

The stewards were put into a difficult position and Delcher was not the only person present to disagree with their decision.

The Pouliches was delayed for half an hour and the hiatus affected some of its participants more than others.

For it then to be won by a Teppal, a well-drawn filly, able to race close to a slow pace before kicking for home and beating four fast-finishing high-drawn rivals forced to come from the back of the pack, only made matters worse.

Perhaps swayed by an incident at Lyon Parilly just 72 hours earlier where racing was abandoned following a melee on the home bend when two jockeys were hurt (including Theo Bachelot, whose knee injury forced him to miss the ride aboard the Group 3 Prix de Saint-Georges victor, City Light), the stewards acceded to Soumillon’s wishes.

In so doing, they leave themselves open to accusations of being weak, just as they did when a small number of protestors caused them to abandon a Saint-Cloud card last October that was meant to feature two Group 1 juvenile races.