Soumillon has done his homework for first Derby

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The jockey Christophe Soumillon never has ridden in the Kentucky Derby. He will do so for the first time Saturday when he gets astride Mubtaahij. Do not expect Soumillon to be overwhelmed. Do not expect mistakes.

Soumillon, who turns 34 in June, sports one of the best riding résumés in the world, though he is far less known in North America than some other international riders who have accomplished less. Soumillon twice has won the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (Zarkava in 2008, Dalakhani in 2003). He has won the Japan Cup, multiple Group 1’s in Hong Kong, major races in England, and a Breeders’ Cup Turf on Shirocco in 2005.

All this, but do not expect Soumillon, Belgian by birth but based in France, to rely upon experience and talent to carry the day. The man has done his Derby homework.

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“I looked at the last 30 Derbies a couple times to see how you win it, but what I learned is there is no sure way,” Soumillon said Wednesday after taking Mubtaahij on a measured tour of the Churchill main track. “You need to be a good judge of pace, but you also need to respect your horse and ride for him. You need to be confident and clever – I saw some favorites that took the lead in the backstretch and stopped late. It’s more easy to lose this race than win it, for sure.”

Soumillon is trainer Mike de Kock’s big-race rider and has ridden Mubtaahij in only one of his seven starts, an eight-length victory in the United Arab Emirates Derby, the race that sent Mubtaahij on to Kentucky.

“I said to Mike right after the race, if we are to bring one horse for the Derby, this is definitely the one,” said Soumillon. “He was traveling very easy all the time. Like you can see, he’s not a very impressive horse, but he’s very easy to ride, sits in the middle, not very complicated, and he has a big turn of foot. The biggest thing is his head – he was never trained to be a dirt horse, but he just did it.”

Soumillon never has ridden a dirt winner in North America, but he knows what to expect Saturday.

“I have no plans right now because in America, the races jump so quick that in the first 100 yards, anything can happen,” he said. “The good thing is the horse is very versatile.”

The jockey is versatile, too, and if Mubtaahij proves good enough, there’s every chance his rider won’t get in his way.