Jacques Ricou joins Willie Mullins for winter stint

Leading French jockey Jacques Ricou will arrive in Ireland for the first time later this week after signing up for a winter stint riding out for Willie Mullins.

A multiple champion jockey in his homeland, Ricou is perhaps best known to British and Irish racegoers as the rider of the ill-fated Jair Du Cochet, who won a number of big prizes this side of the Channel before suffering a fatal injury when being prepared for the 2004 Cheltenham Gold Cup.

In the subsequent decade Ricou has continued to ply his trade at the highest level, adding to his Grade One tally in 2015 aboard Grand Steeple-Chase de Paris winner Milord Thomas and top-class filly Kotkikova.