Soumillon handed Hurrcane chance

Kieren Fallon’s brilliance in the saddle combined with his ferocious will-to-win has endeared the Irish rider to many punters over the years.

But his enforced absence from Ascot tomorrow offers Christophe Soumillon the perfect opportunity to silence his critics on these shores.

The Belgian rider lacks for nothing in confidence and has few peers when it comes to riding around Chantilly or Longchamp, where he loves nothing more than taking a cheeky look round at his toiling rivals in the shadow of the winning post and twirling his whip in celebration.

But legions of punters in betting shops up and down Britain were probably forthright in their opinions when he encountered a fair degree of trouble in running on the luckless Ouija Board in the Coral-Eclipse Stakes at Sandown Park earlier this month.

A real stylist and very different in manner to the powerful six-times former champion Fallon, he has yet to record a success from 20 attempts around the Berkshire venue.

He is now reunited with Hurricane Run, arguably the supreme middle-distance horse in the world and hot favourite for one of the highlights of the season, the King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes.

Soumillon will be riding the Andre Fabre-trained son of Montjeu for the first time since Coolmore swooped to buy him before the Budweiser Irish Derby, and for the fifth time in public.

Fabre is adamant Soumillon is the man for the job but it could turn into a tactical affair with just six runners and the colt’s supporters will be praying the four-year-old is in the right place at the right time to cement his position among the world’s elite.

Tomorrow would be the perfect time to prove French master Fabre correct - something like the performance which saw his sire win in an absolute canter in 2000 under Mick Kinane would do nicely.