If there was a downside to winning a HK$16 million race on Good Ba Ba, jockey Christophe Soumillon was acutely aware of it as the close friend who had been unceremoniously sacked from the champion miler watched on television while Soumillon tore the heart out of the Hong Kong Mile field.
The Belgian's post race celebrations were lower key than unusual, and he said he had been torn by emotions after he was chosen by trainer Andreas Schutz and owner John Yuen Se-kit to replace Olivier Doleuze (pictured) on the Horse Of The Year.
'It was hard to say yes to the ride, but impossible to say no,' Soumillon said. 'I never imagined in my wildest dreams that Good Ba Ba would race without Olivier on him - to me they were like Silent Witness and Felix Coetzee.
'Olivier, with Andreas and Mr Yuen were a winning team. But something happened, they were no longer on the same wave length and they wanted to find another jockey. It has happened to me before, too.
'I was the rider of Rail Link but I wasn't on him in the Arc when he won and I rode Pride when she was second here the first time but not when she won. It isn't easy when you see one of your horses win without you in a big race.'
Soumillon had won on Good Ba Ba much earlier in his career and believes that was the reason why he was asked to take the ride.
