🇫🇷🔥 “FRENCH FAULT” — French riders Barzalona and Christophe Soumillon HUMILIATED at Royal Ascot as British organizers accuse them of “FRAUDING LIVE on TV”!
The world of racing is in complete shock. What was supposed to be a prestigious event for the elite of international jockeys has turned into a national humiliation for France. Mickaël Barzalona and Christophe Soumillon, two of the biggest names in French horse racing, are now at the heart of a scandal of unprecedented proportions. On the fourth day of Royal Ascot, an event watched by millions of spectators around the world, an accusation from the British organization had the effect of a bombshell: the two French jockeys allegedly “frauded live on television.”
It all began when several cameras captured a strange exchange between the two French riders just before the start of one of the day’s key races. A glance, a discreet, almost imperceptible gesture, but one that didn’t escape the attention of either the British commentators or the analysts present on site. Social media quickly went into overdrive. Some cried treason, others called it the usual anti-French cabal at Ascot. But it was when the organizers themselves spoke out that the scandal took on an international dimension: “We have video evidence of an attempt to manipulate the race involving these two jockeys,” said a British official on condition of anonymity.
For French fans, it’s a stab in the back. Barzalona, ​​a hero of the racetrack with his historic victory in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, and Soumillon, a true living legend in the saddle for over two decades, being dragged through the mud on the world stage? Impossible to believe. Yet the footage is there, analyzed frame by frame by English broadcasters. In the incriminating sequence, we see Barzalona move slightly closer to Soumillon, a brief wave, then the two riders subtly reposition themselves. All this before a catastrophic start for their respective mounts, who finished far behind the favorites.
The reactions were swift. “FRENCH FAULT” quickly trended on X (formerly Twitter), accompanied by comments ranging from astonishment to outright rage. For some British observers, this was a “deliberate practice aimed at skewing results for betting reasons.” For others, particularly in the French camp, it was simply a biased interpretation fueled by exacerbated British chauvinism. “When an English jockey falls, it’s an accident. When a French jockey loses, it’s treason?” indignantly asks one internet user who is a loyal follower of the racecourses.
For their part, neither Barzalona nor Soumillon have officially reacted, but their close circles denounce a conspiracy fabricated to divert attention from the British horses’ own failures at this edition of Royal Ascot. Some even go so far as to point out that these accusations come at a strange time, given that several French horses, trained by big names like Jean-Claude Rouget and Francis-Henri Graffard, have shone in recent weeks on British soil.
In this affair, beyond truth or manipulation, it is above all the image of French horse racing that is at stake. Just a few months before the major summer events, notably the Prix de Diane and the Grand Prix de Paris, this controversy risks weighing heavily on the morale of French stables. One thing is certain: this Royal Ascot 2025 will be remembered, not for its sporting exploits, but for the public humiliation inflicted on two of the greatest jockeys France has ever known. The divide between the French and British horse racing worlds has never been so deep.
