Pierre Boudvillain, a new hero if Music Time wins Golden Slipper

The romance around the Golden Slipper never ceases to captivate audiences from both Australia and around the world, but the 2026 edition on March 21 comes with an extra “je ne sais quoi” that makes it no less enthralling.

Narratives about how dreams coming true for only 0.1 per cent of the 12,000 foals born annually in Australia to make it to the final 16 of the world’s richest two-year-old race have long sold racing papers.

This year’s version is no different, but one unique story has emerged as a lot less horse-centric, and with a distinctive French twist.

Pierre Boudvillain’s name sits among the Craig Williams, James McDonald, Jamie Melham and Jason Collett like the crusty fragrance of a freshly baked baguette wafting its way through a stack of meat pies in a Sydney bakery.

The cliche is not new, though. A few French jockeys like Remi Tremsal, ex-Kranji hoop Louis Beuzelin and the nouvelle vague of Damien Boche and Valentin Le Boeuf have braved the 14,000km separating the two countries in search of the Antipodean dream.

Boudvillain is, however, the first long-term licensed Frenchman to ride in an Australian Group 1, let alone the A$5 million (S$4.5 million) Group 1 Golden Slipper (1,200m). Melbourne Cup winners Gerald Mosse (Americain in 2010) and Christophe Lemaire (Dunaden in 2011) were visiting jockeys.

While the journey of his mount Music Time from the less “2YO haven” Canberra to Rosehill is remarkable in itself, it is eclipsed by the 38-year-old jockey’s own trek from his native Bourgogne to the glittering stage of one of Australian racing’s Grand Slam races.

If not for a sliding doors moment in 2016, he would not even have called Australia home today.

“I was riding in Guadeloupe and was meant to move to New Caledonia to try out the racing there,” said the Canberra-based Boudvillain.

“But I wanted to stop over in Sydney to catch up with a friend. I haven’t left since.”

As foreign jockeys have found out about getting a licence Down Under, the Australian authorities do not roll out a red carpet.

Being 28 at the time, not an age that would blow doors wide open in racing, Boudvillain’s own tale was a vaudeville of ups and downs.

But his resilience and strong work ethic brought a new spin to the French resistance.

Starting off with ex-Macau trainer Gary Moore, he rode only trackwork for seven years for various trainers such as Chris Waller and Gwenda Markwell in Kembla Grange, and at interstate stints in Brisbane and Ballarat.

Boudvillain was happy. For someone who once turned his back on a career as a jockey when he left France seeking a new life, disenchanted at the apprentice school at Moulin a Vent in Chantilly, this did not feel like treading water.

“I actually once gave up when I saw how cut-throat life as a jockey in France would be,” said Boudvillain who rode only briefly in France, and over jumps at Maisons-Laffitte.

“As I wanted to see the world, I rode in Guadeloupe. I was champion jockey there in 2014.

“I could only ride trackwork in Australia at first, and had to wait for seven years before I finally got my jockey’s licence.”

As many foreign hoops would testify, the precious racing “green card” is no guarantee to a place in the sun in Australia’s fiercely competitive riding ranks.

That is where Boudvillain – who has two sons, Alistair, two and Tristan, one, with Australian partner Nellia – bucked the trend, instead making a meteoric rise nobody had seen coming, albeit on the less glamorous New South Wales (NSW) country circuit.

“I thought it’d be tough, especially as I was 35 and not claiming since I had already had 70 winners in Guadeloupe,” he said.

“But, I’m the first to be surprised how my riding career just took off at my first full season (2024-25), especially since I won on Urafiki at my very first ride for Danielle Seib (in Goulburn), who to this day, is my main supporter.

“This year, I’m way ahead on the NSW country log on 93 winners and won my first Group race with Music Time in the Group 3 Black Opal Stakes (1,200m on March 8).”

Come what may, the Gratz Vella-trained Music Time will be the milestone horse he never dreamt of.

“The Black Opal was his goal and he was supposed to go to the paddock after that,” said Boudvillain, who has yet to win from his 30-plus rides in the city.

“But the owners decided to pay up the late entry fee of A$150,000. When they called me last Thursday, I was over the moon.

“It already means a lot to me that I ride in a race many jockeys dream of and never get a chance to ride in, especially as I’m a country jockey.

“We didn’t get there by chance, there was a lot of hard work behind. I know the horse well for having ridden him at all his three wins.

“He’s up against better horses, but Gratz has trained him well. It’ll be a dream come true if he wins, but I’ll still be super happy if he runs in the top 5.”

manyan@sph.com.sg