Horse Jockey Banned 2 Months For Pushing Opponent Off Mount During Race

Horse jockey Christophe Soumillon was left apologizing after a seemingly-scumbag move during a race on Friday -- appearing to deliberately shove his opponent off his mount ... causing him to tumble to the ground.

The moment happened at the Saint-Cloud racecourse in France ... when the Belgian star seemingly stuck his elbow out to force Rossa Ryan to lose balance and abandon his horse.

Ryan landed harshly and took several tumbles before coming to a halt ... but thankfully, he was able to stand up and get off the track.

Soumillon was disqualified from the race and handed a two-month suspension for his actions ... which has fans pissed, as many on social media were calling for a lifetime ban.

Soumillon later apologized for the incident ... saying he put his elbow out in hopes of making him aware he wasn't moving toward the inside of the track.

"Unfortunately, when I asked my horse to go there and to the right I pushed him for a stride or two and he fell off," Soumillon explained.

"Straight away, I knew I made a mistake. I'm terribly sad with what happened because I hate seeing stuff like this."

"It was not a nice act on my side, and I'm terribly sorry and I want to apologize for what I did today."

Soumillon says he met with Ryan afterward ... and he appeared to be okay.