Ryan Moore’s misfortune in suffering a leg fracture has opened a raft of big-race opportunities for other jockeys this autumn, although it’s a recipe for logistical headaches to Aidan O’Brien.
Ireland’s champion trainer was left in awe of the resilience that his No 1 jockey has shown in overcoming an undiagnosed fractured femur and riding at the top level for the last two months.
However, Moore’s persistent issues were finally established last week and he looks to be all but ruled out for the rest of 2025.
Ahead of the upcoming Irish Champions Festival, the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe spectacular in October, and an international schedule highlighted by the Breeders’ Cup in Del Mar, Moore being forced on to the sidelines could hardly come at a worse time for him or his Coolmore employers.
RM Block
On top of that, the No 1 jockey at Ballydoyle, Wayne Lordan, could also be ruled out of action due to a 10-day ban that runs from September 9th-18th.
It currently rules him out of the Irish Champions Festival (September 13th-14th) while the Doncaster St Leger on Saturday week is also out of the reckoning.
That could change if Lordan gets some success in an upcoming appeal to the British Horseracing Authority over the suspension picked up for winning on Precise at Goodwood. No date has yet been set for that appeal to be heard.
Lordan will be free for potential Group One action at Haydock this Saturday where Whistlejacket is a possible for the Sprint Cup, while the following day sees Longchamp’s Arc trials fixture take place.
They include the Group One Prix Vermeille for which the Pretty Polly and Nassau Stakes winner Whirl could line up. Henri Matisse is also in the mix for Sunday’s Prix Du Moulin over the course and distance at which he won the French Guineas in May.
Beyond that, however, riding arrangements for the powerful Ballydoyle string look to be up in the air.
One major beneficiary of Moore’s injury could prove to be Christophe Soumillon. The Belgian, one of France’s top riders for over two decades, has a proven track record of top-flight success for O’Brien, including the recent Prix Jacques Le Marois at Deauville on Diego Velazquez.
Last year Soumillon won both the Prix de Royallieu and the Prix Jean Luc Lagadere on Grateful and Camille Pissarro respectively over Arc weekend. In 2023 he guided Los Angeles to success in the Criterium de Saint-Cloud. His ties to O’Brien go back to Dylan Thomas and the 2007 Prix Ganay.
The mercurial 10-time French champion has made a seamless return to the top level following a two-month ban for elbowing Rossa Ryan off his horse in a notorious incident at Saint-Cloud in 2022.
Sean Levey, formerly a Ballydoyle apprentice, and successful on Jan Brueghel in last year’s St Leger, is a rider that could come in for more opportunities in Britain over the coming weeks,
On the home front, apprentice Jack Cleary has been notably busy for O’Brien this year. Ronan Whelan has also come in for rides, while Ben Coen was successful on Garden Of Eden in a Listed contest at Naas earlier this season.
Moore’s absence will nevertheless be a major blow for the world’s most powerful racing breeding operation.
Since winning the 2012 edition of the 1,000 Guineas on Homecoming Queen, he and O’Brien have become European racing’s most successful partnership. Their 150th Group/Grade One success together came in June with Whirl victorious in the Pretty Polly Stakes at the Curragh.
“Ryan had been struggling with his right leg since after the Irish Derby and had been getting a lot of stuff done to it, to keep it right, They initially thought it might have been muscles or ligaments but he had a scan yesterday and they found a fracture in his femur,” O’Brien explained.
“Ryan runs a lot and they think it could be running and that might have originally started it. Then in Germany, when he was going to the start on the filly [Garden Of Eden in the German Oaks) she whipped around and he landed on his feet and it could have aggravated it and opened it up.
“In all fairness to him, he’s been riding for probably two months with a fracture to his femur. Talk about concrete, that man is concrete. He’d be very lucky to ride again this season but with a little bit of time he’ll be back,” he added.
