Ryan Moore’s sudden departure on holiday is to help him recover from an injury he was carrying during last week’s Glorious Goodwood meeting, it has been suggested. The former champion jockey, now often referred to in Britain as the best Flat jockey in the world, was seen to limp on several occasions during Goodwood and is thought to be getting over a problem with his hip.
Aidan O’Brien indicated as much on Tuesday night. “He was having trouble with a hip,” the Irish trainer said. “I knew that the last while and you could see he was lame while he was walking but I wasn’t speaking to him since.”
Michael Bell, for whom Moore rode a valuable winner in Friday’s Betfred Mile aboard Franklin D, said on Wednesday: “I didn’t notice a limp but he has had an issue, I was aware of that from talking to one of the other jockeys. It’s obviously not a major injury and it certainly didn’t affect his riding but he is carrying something and he just wants to give it time.
“There is wear and tear for jockeys and this is a dull week, racing-wise. If you don’t get suspensions, as he tends not to, you still need to take your foot off the gas from time to time. He needs some box rest, I imagine.”
Other trainers for whom Moore rode last week, including Richard Fahey and Kevin Ryan, said they noticed nothing physically wrong with the rider. However, footage shown on Channel 4 Racing of jockeys arriving at the track each day clearly shows Moore limping. His limp appeared to become less pronounced as the week progressed and was not as evident once racing began each day, when he was moving slowly among crowds in the paddock and winner’s enclosure.
Moore is now in Portugal on holiday and has indicated he expects to return on Friday, though he has withdrawn from Saturday’s Shergar Cup at Ascot. O’Brien did not know whether Moore would take the ride on Caravaggio in the Phoenix Stakes at The Curragh on Sunday. It is surely a ride that Moore will be anxious to take if he can, as the juvenile was an impressive winner of the Coventry Stakes last time and is no bigger than 7-2 for next year’s 2,000 Guineas.
Moore’s agent, Tony Hind, who is also on holiday, said he had not been told of any injury to the jockey. The two spoke on Saturday night, when the jockey asked Hind not to book any rides for him in Britain for the next few days, as he was taking a holiday.
Moore’s holiday has had an impact on the market for this year’s champion jockey, for which he is now a general 5-1 shot, having got down as low as 15-8 on Tuesday. While it has been well known for years that Moore is not especially interested in another title and would rather keep himself fresh for the big races, he now sits just one winner behind the reigning champion, Silvestre de Sousa, at the top of the table with two months to go.
Now that punters have been newly convinced that Moore is not targetting the title, De Sousa is once more a strong favourite at odds of 1-4, despite having gone through a quiet spell in recent weeks. James Doyle is seen as the only other realistic contender at 5-1.
A record entry of 256 has been revealed for the races on Champions Day at Ascot in mid-October, an increase of 11% on last year. The Champion Stakes itself can boast 23 individual Group One winners among its initial draft, including the first three home in the Eclipse Stakes, Hawkbill, The Gurkha and Time Test, as well as Almanzor, the French Derby winner.
