Ryan Moore, seen by many in the sport as the world’s finest big-race jockey, will ride the “main horses” for Aidan O’Brien’s powerful Ballydoyle stable in the new Flat season. The announcement seemingly confirms that Joseph O’Brien, the trainer’s son, has conceded defeat in his long-running battle against the scales.
Confirmation that Moore will ride Ballydoyle’s leading contenders in the Classics and other major Flat races follows weeks of speculation that O’Brien Jr, who has ridden two of the past three winners of the Derby for his father, will be unable to ride at the Classic weight of nine stone this summer. O’Brien, who is 21 years old and nearly 6ft tall, rode over hurdles for the first time in his career last month, and while he rode on the Flat at Cork last weekend for the first time since late February, he was required to weigh in only at 9st 5lb.
Moore has ridden regularly for Aidan O’Brien in the past, when the trainer has had more than one runner in a major race, and steered Ruler Of The World to victory in the Derby in 2013. He also won the 1,000 Guineas in 2012 on O’Brien’s Homecoming Queen.
Speaking to the Racing Post at Tipperary racecourse on Thursday evening, Aidan O’Brien said: “Ryan will be riding our main horses this year and Joseph will be riding other horses when the weights allow him to. Seamie Heffernan and Colm O’Donoghue will also be involved as in the past. I’d imagine that if he wants to, Joseph will continue to ride over hurdles.”
Moore is booked to ride for the Ballydoyle stable at Leopardstown on Sunday, when his mounts will include John F Kennedy, the ante-post favourite for the Derby at Epsom in June, in the Ballysax Stakes.
The news that Moore will take over on the stable’s principal runners appears to mark the conclusion of a brief but hugely successful career at the pinnacle of Flat racing for the trainer’s son. Most jockeys fail to record even a single Group One victory, but in addition to his two wins in the Derby, Joseph O’Brien has also enjoyed success in the Irish Derby, at the Breeders’ Cup meeting in the United States and on World Cup night at Meydan in Dubai. He has also been Ireland’s champion Flat jockey twice, in 2012 and 2013.
