With all due respect to Lord Allen of Kensington, who finally took up his role as chair of the British Horseracing Authority on Monday promising to turn the sport into \u201ca modern commercial and cultural powerhouse\u201d, the big news of the past few days as far as most punters are concerned was that Ryan Moore, Aidan O\u2019Brien\u2019s stable jockey, will miss the rest of the campaign after sustaining a fractured femur.<\/p>\n
There is never a good time to lose your stable jockey, but the timing of Moore\u2019s enforced absence could hardly be worse for O\u2019Brien\u2019s Ballydoyle yard as the 2025 Flat season enters its crucial final phase in Europe, the United States, Australia, Japan and Hong Kong.<\/p>\n
The seven-week period from 13 September, which is St Leger day in Britain and the first afternoon of Ireland\u2019s Champions Weekend at Leopardstown and the Curragh, includes the two-day Arc meeting at Longchamp, Future Champions Day and Champions Day in Britain and the Breeders\u2019 Cup meeting at Del Mar in California on 31 October and 1 November.<\/p>\n
Ballydoyle is, ultimately, in the business of making stallions, and these are the races that will determine the fees on the Coolmore Stud roster when the stable\u2019s current crop of Group One horses heads into retirement. The difference between a narrow success and a fast-finishing short-head second could equate to millions of euros over the course of a stallion\u2019s stud career.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Brien has moved swiftly to ensure that Christophe Soumillon will fill the gap on many of the key big-race rides, and he will have back-up from Wayne Lordan, the Ballydoyle No 2 and this year\u2019s Derby winner aboard Lambourn<\/a>, although Lordan needs to win an appeal against a riding ban to be available on Champions Weekend.<\/p>\n Soumillon has been freelancing since losing his longstanding contract to ride for the late Aga Khan in October 2022, following a notorious incident<\/a> when he elbowed Rossa Ryan from the saddle mid-race, and rode O\u2019Brien\u2019s Diego Velazquez to victory in the Group One Prix Jacques le Marois at Deauville last month. He also had a Group One double for Ballydoyle at the Arc meeting last year, but has yet to ride a Group One winner for the yard in Britain or Ireland.<\/p>\n Christophe Soumillon will replace Ryan Moore in many of the upcoming key races for Aidan O\u2019Brien. Photograph: Laurent Lairys\/Zuma Press Wire\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n \u201cChristophe has always been [part of the Ballydoyle planning],\u201d O\u2019Brien said on Monday. \u201cHe\u2019s not tied down to anybody now. He\u2019s a world-class jockey everywhere, he\u2019s been riding for us a lot since he\u2019s been released.<\/p>\n \u201cWayne is having his appeal this week and obviously Christophe has ridden a lot for us through the year \u2013 all those things are changing at the moment. I don\u2019t know how long Ryan is going to be [out injured], but we will tell him to take as much time as he wants.\u201d<\/p>\n Among the realistic and available options for Ballydoyle, Soumillon is an obvious choice to step in, with a wealth of big-race experience in the major racing jurisdictions around the world.<\/p>\n But he is still not Moore, who is, according to the detailed global rankings<\/a> compiled by the Thoroughbred Racing Commentary, currently the world\u2019s best big-race jockey, a position he has held for much of the last decade. In all, Moore has spent just over 300 weeks at the head of the TRC ranking system since its inception while John Velazquez, next in the list in terms of time at the top, was the leader for 86 weeks in the pre-Covid era.<\/p>\n Quick GuideGreg Wood’s Tuesday tipsShow<\/p>\n Goodwood 1.48 I Can Dance 2.23 Anaisa 2.58 Another Baar 3.33 Master Vintner 4.08 Novelista 4.43 Bownder 5.18 Rory Rocket<\/p>\n Chepstow 2.00 Punchbowl Flyer 2.35 Zabeel Flower 3.10 Torbay 3.45 Peter The Wolf 4.20 Dragonfly In Amber 4.55 Step Along 5.25 Call Time (nap)<\/p>\n Wolverhampton 5.10 Gilt Edge 5.45 Sydney Rock 6.15\u00a0Polygram 6.45 Veraison 7.15 Beaumadier 7.45 Kodi Fire (nb) 8.15 This Time Maybe 8.45 Coast<\/p>\n Southwell 5.30 Rapper\u2019s Delight 6.00 Codiak 6.30\u00a0Tanjen 7.00 Epidavros 7.30 Crest Of Light 8.00\u00a0Monsieur Kodi 8.30 Lever Up 9.00 Rokuni<\/p>\n Thank you for your feedback.<\/p>\n Moore had, it seems, been riding with an injured femur for a couple of months before it was finally diagnosed last week, and its origin remains unclear. O\u2019Brien suggested at the Curragh on Saturday that it had been an issue since late June, and that Moore, a keen runner, may have sustained a minor fracture while exercising which was then aggravated when he thrown from a horse and landed on his feet in early August.<\/p>\n Ryan Moore and Delacroix after winning the Eclipse Stakes at Sandown. Photograph: Steven Paston for The Jockey Club\/PA<\/p>\n So he was possibly feeling the injury already when he produced one of the rides of the season<\/a> to take the Eclipse Stakes on Delacroix in early July, beating John & Thady Gosden\u2019s Ombudsman into second place. That ride alone made a difference of around \u00a3700k to the UK trainers\u2019 championship standings, in which the Gosdens currently trail O\u2019Brien by just over \u00a3550k.<\/p>\n