Ryan Moore Out for Remainder of Season

The international racing scene has been rocked by confirmation that leading jockey Ryan Moore will miss the remainder of the season after scans revealed a fracture in his right femur, reports racingpost.com. The setback rules him out of the Irish Champions Festival, the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, and several other major European fixtures. Aidan O’Brien revealed the news at the Curragh, where Moore had been stood down from his intended rides after ongoing pain became too much to ignore. The problem traces back to Irish Derby weekend, when Moore began riding through discomfort that only worsened in the weeks that followed. O’Brien admitted they had tried every treatment option before sending him for scans that finally confirmed the stress fracture. “Since the Irish Derby weekend he’s been struggling with it but he’s been doing his best with it. When they found a stress fracture in his femur that was the answer. There is only one thing that is going to fix it and that’s time,” O’Brien explained. He added that Moore had been effectively competing with a broken leg for two months, remarking that “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.” There were several moments that may have aggravated the injury further. O’Brien pointed to an incident in Germany when Moore’s mount whipped around heading to the start and the jockey landed awkwardly on his feet, as well as other misdiagnosed niggles around his knee and heel. Ultimately, it was not until Friday’s scan that the true extent of the damage was made clear. O’Brien said, “Ryan runs a lot and they think it could be running and that might have originally started it.” When asked if he expected Moore to ride again this season, he admitted it would be highly unlikely. The timing is particularly difficult given Wayne Lordan, Moore’s key deputy at Ballydoyle, has been suspended for ten days following a Goodwood ride, sidelining him from both the Irish Champions Festival and the St Leger at Doncaster. While Lordan has appealed, O’Brien conceded the stable faces a testing period. “We have plenty of jockeys and the lads are all there but Wayne is gone for Irish Champions Festival at the moment. All the usual people, they’re all there, so everyone will row in,” he said. Moore departs the season having added more top-level wins at York’s Ebor festival, including Group 1 success aboard Minnie Hauk in the Yorkshire Oaks.