Last Saturday we were brought the shock news that Ballydoyle number one Ryan Moore is likely to miss the rest of the 2025 season with a broken leg. If out for as long as anticipated, the 41-year-old rider will miss rides on leading contenders in the St Leger Stakes, the Irish Champion Stakes, the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, and at the major international Breeders’ Cup and Melbourne Cup festivals.
Ahead of Saturday’s meeting at the Curragh, a few eyebrows were raised when Moore was stood down from his five scheduled rides on the card. However, the reason for his absence soon became clear, with Aidan O’Brien revealing Moore had battled against injury for the past two months:
“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.”
Moore to Miss Ride on Big Names in the Biggest Races
It is believed that Moore may have picked up his injury while jogging and aggravated the fracture when unseated ahead of the German Oaks on the 3rd of August. That he managed to ride on for so long whilst in pain is a testament to his determination. While no timeframe has been given for Moore’s absence, O’Brien stated the three-time Champion Jockey would be “very lucky” to ride again in 2025.
If that suggestion is correct, Moore will miss a stellar book of autumn rides. Having already ridden 12 Group 1 winners for O’Brien in 2025, the Brighton native looked likely to add to that tally, with the following events on the horizon.
- 13th September – St Leger Stakes – Successful with Capri (2017), Kew Gardens (2018), and Continuous (2023), Moore was scheduled to ride either hot favourite Scandinavia or dual-Derby hero Lambourn in the 2025 edition of the Doncaster Classic
- 13th September – Irish Champion Stakes – With a near two-hour gap between the St Leger and the Irish Champion Stakes, Moore was expected to travel between the two meetings to partner the Coral-Eclipse winner Delacroix
- 5th October – Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe – Moore claimed Europe’s leading race with Workforce for Sir Michael Stoute in 2010 and added a second Arc aboard Aidan O’Brien’s Found in 2016. Epsom Oaks one-two Minnie Hauk and Whirl are O’Brien’s leading challengers in 2025, but, barring a miraculous recovery, Moore will have to wait to complete the Arc hat-trick
- 18th October – British Champions Day – Scandinavia, Minnie Hauk, Delacroix, Henri Matisse, Lambourn, and Los Angeles feature among the stellar cast of Aidan O’Brien entries for the seasonal finale at Ascot
- 31st October to 1st November – Breeders’ Cup Festival – Aidan O’Brien will bid to extend his lead as the most successful trainer in Breeders’ Cup history with stars including Charles Darwin, Whirl, Minnie Hauk, and Henri Matisse, but Moore is unlikely to be in the saddle
- 4th November – Melbourne Cup – Moore travelled Down Under to claim Australia’s biggest race with the Anders Wohler-trained Protectionist in 2014. This year, he is set to miss out on partnering the current favourite Scandinavia
O’Brien to Turn to Soumillon for Assistance
Whilst disappointing for Moore and the Ballydoyle team, Moore’s absence opens the door for other jockeys to step into the limelight. As O’Brien’s number two rider, Wayne Lordan is likely to receive an upgraded book of rides over the closing months of the season. However, the 2025 Epsom Derby winner is set to miss the St Leger and Irish Champion Stakes due to a 10-day ban, which runs from the 9th to the 18th of September.
Jack Cleary, Gavin Ryan, and Ronan Whelan have all stepped up to the plate when required in the past. Sean Levey claimed the 2024 St Leger aboard Jan Brueghel and seems likely to feature at Doncaster.
Another name in the mix is Belgian ace Christophe Soumillon. An established star on the global stage, Soumillon partnered Grateful and Camille Pissarro to Group 1 glory on Arc weekend last year. O’Brien suggested the door may be open for Soumillon to add to that record in the coming months, when stating:
“It’s very possible that he could come over to Ireland a bit. He’s a very experienced and very uncomplicated fella, and he’s not tied down to anyone.”
