Ryan Moore has been riding with a fracture for two months, reveals O'Brien

Ryan Moore is expected to be out of the saddle for the next few months after scans showed a fracture to his right femur, with Aidan O’Brien revealing on Racing TV on Saturday that Moore has been riding with the level four fracture for the past couple of months.

Ballydoyle's number one rider rode three winners at last week's Sky Bet Ebor Festival at York, which included Minnie Hauk's Group One victory in the Pertemps Network Yorkshire Oaks, and has continued to partner the majority of the Ballydoyle squad, despite the injury, with his most recent ride at Deauville on Sunday aboard Bedtime Story.

Moore was reported sore by the stewards at the Curragh on Saturday and was stood down from his five rides. The 41-year-old will also miss the major races and Festivals this Autumn, including the Irish Champions Festival and the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.

Rishi Persad, presenting at Sandown, reported on Racing TV that Moore told him he will be on the sidelines for the "foreseeable future" as he allows the injury to recover, and Gary O'Brien later caught up with Aidan O'Brien at the Curragh to find out more.

The Ballydoyle handler told Gary O'Brien on Racing TV: “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. 

“Since Irish Derby weekend, he’s been struggling with it, but he’s been doing his best with it. They thought a lot of different things were going on with it, but he had a scan yesterday, and when they did the scan they found a fracture in his femur. When they found that, Ryan had no choice but to give it time.

"Fractures are graded from one to four, and Ryan's was a four, so it's amazing that he was able to keep going with it.

“They have been treating him for a lot of different stuff, including the back of his knee and they thought he had burst something at the back of his heel. They thought it might be ligaments and all this different stuff.

"I don't know how long he will be on the sidelines for, it could be one month, two months, three months or more, but Ryan will know when the time is right and will probably get it scanned every week or two to see how it is healing, and we will go from there.

"It's far from a problem, but it's just going to take a bit of time to get right. That's the way it is. With a little bit of time, he’ll be back.”

When asked if Moore will be unavailable for the rest of the big races in 2025, which includes the St Leger meeting at Doncaster, the Irish Champions Festival and the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe weekend at Longchamp, O'Brien said: "I would say so. The femur is the biggest bone in your body and you can't take any chances with that. They said he was very lucky that it didn't break because it was that bad.

"Ryan runs a lot and they think it could be the running that might have originally started it. I think, when he went to Germany recently and rode a filly for us there (Garden Of Eden at Dusseldorf), she whipped around, and Ryan landed on his feet. That might have aggravated it and opened it up, but he had no choice but to find out what was happening with it. It's 100 per cent the right thing to do (spell on sidelines)."

O’Brien’s number two rider, Wayne Lordan, is also set to miss the St Leger meeting, and the Irish Champions Festival weekend, due to a ten-day whip suspension he picked up after riding a winner at Goodwood last Sunday, which poses a potential headache for O'Brien. Lordan has appealed against that ban.

O'Brien added: “We’ve plenty of jockeys and the lads are all there, Wayne (Lordan) is gone (suspended) for Irish Champions Festival at the moment, but all the usual people, they’re all there, so everyone will row in.”

Lordan stepped in for Moore at the Curragh on Saturday and steered Hawk Mountain and Mission Central to victory for O'Brien, and reflected on the news that Moore will be on the sidelines. 

"It's a pity," Lordan said to Gary O'Brien on Racing TV. "It's a time of the year when you don't want it happening, but sometimes there's nothing you can do about it, and all you can do is work hard on getting back. Hopefully, it won't be too long."