Ryan Moore is back. Britain's dominant big-race rider has been off the track since suffering a stress fracture to his right femur in August, but he is due to return at Lingfield Dec. 3, having been declared for five rides on the eight-race card.
Moore's agent Tony Hind said: "Ryan has got the green light from the BHA to ride at Lingfield on Wednesday and will be off to Hong Kong after that."
Coolmore's retained rider and four-time winner of the world's best jockey award, Moore has been absent since the end of August, but trainer Aidan O'Brien revealed it was an injury he had been struggling with since the Irish Derby weekend in June. Christophe Soumillon, who won the Prix Jacques le Marois (G1) aboard the O'Brien-trained Diego Velazquez (G1) when Moore finished last on The Lion In Winter, deputized on Ballydoyle horses to tremendous effect—partnering seven Group/Grade 1 winners in four different countries.
Last month, the Hong Kong Jockey Club announced Moore as an intended competitor in its International Jockeys' Championship at Happy Valley Dec. 10, subject to the rider passing a doctor's exam. Moore's return at Lingfield should pave the way for that trip.
Should Moore make it to Hong Kong, O'Brien has Los Angeles in the Hong Kong Vase (G1) and The Lion In Winter in the Hong Kong Mile (G1) on the International Races card. O'Brien is two Group 1/Grade 1 winners shy of tying his record of 28 top-level successes in a year.
