Ryan Moore still number one at Coolmore

Aidan O'Brien has said Ryan Moore will continue as his number one jockey next year. Persistent speculation about Moore's position in the Coolmore-Ballydoyle operation has dogged the Englishman this year.

At one point in the autumn, Paddy Power even went 1-6 about Colin Keane taking over in racing's top job after Ireland's champion jockey picked up some rides for O'Brien in his championship battle with Shane Foley.

Coronavirus travel restrictions meant Moore was only able to ride in Ireland over ‘Irish Champions Weekend’ in September when he partnered Japan in the Irish Champion Stakes won by his stable companion Magical.

He will be back on the latter when she lines up for this Sunday's Longines Hong Kong Cup at Sha Tin. Moore will also ride Mogul for O'Brien in the Vase on the final big international programme of 2020.

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Significantly though Moore is not riding the third Ballydoyle runner on Sunday morning’s elite card. Instead, top French jockey Pierre-Charles Boudot keeps the ride on the shock Breeders Cup winner Order of Australia in the Mile having been on board the 73-1 outsider at Keeneland last month.

However, on Tuesday O’Brien played down the significance of that booking, pointing out how Moore has never ridden Order of Australia in any of his eight career starts to date.

“Ryan has never sat him, he knew nothing about him, he hasn’t been here all year, and there was no point in riding him in the race to get to know him when there was another jockey there who knew him and has ridden him,” O’Brien said.

“At the time we booked him (Boudot,) Lope Y Fernandez was going and Ryan was going to ride him. So when that changed, we didn’t change and we just did what we thought was the right thing for the horse,” he added.

Asked if Moore would ride for him in the same position in 2021, O’Brien said: “That’s the plan.” He also said he hopes the English jockey will be able to travel to Ireland more next year.

“That’s what we’re hoping. Obviously it was a disaster last year (season.) It was a mess really. Everything is changing so much all the time so we’re just hoping we won’t be in the same situation again,” O’Brien commented.

Ireland’s champion trainer goes into the Hong Kong races having notched up 14 Group/Grade 1 victories this year including a record eighth Epsom Derby with Serpentine in July. However, it has proved to be a turbulent 2020 for the O’Brien team generally, even without the impact of Covid-19.

In October a contaminated feed issue meant the withdrawal of every Ballydoyle runner from Longchamp’s Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe programme, including four from the Arc itself.

Later that month there was even an embarrassing case of ‘mistaken identity’ when the wrong number cloths were put on the runners, Mother Earth and Snowfall in the Fillies Mile at Newmarket. It was originally thought the 50-1 outside Snowfall had finished third in the race but it turned out to be Mother Earth instead.

“It’s been a very strange year and you’d never be surprised by anything this year. It is what it is. Lots of people faced worse hardships than any of us did. It’s just the year it was. We played it as best we could and look forward to next year,” O’Brien said on Tuesday.

He also confirmed that the Derby hero Serpentine will race on as a four year old in 2021 as will Mogul after his race in Hong Kong this weekend. O’Brien has won the Vase twice before with Highland Reel in 2015 and 2017.