BRINGING ASIAN RACING TO THE WORLD
The champion Brazilian jockey wants to ride at more than just the big meetings during his autumn carnival stint and the Asian Racing Review team believe that will hold him in good stead.
Joao Moreira intends to ride at Sydney’s upcoming autumn carnival and not just on a fly-in, fly-out basis.
The Brazilian jockey told Asian Racing Report in Saudi Arabia last week that he is working through the visa process that will enable him to ride for a six-week stint in Sydney from mid-March.
Moreira still hasn’t nailed down a starting date but he is hoping that he can begin riding in Sydney at the Rosehill G1 Coolmore Classic meeting on March 11 or on Golden Slipper day seven days later.
Moreira said he intended to ride for “three to five days per week” despite the persistent hip problem that has forced his retirement from full-time riding and depature from Hong Kong, where he was a four-time champion.
“I am feeling good and have been riding every week in Brazil,” Moreira said. Indeed, Moreira’s record in São Paulo after returning to ride there late last year has been exceptional.
Moreira had 26 wins and as many seconds from 102 rides since he returned to his homeland and rode 19 winners from eight meetings after he took a Christmas break with family. He rode three winners across two meetings in Tokyo on February 18 and 19, and rode well in Riyadh in the International Jockeys Challenge and at the Saudi Cup meeting without winning.
“My hip is fine in the short term, but it will eventually become too painful to ride, the doctors have told me that,” he said. “The doctors have also told me hip replacement surgery is not an option, there would be complications.”
Moreira’s so-called ‘farewell’ tour of the world’s biggest race meetings could extend longer than most expected. “I don’t have a set date, or plans, I am going with the flow,” Moreira said, indicating a loose timeline of 18-months to two years before he finally calls it a day.
On this week’s Asian Racing Review, Asian Racing Report Editor Michael Cox explained why Moreira riding at least three times per week will help the jockey adapt to conditions he has struggled in previously.
“He had an absolute shocker, he came in for two days of The Championships,” Cox said of Moreira’s 2015 visit. “It was a wet track, he was on a lot of good chances and he didn’t read the play well. He didn’t ride well and he got absolutely slaughtered in the press, and maybe that was a little bit harsh, but he was the last jockey to get beaten on Winx and that never looks good on a resume. So he will want to come back and do well.”
“What will serve him well is riding midweek and some of the other tracks, riding the Australian style, getting around to some of the other circuits and getting a feel for the place.”
In this week’s edition of Asian Racing Review:
Peter V’Landy’s court action goes global (0:00); Hong Kong Derby top seeds finalised: Super Sunny Sing and Beauty Eternal (3:07); Karis Teetan ‘thrown under the bus’ after G1 defeat on Romantic Warrior? (5:16); What would further enhance Golden Sixty’s towering legacy: Triple Crown or overseas? (7:30); Damian Lane’s growth as a world class rider (9:54); Another successful overseas raid for the extraordinary Yoshito Yahagi (12:00); Joao Moreira reveals extended Sydney autumn carnival stay (13:36).
Moreira’s heroic homecoming: Fantasma’s return a boost for Brazilian racing
