Moore Almost Buckles Under Pressure

Former champion jockey Ryan Moore is famous for his unflappable nature and apparent lack of emotions, but the pressure of riding The Queen’s Carlton House in this weekend’s Investec Derby had clearly taken its toll of the Sussex born jockey who appeared close to tears soon after the royal runner had finished a brave third to French star Pour Moi in a tremendously exciting and eventful contest, writes Elliot Slater.

Moore, normally the coolest and most reserved of characters, jumped off Carlton House having endured a nightmare passage around the mile-and-a-half course. With the expectation of the whole nation seemingly resting on his shoulders Moore dismounted with a combination of anger and distress at the way things just didn’t work out for him from the very moment the race got underway. It was a great shame for punters as Carlton House had attracted plenty of horse racing bets.

As the stalls opened Carlton House hesitated momentarily and lost a couple of lengths on the field which, coupled with the fact that he was drawn widest of all in stall 13, made for a poor start. Things didn’t get much better for the Sir Michael Stoute-trained colt who started to make his ground at the top of the hill only to find his path blocked by a couple of outsiders who were fading fast having been prominent early on.

Rounding Tattenham Corner the 5/2 favourite was forced wide as Frankie Dettori on Ocean War refused to give way, then, with the royal runner clearly struggling to get balanced on the camber in the straight, Moore managed to produced a fine run from his mount who got to within half-a-length of front-running Treasure Beach, only to lose a shoe 150 yards from the finish, after which he could quicken no more and eventually finished third beaten just under a length as the flying French raider Pour Moi came swooping by in the dying strides to score.

Moore seemed close to tears as the pressure of the moment told and time might well prove that Carlton House was indeed unlucky. All concerned with The Queen’s horse will be hoping for, and probably deserve, better luck next time.