Ryan Moore is set to miss the rest of the season with a broken leg, which will rule him out of the Irish Champions Festival, Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe (G1), and Breeders' Cup, as well as many other major autumn races.
Aidan O'Brien broke the shock news at the Curragh Aug. 30, where Moore was stood down from his five intended rides, with the trainer revealing an Aug. 29 scan had shown the Ballydoyle number one jockey had fractured his right femur.
Moore has not ridden since finishing fifth on Bedtime Story in the Prix Jean Romanet (G1) at Deauville Aug. 24, but he has been struggling with the injury for the last two months, according to O'Brien, who said he must be made of "concrete" for riding through the pain barrier.
O'Brien said: "Ryan has been having plenty of trouble with his right leg since Irish Derby weekend (June 27-29). They were doing everything to try to get it right, but they couldn't get it right, so he went for scans and an X-ray on it yesterday. He has a fracture in his femur.
"Since the Irish Derby weekend, he's been struggling with it, but he's been doing his best with it. When they found a stress fracture in his femur, that was the answer. There is only one thing that is going to fix it, and that's time."
When asked if he expected Moore to ride again this season, the trainer replied: "He'd be very lucky to, I'd say."
O'Brien added: "Ryan runs a lot, and they think it could be running, and that might have originally started it. Then in Germany, when he was going to the start on the filly (Garden of Eden at Dusseldorf) she whipped around and he landed on his feet, and it could have aggravated it and opened it up.
"They have been treating him for a lot of different stuff—the back of his knee and they thought he had burst something at the back of his heel, and they thought it might be ligaments and all this different stuff. It was only when he got whatever kind of a scan he had yesterday that they realized he had a fracture to his femur, so that was that.
"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. But with a little bit of time, he'll be back."
O'Brien now faces a quandary as Wayne Lordan picked up a 10-day suspension at Goodwood this past Sunday, which rules him out of the Irish Champions Festival and the St Leger (G1) at Doncaster. Lordan has appealed that ban.
O'Brien added: "We have plenty of jockeys and the lads are all there, but Wayne (Lordan) is gone for Irish Champions Festival at the moment. All the usual people, they're all there, so everyone will row in."
Moore was in action at York's Ebor festival, where he had three winners, including group 1 success with Minnie Hauk in the Yorkshire Oaks (G1) Aug. 21, but the injury means he will not get a chance to win the Irish Champion Stakes (G1) for a sixth time Sept. 13, or to claim a third Arc Oct. 5.
