HOLLIE DOYLE has swooped in to replace the injured Ryan Moore on a horse with a massive chance in Sunday’s Japan Cup.
The top jock has been booked to ride defending champion Vera Azul in the £5.4 million race in Tokyo.
Doyle will replace Ryan Moore on a leading fancy in JapanPA
Moore, 40, was hopeful of being passed fit to ride the six-year-old in one of the most prestigious races in world racing.
His sister Hayley said her brother was “very stiff and sore” having been unseated at Kyoto racecourse shortly after leaving the stalls on 5-1 shot Wilson Way on November 19.
The champion jockey has been resting up since then, but he will not be fit to ride Vera Azul this weekend and has returned home to Newmarket.
It means a huge door has opened for Doyle, 27, who rode a couple of winners during a two-month stint in Japan last winter.
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She said: “When I first heard that Ryan had fallen from the horse, I was worried about his condition.
“Thankfully it sounds like he is going to be fine, and when I was given the chance to ride him it was very exciting.
“I’m very grateful to the owners and everyone involved with the horse.”
The red-hot favourite for the Japan Cup is Equinox, officially the top-rated horse in the world, he is 2-5 with the bookies, with Doyle’s mount a 25-1 shot.
The injury puts a dampener on Ryan Moore’s 2023 season, with had gone brilliantly until now.
He won 14 Group 1s on the Flat in Europe before bagging two huge races at the Breeders’ Cup in early November.
It’s unclear whether he will be fit in time to ride in Hong Kong on December 10, where Aidan O’Brien could have several runners.
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