FILE PHOTO: Horse Racing – Dubai World Cup – Meydan Racecourse, Dubai – 25/3/17 – Joao Moreira rides Vivlos to the finish line to win the seventh race. REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah/File Photo
November 7, 2017
MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Brazilian jockey Joao Moreira has been stood down from his ride on Thomas Hobson in the A$6.2 million ($4.76 million) Melbourne Cup after suffering a fall in an earlier race at Flemington Racecourse on Tuesday.
Hong Kong-based Moreira went down on the Chris Waller-trained Regal Monarch during race four at Flemington and had to be assisted from the track.
He was stood down after a medical assessment.
The William Mullins-prepared Thomas Hobson, a 15-1 contender, will now be ridden by 18-year-old Ben Allen, the Irish trainer confirmed.
“I’ve spoken to him (Allen) already,” Mullins said in a televised interview. “I’m happy enough with it.”
The Melbourne Cup, the world’s richest two-mile handicap, gets underway at 0400 GMT.
(Reporting by Ian Ransom; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
