THE intentions were clear from the very start.
In 1997, a 27-year-old Aidan O’Brien and Coolmore chief John Magnier managed to tempt multiple Irish champion jockey Christy Roche away from his job with Jim Bolger to ride as stable No1 at Ballydoyle.
Ryan Moore could miss the rest of the season with a broken leg
The operation, which went through a quiet few years after Vincent O’Brien’s retirement, was expanding again at a rapid rate and they wanted the best jockey in Ireland to help get the ball rolling. Worked out alright, didn’t it?
To this day, Roche remains the only stable jockey Aidan has had at Ballydoyle to retire from the job.
The others have either resigned or been gently ushered out the side exit, and it took them 17 years to finally find ‘the one’.
So with the shocking news that Ryan Moore will likely miss the remainder of the season through injury, I can’t help turning my thoughts to the future. Eventually, someone will succeed him.
Not to say that Moore’s fractured femur is a career-ender. Far from it.
The iron man of the weighing room has been riding with a broken leg since late June, so you’d hardly fall off your chair if he made it back for the Breeders’ Cup in November.
But he turns 42 later this month and he isn’t going to be around forever. I’d be surprised if conversations haven’t already taken place about a succession plan.
The history of stable jockeys during the Aidan era at Ballydoyle is fascinating, and it became something of a revolving door for nearly two decades.
Roche’s great rival Mick Kinane took over in 1998 and won 52 Group 1s for the stable. He rode Galileo, Giant’s Causeway, High Chaparral and Rock Of Gibraltar.
But they had their head turned by a youthful Jamie Spencer, and they couldn’t resist snapping him up in ‘04 in the hope he’d be Ballydoyle’s man for the next decade.
The stable had a terrible year, however, and Spencer’s fate was sealed after one season following a nightmare night at the Breeders’ Cup in Dallas, when he was lost races on Antonious Pius and Powerscourt that he probably should have won.
They then landed a whopper, luring the brilliant Kieren Fallon away from Sir Michael Stoute after he was flown to Barbados for face-to-face talks with Magnier. He made Fallon an offer he couldn’t refuse.
It was a risky appointment, mind. The flawed genius of Fallon was laid bare during his three years as stable No1 with two drugs bans, the second one ending his tenure at Ballydoyle.
Johnny Murtagh replaced him before Joseph O’Brien kept the seat warm for Ryan Moore between 2011 and 2015.
After a decade and a half of semi-regular upheaval, they’ve had 10 years of steadiness and incredible success with Moore at the helm.
So who will be the candidates for the top job when the time comes?
Oisin Murphy is an obvious starting point. But, remember, they were burnt in the end by the appointment of Fallon, who was hired a few months after his arrest for alleged race-fixing, a charge which was eventually dismissed by a judge.
Oisin has had issues off the track, and I’m sceptical they’d want to go for another troubled star and the risks that come attached.
Colin Keane has had success for Ballydoyle in the past and I presume they’ll be keeping a close eye on how he handles the pressure of being Juddmonte’s No1.
No offence to Wayne Lordan, but he is destined to become the next Seamie Heffernan as the long-term second jockey at Ballydoyle.
There are two young jockeys who leap off the page — Dylan Browne McMonagle and Rossa Ryan.
The former is leading the championship in Ireland and has close bonds with the O’Brien family as stable jockey to Aidan’s son Joseph.
Rossa, meanwhile, is ultra-talented, has shown he can handle the big occasion and has an old head on young shoulders.
For me, it’s between those two — not that Ryan Moore is planning to give up the best job in racing just yet.
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