Pat Healy (PH): Ryan, we are heading into one of the busiest times of the year. Give us an idea of your schedule between now and the end of the year.

Ryan Moore (RM): That will vary all the time, there would be a lot of travel between England, Ireland, France and maybe America, maybe Australia. At this moment we don’t know exactly but, yeah, there will be a lot of travel involved.

It usually follows a fairly normal routine most years, but that’s all dependent on what’s happening. Obviously I’ll be between England, Ireland and France a lot. Come Breeders’ Cup time there’ll be Australia and America and potentially Japan and Hong Kong.

PH: Do you ever get tired of all the travelling?

RM: No, I’m well looked after and everything is made as easy as it could be for me.

PH: Give an example of when you combined work with spending time with your family. The lads went to the Breeders’ Cup?

RM: Oh yeah, we took the older two to Del Mar a couple of years ago, but that was the only time. They enjoy their racing now, they are getting a bit older so maybe they can come a bit more often. They have school and that’s important. They can’t miss school, so it’s only if things slot in and work out.

Ryan Moore pictured with Michelle, son Toby and daughter Sophie at Del Mar during the Breeders' Cup \ Healy Racing

Health and fitness

PH: How is your weight and your general health these days?

RM: I think I’m okay, Pat. I think my health is all right, hopefully. Pretty much every jockey now would be working hard on their fitness and diet. Diet is massively important. I keep myself in as good a shape as I can. I probably train more now the older I’ve got. I’m quite happy with how my diet and my routine are now. I’d usually spend around an hour a day in the gym.

Privileged position

PH: You’re Coolmore’s number one jockey. Tell us about your visits to Ballydoyle.

RM: When I get lucky enough to go to Coolmore and Ballydoyle it’s always a real privilege. There are fantastic staff there and you know everything works like clockwork. Obviously the horses are beautiful and it’s exciting every time to go in there and to see them all.

PH: How closely do you work with your agent, Tony Hind?

RM: Tony has been my agent since I started. He has been around a long time and obviously he was doing Richard Hughes, Jimmy Fortune, Pat Dobbs and myself. The two boys [Richard and Jimmy] have obviously retired now and he’s got a few younger lads, Jason Watson and Kieran Shoemark, as well as some older ones, the likes of Jim Crowley and Andrea [Atzeni]. He’s been an agent for a long time.

PH: Do you do much form research or does Tony do that for you?

RM: No, I’d know my form pretty well. I watch a lot of races live and if I miss something that I think was important I’ll watch it back.

Ryan Moore with Merchant Navy after their Greenlands Stakes win \ Healy Racing

PH: What about sectional times and stride lengths and all this new craving for data, do jockeys look into that?

RM: I think timings are important. All the information that people have, it can only be a benefit. If it helps promote or sell the sport in any way then that’s definitely a good thing.

Cool customer

PH: Ryan you come across as a very cool customer, someone who can cope with pressure and is confident to make decisions in a race. Give me an example of a time when you felt real pressure to deliver.

RM: (laughs)

PH: Did all the Group 1s come the same to you or was there ever a time when you felt ‘I have to win on this’?

RM: Plenty of times you say you want to win, and you’d like to win. But it’s a horse race and a lot of things have to go right for any horse to win any race. The Derby has always been, in my eyes, the biggest race. It’s the pinnacle, but I wouldn’t say I would approach it any differently to another race.

PH: Does anything stress you?

RM: (laughing) Possibly, away from racing, yeah. But not really.

PH: How do you avoid burnout?

RM: I don’t know, I don’t ride as often as I used to in the middle of the week. I tend to ride more towards the weekend now. When I started riding for Michael Stoute he told me to not go every day and to every meeting. And so we tried to manage the schedule.

PH: Big winners have been hard to find for you this season. For someone who is used to winning classics, do you find it hard to deal with?

[Frankie Dettori joins them]

RM [to Dettori}: Things I do for the press ...

PH: Come over here, we’ve been joined by Frankie. Frankie, sum up Ryan in a couple of sentences as a competitor, as a jockey?

FD: The best.

PH: The best?

FD: The best.

RM: He said that smiling.

[Dettori leaves]

PH: There’s high praise from Dettori. We were talking about not winning classics this year ...

RM: You are never entitled to win any race on any day, and you know you can only be lucky enough when you do win them, really. I’ve had good opportunities to win plenty of good races and just try to make the best of them when we can.

Ryan Moore won the King Edward VII Stakes with Japan at Royal Ascot this year \ Healy Racing

PH: Every year is different.

RM: Every race is different.

PH: Does it test your character? Or do you just stay the same?

RM: I don’t give that much thought, I suppose, I think I’m pretty much the same most of the time. Maybe other people would say different.

Team Ballydoyle

PH: Aidan always refers to you as one of the team, and says you don’t mind being on the wrong horse. But surely it must bother you if you are on the wrong horse?

RM: The reality is I’m very fortunate that we have always lovely horses. If you take the Derby, for example, we have five horses that are all very well-bred, and all trained for the race. The reality is, statistically, one of the other four is going to beat the one I’m on. I’m just grateful to ride these good horses, that’s what it’s always about. When I started, what I wanted to achieve was to ride the best quality horses in the biggest races and it’s still basically about racing. It’s not necessarily about what’s best for me, it’s like what’s best for ...

PH: Team Coolmore?

RM: Well, not even that. I went into this because I enjoyed race-riding and I enjoyed riding a good horse in good races. And there’s nothing better than riding a high quality horse that you know is going to perform. We don’t always know how they will do but you know it’s just nice to be in those races and riding good horses really.

PH: Do you pick what you want to ride or does Aidan tell you?

RM: We discuss things and it’s what we think is the best thing, moving forward. Look, things change from time to time. There’s no real set way of doing things.

PH: Jockeys often say that it’s easy when things are going well, you always seem to make the right decisions, but when things are not going well is your confidence affected?

RM: When things are going well it’s great, but you can’t really change things when it’s not going well. There’s always times in any sport where things aren’t going right for any one person and you keep going and things will turn around.

Trainer Aidan O'Brien walking the course with (left-right) Seamie Heffernan, Ryan Moore and Wayne Lordan \ Healy Racing

PH: Do you ever make wrong decisions because you are trying too hard?

RM: Yeah, definitely I’ve made wrong decisions by trying too hard over the years, yeah.

PH: And do you ignore criticism or praise of your rides in the media?

RM: I don’t really pay much attention, being honest. Zero attention to the media, in complete honesty.

PH: Are you interested in the bloodstock side?

RM: You can’t beat pedigrees. That was a lesson I learnt very early on from Richard Hannon. That’s what it always comes back to.

PH: Do you own any mares yourself?

RM: No, I don’t.

PH: Would you think about buying a stud farm some day?

RM: (laughing) I can’t afford one!

PH: Ruby Walsh and A.P. McCoy have gone into media work. What odds would you give on you doing the same, Ryan?

RM: I don’t think anyone would want me in the media, so I haven’t given that any thought. A.P. was my idol, growing up. I used to watch him the whole time, and it was a great pleasure watching Ruby. I haven’t seen much from him on the telly. I do prefer watching them ride.

PH: Jim Bolger said in a recent interview that some Irish apprentices today don’t have enough respect for their older colleagues. Is that something you have noticed in England or elsewhere?

RM: Oh I missed that, I’d always respect anything Jim says but I don’t know, it’s obviously a different world now. Things are done differently.

PH: Do apprentices ever approach you for advice?

RM: Yes, lots do and you know I find all of them very polite. Many ask good questions and they are thankful of any advice you can give them.

PH: Is mentoring or coaching something you could see yourself doing in the future?

RM: Probably not.

Japan and Ryan Moore won the Group 1 Juddmonte International Stakes for trainer Aidan O'Brien \ Healy Racing

Private life

PH: Ryan, racing insiders and your friends and family know you to be very funny, sociable and someone who does a lot of kind and charitable things behind the scenes. But the public think you are very different, very quiet a bit like Lester Piggott. Do you deliberately try to keep your professional life and private life separate?

RM: I’m only interested in the racing, I’m not really interested in the rest of it. I always felt when you are at work your duty is to the owners and the trainers that you are riding for. You are always trying to do what’s right by the horses, and I wasn’t really thinking in any way about myself. Nowadays that’s not what people expect from jockeys but people want more from you. I always say my focus is always on the horses and the race, and trying to do right by the people I am working for.

PH: What other sports do you like outside of racing?

RM: I like all sports, I love my football. I like tennis. I’m enjoying the cricket at the moment, I enjoy athletics, I enjoy the NFL in the winter when there’s not much on, on late nights. I love high quality sport. Obviously I’m always big into football, always have been.

PH: There was footage of you lately walking the track at Deauville with Frankie, how do you get on with him?

RM: I’ve always got on very well with Frankie, I have great respect for him. He used to ride for my grandfather years ago. Grandfather always said that he had the most beautiful hands. Everyone knows what a great jockey he is. And he has been for 30 years now.

The people he grew up riding with are all gone now, and so I’ve stuck around with him 17 years now. Usually when I’m going racing, Frankie would be there – we’re on the same circuit, so we’d see plenty of each other. It goes in cycles. When I started racing I’d always be with Hughesie, Jimmy, Kieren and the like, and then it moves on. Throughout my career Frankie has always been there. I’ve always had massive respect for him because he’s supremely talented.

PH: Have you anything in common?

RM: Probably not, no. We both support Arsenal.

PH: Aidan O’Brien and Michael Stoute – what have they in common?

RM: They are both obviously hugely successful. But very, very talented men. They both have massive attention to detail. They are both always looking at how they can improve their horses. They are both fiercely competitive, they want to win. Michael has been at the top of his game for probably 40 years now. And Aidan for probably an astounding 25 years. They are both driven and they are great horsemen with a fantastic work ethic and massive commitment and drive.

PH: Is there a difference in the way each of them train?

RM: Every trainer trains differently. But they are both tough men.