Forty-five years ago, Gary Moore was a teenager still buzzing with the thrill of riding in his first Melbourne Cup.
The son of champion jockey George, Moore was one half of the first father-son combination to go head-to-head in the famous race, a feat mirrored by Glyn and Chad Schofield on Tuesday.
“I remember it well because dad bought the ride for me (on Precedent),” Moore said.
“He said to the trainer, ‘I’ll give you a present if you put my son on’. I led for a while, it was a great thrill.”
An eight-time premiership-winning jockey in Hong Kong and France, Moore also claimed eight training titles in Macau.
He relocated to Rosehill at the start of the season and will chase his first Sydney win since then with Hirad at Randwick on Saturday.
He had hoped to strike a blow in Melbourne during the spring but luck deserted him when top Hong Kong horse Dan Excel was ruled out of the Cox Plate with a throat complaint while Not Listenin’tome struggled to recapture his best form.
Moore did saddle up two runners in support races at Flemington during Melbourne Cup week and has a long-range plan to make a bigger impact in 12 months.
“It’s been a beautiful week here. It’s great to have runners and hopefully next year we can come with a better line-up of horses,” he said.
Moore’s focus will shift to Randwick this weekend and former Victorian Hirad.
The five-year-old was a sound sixth over 1250m at his first start for Moore and the trainer expects improvement sparked by a distance rise to his pet trip.
“He’s going to strip a lot fitter for the race on Saturday and I think 1400 will be more of an opportune distance,” Moore said.
“He’s drawn a little wide in gate 12 but we’ll definitely press on and hopefully we can make the running.
“He worked very well on Tuesday morning over 800 metres and I’m delighted with the way he’s gone from his first start to his second under our care.”
Moore, who trained at Randwick for three years in the late 1990s, said the chance to work alongside his sons Nicholas and David was part of the attraction of returning to Sydney, along with the healthy state of Australian racing.
He has 55 mostly young horses on his books and this week added two European imports.
