Ambitious jockey Rossa Ryan says Mojo Star can pass St Leger stamina test

He’s now hoping to cap his comeback – and career best season – by partnering the horse to victory in today’s Cazoo St Leger.

And, buoyed by four-timer at Chepstow on Thursday, Ryan is brimming with confidence as he also edges towards first ever century of winners in a calendar year.

“These are the races you want to be riding in – Group Ones – and with a serious chance,” the ambitious 21-year-old told The Yorkshire Post.

“I would like to think he will have a chance on his previous form. On his previous form, he should be in the first three and a step up in trip, and on a big galloping track like Doncaster, will help.”

Ryan’s reference to ‘previous form’ is an instructive one. He was a frustrated TV spectator when the Richard Hannon-trained Mojo Star chased home Adayar in the Derby, with Hurricane Lane back in third.

Yet, while Mojo Star would prove to be no match for Hurriciane Lane in the Irish Derby, Ryan believes that form can be reversed if today’s renewal of the world’s oldest Classic becomes a genuine stamina test over a mile and three-quarters. “If it comes down to stamina, that will be in Mojo Star’s favour,” he stressed.

And victory would provide Ryan with compensation for his injury misfortune earlier this year which robbed him of the chance to ride at both Epsom – and then Royal Ascot.

It still hurts. One of the weighing room’s rising young stars, he was sitting second in the race to become champion jockey when Imajorblush, trained at Catterick by Phil Kirby, suffered a fatal fall on the all-weather at Wolverhampton in May.

Quick to commiserate with connections before attempting to recover to ride in the Derby just two weeks later, Ryan’s hopes were further dashed when he suffered an acute appendicitis that required emergency surgery.

Looking back, he says these were the “toughest six weeks” of his career to date – not least because of the pain that he suffered when his appendix was removed.

Paradoxically, he adds, they were also the making of him. “The biggest thing was accepting I wouldn’t be able to ride Mojo Star in the Derby,” said Ryan who is retained by the horse’s owners Amo Racing Ltd.

“When I did my appendix, I had no choice. I had to accept it and was delighted for connections, my trainer Richard Hannon and the jockey David Egan, when they finished second at Epsom.

“I also realised that there was a strong possibility of the horse lining up in a race like the St Leger and he seems in very good order.”

Despite his youthfulness, Ryan’s growing experience in big race belies his young age and his burgeoning partnership with top two-year-old juvenile Go Bears Go stands him in good stead for today’s test.

He was in the saddle for the David Loughnane-trained runner’s winning debut at Ascot before having to watch from the sidelines when the horse was runner-up at the Royal meeting.

Yet he was just back in time to win on the prestigious Railway Stakes on Go Bears Go at the Irish Derby meeting – Ryan made a winning comeback from his injury travails at Newmarket the previous night – before returning to the Curragh to finish third to Ebro River in the Group One Phoenix Stakes.

He’s convinced he can reverse that form later in the season at Newmarket just as he’s confident that Mojo Star can turn the tables with Hurricane Lane.

And, Ryan – whose self-belief should not be mistaken for arrogance – draws inspiration from Hurriciane Lane’s jockey William Buick who was a rising star when winning the 2010 and 2011 St Legers on Arctic Cosmos and Masked Marvel respectively.

Fast forward a decade and it is now Rossa Ryan who is trying to usurp more experienced jockeys. He’s certainly up for the challenge and doesn’t plan to do anything differently on Town Moor today.

“If you go into too much detail beforehand, you get too jumbled up. Keep it simple,” he adds.

It’s worked so far.