Moreira’s epic journey from horse thief to Magic Man

Hears from the only serious rival to Ryan Moore as the world’s No1 jockey

If the Dubai World Cup meeting boasts the most valuable raceday at £24 million and the No 1 horse, Arrogate, it can also brag that it has the world’s best jockey, whether you believe that accolade belongs to Ryan Moore or Joao Moreira, whose phenomenal success has earned him the nickname ‘Magic Man’.

Rating jockeys is extremely subjective and could keep a debating society busy for a winter, but if there is anyone pressing Moore it is definitely Moreira. The Brazilian, who was born into poverty, has, in Hong Kong where the racing has a legitimate claim to be the most competitive in the world, risen into the super-elite.

This month he rode eight winners from 10 rides at Sha Tin. It was the third time he had ridden eight in a day. Last weekend, he notched up five of the 10 races, including the Derby, and last season his 168 winners smashed the record for a jockey in Hong Kong.

With no racing background, Moreira (below), 32, was brought up in a shack in a seaside village near Curitiba, in southern Brazil. At 16, he joined his brother working for a furniture manufacturer.

“When I was very young, I was taken to unofficial races and fell in love with horses,” he recalled yesterday, as we sheltered from the rain. “I had sat on a pony aged three, but when I was nine my friends and I would jump over the wall of a riding school in the night, take the ponies out and ride them bareback with bits made from coat-hangers. “A horse thief!” he joked. “That is how I started off.”

After six months at the factory, he heard there was a place available at the local apprentice jockeys’ academy. “I had to resign from the job and by the time all the paperwork was in place, the position was no longer available and I was told to become a [stable lad].”

Eight months later, he was accepted to the academy in Sao Paulo. “I was there for two years, but the first six months were unbearable,” he explained. “I wasn’t good enough. I had no experience and all the others had ridden in unofficial races. I was left behind. I thought about quitting a lot and many times I had my bags packed, but something always happened to keep me there.”

A trainer, Ivan Quintana, gave him his first ride. “I rode it terribly and he said to me ‘you are not born to be a jockey’. A month and a half later, I was getting nowhere, but he saw I was still trying and he said ‘let me help you’. Without him, I wouldn’t be here.”

He might not have quite the fame outside his own sport back home, but he is in the same league financially as the more successful Brazilian footballers. He is intelligent, bright and thinks the same way as Moore only, unlike his British counterpart, he is more comfortable articulating those thoughts. Like Moore, he is also hard on himself and good at blocking out pressure.

“From day one in Hong Kong, you are under pressure,” he said. “I felt it most in the Derby, not just because I wanted to win it but I felt everyone was watching me. All jockeys are under pressure but those who cope with it the best succeed. If I don’t ride winners, I try to figure out why. Either I didn’t give it a good enough ride or I didn’t do the form properly. I can’t say I can pick any horse in a race, but I usually have the choice of about 40 per cent. I have to work hard to pick the right ones.”

Leading Hong Kong trainer John Moore describes him as a phenomenon. “He is the perfect build, has a great head, great hands and reads a race. He puts in a lot of hard work in the mornings, which all adds up to world class,” he said.

Moreira has had a couple of rides in Britain but yesterday he did not rule out, one day, spending more time riding in Britain. “Maybe,” said the jockey. “Never say never.”

But John Moore reckons he is very settled where he is. “Hong Kong is very lucky to have him and there’s no incentive to leave. Tax is 15 per cent and he probably has the choice of half of the horses in every race. They used to call my father [the Australian George Moore, who won the 1967 Derby on Royal Palace) ‘Cotton Hands’ and Joao is in the same bracket. He can get a horse to travel and kick where others can’t.”

It may have been a long journey from seaside shack in Brazil to Meydan’s monolithic grandstand and its multi-million dollar prizes, but the stage is set for Moreira to weave his own brand of magic.