Moore set to rejoin Workforce in task of completing Arc double

(Getty)

Ryan Moore, injured in a pile-up at Goodwood at the end of July, is winning his race to be able to ride Workforce in the colt's defence of his Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe trophy in Paris on Sunday week. The three-times champion has been back in the saddle on the Newmarket gallops and yesterday was cleared by his own specialist to go back to work.

Moore fractured the top of his right humerus and broke his right thumb when his mount was brought down at the Glorious meeting and has had the renewal of his partnership with Workforce at Longchamp as his objective ever since. The next step on his return to raceriding is to be given the go-ahead this week by the sport's chief medical adviser, Dr Michael Turner.

"The specialist was very pleased with Ryan's progress," reported the jockey's father, Gary, yesterday, "and is happy for him to get back to riding, all things being equal. Hopefully, he'll be in action by the end of the month and I'd say there's a strong possibility he'll be on Workforce in the Arc."

No horse has won successive Arcs since Alleged in 1978; Workforce is jostling for second-favouritism in most lists at around 5-1 to complete the double. The four-year-old has been beaten in his two tries at the top level this year by the pair alongside him in the market, So You Think and Nathaniel, but has been sparkling in his recent homework and is due to carry on his preparation with a racecourse gallop at Sandown this morning.

The Cambridgeshire, the first leg of the Autumn Double at Newmarket, was always the appetiser before the feast of Arc day, but this year, as a result of the marketing-driven rearrangement of the calendar, it comes a week early. With 92 still remaining in the nine-furlong handicap at yesterday's declaration stage, fanciers of the 6-1 favourite, Dare To Dance, now face an anxious few days, for the Jeremy Noseda-trained three-year-old needs 13 above him in the ratings to defect when the field is finalised on Thursday if he is to get a run.

If Dare To Dance does miss the cut and is balloted into the consolation contest, the Silver Cambridgeshire on Friday, at least Cambridgeshire proper stakes will be refunded. But those who backed such as Nordic Sky and Tazeez, towards the top of the ante-post lists, at 14-1 and 16-1 respectively, have lost; the pair were withdrawn from the race yesterday.

Turf Account

* Chris McGrath's Nap

Billyrayvalentine (2.20 Folkestone) Travelled comfortably and quickened on demand under today's rider to win on his nursery debut and a 6lb rise may still be an underestimation of his ability.

* Next best

Battle Of Britain (4.20 Folkestone)

Has done his present connections proud since being cast off by the Godolphin operation and may not have stopped improving for being stepped up in trip.

* One to watch

Smart sprinters Inxile and Tax Free both got better with age and there seems every likelihood that their four-year-old half-brother Xilerator (David Nicholls), a good winner at Ayr on Saturday, will prove a chip off the same block.

* Where the money's going

French filly Sahpresa has been installed as 11-4 favourite in Saturday's Group One Sun Chariot Stakes at Newmarket.