A world that was already proving tough for two of the season's new jockeys just got considerably tougher with the announcement on Friday that Umberto Rispoli will return to the riding roster from early November.
Brazilian star Joao Moreira begins a full-term stint on Sunday, which had not been foreshadowed when the new season licences were handed out in June and nor had the addition of the Italian Rispoli, who will ride from November 3 to February 2.
Colm O'Donoghue and Nicola Pinna have each ridden a winner, but have struggled for worthwhile opportunities even before options became more crowded.
Their task had been made more difficult with Gerald Mosse returning, Moreira's surprise arrival and the imminent start of Neil Callan's contract this week. Brett Prebble's return is also three weeks away and now Rispoli will be thrown into the mix.
"We would normally go to 25 jockeys on the list during the winter months," said Bill Nader, the Jockey Club's executive director of racing.
"Rispoli will take us to 24, and Howard Cheng looks likely to return from injury in the back half of December to make that number up to 25, so the situation isn't unusual. In fact, it's not as tight as usual. Normally, it's 25 jockeys for almost three months and this time it will only be for about a month or so - from the time Cheng returns till the time the shorter contracts run out for the northern hemisphere jockeys at the start of February."
But Nader admitted that the simple numbers did not tell the whole tale.
"From what we are seeing with Joao Moreira's first-day bookings on Sunday, he is not your normal new jockey. He is going to command a lot of good rides right from the start, so he is going to put pressure on everyone," Nader said.
Rispoli, the 2012 QE II Cup winning rider, has been received fairly well in two previous short stints, riding 19 winners from just over 300 mounts and will arrive in good form after claiming a Group One in Italy last week.
