Joao Moreira will ride the Katsumi Yoshida-owned NHK Mile Cup winner Rodeo Drive in the G1 Mile Championship at Kyoto on November 22, at the start of what is expected to be a month-long stint in Japan.
The Brazilian takes over from Christophe Lemaire, who rode the Saturnalia colt when he finished second in the G3 Niigata Kinen on August 30.
Rodeo Drive gave trainer Tetsuhide Tsuji his first G1 winner when Damian Lane rode him to a photo-finish win in the NHK Mile Cup at Tokyo in May. The Niigata Kinen was his first try beyond a mile. He was the 3.7 third favorite in an 11-horse field over 2000 meters and was beaten by Zoroastro in 1:59.6.
Connections have now confirmed a return to a mile, the distance of his other four starts. Rodeo Drive has won three of his five races and finished second in the other two, earning about ¥188.9 million.
Tsuji described the colt as “mentally immature” after the NHK Mile Cup, and Lane said a mile suits him “perfectly for now”.
Moreira has been a fan favorite in Japan since his first short-term license in 2016, and his feature-race wins have built that following. He has 227 JRA wins from 758 rides, including five G1s: Lys Gracieux in the 2018 Queen Elizabeth II Cup, Stellenbosch in the 2024 Oka Sho, and three in four weeks in 2025 on Satono Reve in the Takamatsunomiya Kinen, Embroidery in the Oka Sho and Museum Mile in the Satsuki Sho.
His 2025 strike rate was 31 percent, with 35 winners from 112 rides. His most recent stakes winner in Japan was Allnatt in the G3 Challenge Cup at Hanshin on September 13 last year. The Mile Championship will be his first ride on Rodeo Drive.
Moreira has already been booked for the International Jockeys’ Championship (IJC) at Happy Valley in Hong Kong on December 9. ∎
