Dancing Gemini will be ridden by Ryan Moore for the first time in Saturday's G1 Boylesports Lockinge Stakes at Newbury.
The son of Camelot will be bidding for a third straight victory in 2025, having followed his reappearance win in the Listed Doncaster Mile Stakes with an equally dominant performance when landing the G2 Mile at Sandown.
Kieran Shoemark did the steering on Town Moor, before Rossa Ryan deputised when Shoemark was required to ride Lead Artist at Sandown, but trainer Roger Teal has now turned to Moore as Dancing Gemini seeks the first top-level success of his career.
Speaking at Chepstow on Tuesday, Teal told Sky Sports Racing, “It's been a very difficult decision and we've pondered it all week. The discussions me and David [Fish, owner] have had have lasted an hour a day for the last four or five days.
“It's been very hard, but we came to that decision. When you get offered Ryan Moore, it's very, very hard to say no. No disrespect to Kieran or Rossa, there'll be other days for those guys, and it hasn't been easy–it's probably been more stressful than training the horse.
“He (Moore) has ridden for us several times and we've got a good strike-rate together. I go back a long way with Ryan, from when he was in Brighton with his dad. We're just doing what we think is best.”
Dancing Gemini's two wins this season have been achieved on ground officially described as good to soft at Doncaster and good at Sandown, but Teal is unperturbed by the prospect of a quicker surface at Newbury this weekend.
He added, “I don't think he's ground dependent. He had to handle softer ground because that's all he had last year with that wet summer, so he got labelled a soft-ground horse.
“It will be interesting, but it was decent ground at Doncaster and, okay, it was patchy ground at Sandown last time, but the straight was good ground and he handled that. He's got a very low action, so I'd be surprised if he didn't go on it.”
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