Moreira rode Rapper Dragon in his greatest victories but maintains it was in the fallen hero’s final moments on a racecourse that his beloved horse showed the most courage.
Rapper Dragon died while under veterinary supervision on Sunday night, diagnosed with a fractured pelvis suffered in the Champions Mile at Sha Tin, and while Moreira was too devastated to speak immediately after receiving the news, he paid heartfelt tribute to “Rapper” on Monday.
“I will remember him as a brave, tough horse, so brave that even when we were in the deepest trouble, he was still strong right to the end and gave me his best,” Moreira said.
When Moreira heard a loud snap midway through Sunday’s race, and felt Rapper Dragon’s back legs giving way beneath him, the rider immediately knew something had gone drastically wrong.
Yet this is when Moreira believes the horse’s iron will shone through most brightly.
“He won with me many times, but I will never forget how brave he was in that moment,” he said.
“He could have just released his body and gone down, and if a racehorse at his top speed goes down you can be in real trouble as a jockey.
Moreira had initially been given hope that Rapper Dragon would survive after vets first transported the horse to the on-course equine hospital.
“So when I was told that he had died, I was destroyed inside. I wanted to go and see him, but the vet said ‘No, Joao, you should stay home and remember what he gave you, you don’t want to see him lying down on the ground without his life anymore’.
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