Ryan Moore- Shy Guy.

Ryan Moore is not the ideal subject for an ever-demanding media but as he showed in Saturday's King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, it is only his talents in the saddle that matter.

Although still to win a domestic Classic, the dual champion jockey has swiftly become the preferred choice among many top trainers.

His cool ride aboard Conduit in racing's summer showpiece demonstrated his ability to a wider public.

In these days of rebranding and soundbites, The 25-year-old's refusal to join in makes him a bit of a throwback.

Even the senior sports feature writers have tried to squeeze a juicy bon mot from him but invariably leave wringing their dictaphones in despair.

Moore doesn't play the game. He wasn't interested in telling the Americans how wonderful the Breeders' Cup was and didn't eulogise about Great Leighs

A race at Kempton brought to life by an orchestra was also given characteristic short shrift.

"It was stupid," he muttered at the time.

There could hardly be more of a contrast between Ryan and his jump-jockey brother Jamie or his trainer-father Gary, who are both garrulous and rather happy-go-lucky characters. Gary himself admits his son can be pretty miserable.

But, quite frankly, so what? Does Sir Alex Ferguson answer his mobile phone to provide quotes for every Tom, Dick or Harry?

What about Nick Faldo or John McEnroe back in their heyday? Unlikely. And certainly Moore's hero Lester Piggott would barely utter a word when a microphone was thrust in front of him.

Some top sporting stars are happy to chat away until the last notebook is full but many others don't care and save their exuberance for the pitch, court or racecourse.

The beguiling thing about Moore is that, apart from a love of Brighton & Hove Albion, we know so little about him.

Whether he is deliberately obstructive, shy, genuinely miserable, misunderstood or just not interested, he is still worth listening to when he does talk.

Despite occasionally staring at the floor or offering the odd shrug, his televised interview at Sandown on Thursday made fascinating viewing.

Moore talked lucidly about the chances of all three of Sir Michael Stoute's King George runners, Ask, Tartan Bearer and Conduit, and how unpleasant it had been to make the choice.

He plumped for Conduit on account of his Breeders' Cup win last year and because of the way Stoute had brought him along quietly following a setback early in the season.

It is not for his interview technique he is Stoute's first jockey, and usually takes the top rides for the likes of Luca Cumani, Richard Hannon and William Haggas.

Not naturally flamboyant, even in the saddle, his selling point is that there is hardly an occasion in the memory where he has made a mistake.

His name is the first to check on a card for serious punters and Saturday accumulator players alike and the one to rely upon for that good thing in the last on a losing day at the races.

For that reason, he is the natural heir to Kieren Fallon, whose position at Stoute's he now holds.

Fallon will be back in the autumn, but Moore has made himself impossible to replace.


Sporting life...

A great jockey.