Mishriff ride up for grabs after David Egan and Prince Faisal part company

David Egan will no longer ride as retained jockey to Prince Faisal, the owner of Mishriff.

A rising star of the weighing room, Egan has enjoyed some of his best days in the saddle in the Prince's maroon silks, notably aboard Mishriff in the Juddmonte International as well as in a pair of hugely valuable wins in Saudi Arabia and Dubai at the beginning of 2021.

Prince Faisal's racing and breeding manager Ted Voute confirmed the news to the Racing Post, saying: "Prince Faisal asked me to update the press regarding his retained jockey.

"David Egan has not signed his 2022 riding contract so Prince Faisal has decided to revert to best available jockey starting with Sajwaan, a first-time-out two-year-old who runs on Saturday."

Egan was at Longchamp on Thursday evening, but declined to comment on the end of the relationship. Sajwaan, trained by Roger Varian, will be ridden by James Doyle at Newbury.

'We wish David all the best in the future'

The news leaves the door open for the ride aboard Mishriff, who is now second favourite for next Saturday's King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Qipco Stakes at Ascot.

Egan was aboard when the Prince's homebred son of Make Believe found trouble in running before flying late to be second to Vadeni in the Coral-Eclipse at the start of this month.

Frankie Dettori would be the most obvious choice to replace him having won the Prix Guillaume d'Ornano aboard Mishriff in August 2020, although he has not ridden the five-year-old competitively since the Champion Stakes that October.

Voute thanked Egan for what he described as "an amazing partnership" between jockey and owner which dated back to the start of the 2020 season.

"We have had an amazing partnership and both parties are very proud of our accomplishments together to date," said Voute. "We wish David all the best in the future."

Mishriff and David Egan (far right) are forced to pull wide as they attempt to chase down Vadeni in the Eclipse earlier this monthCredit: Alan Crowhurst (Getty Images)

Prince Faisal's colours have been a regular sight on European racecourses since the 1980s, and he has gone long stretches without a retained jockey over the decades, the most recent before Egan being Silvestre de Sousa in 2017.

The son of Group 1-winning rider John Egan, David has received consistent support from Roger Varian ever since making his Group-race breakthrough aboard Pilaster as a 19-year-old at Goodwood in 2018.

Egan has since ridden a pair of Royal Ascot winners for Varian, starting with Daahyeh in the 2019 Albany and adding to that with last month's last-gasp effort on Eldar Eldarov in the Queen's Vase.

David Egan details

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