Joseph O’Brien has already won the Melbourne Cup twice but the Irish trainer’s appetite for winning ‘The race that stops a nation’ at Flemington on the first Tuesday in November remains. That was apparent when the weights for the two-mile handicap came out on Thursday: lunchtime in Melbourne, the early hours in Kilkenny.
O’Brien has 11 horses weighted for Australia’s most famous race, six of those already high enough in the ballot to be within the frame of the 24-runner field. And four of his candidates outside of the 24 are already in pre-departure quarantine so as to be on the ground early enough to push their way higher up the list.
“There’s two leaning towards the Caulfield Cup, Starford and Omni Man,” O’Brien told Idol Horse, “And Kizlyar and Small Fry are looking at running at Geelong or Flemington.”
Caulfield Cup victory would bring the bonus of a guaranteed Cup berth: the same goes for wins in the Cox Plate, Moonee Valley Gold Cup (to be held at Flemington) and Geelong Cup.
As the trainer said, “There’s plenty of hoops to jump through between now and race day,” but as things stand, O’Brien could well arrive in Australia with a strong Melbourne Cup team, perhaps the most solid overseas team any trainer has ever sent.
“It is (exciting), but we’re very lucky to have some nice horses that are on the path towards the big race and hopefully we can be well-represented there on the day,” he added.
Half Yours, last year’s winner for trainers Tony and Calvin McEvoy, heads the Cup weights on 59kg, as Australian-trained runners filled the top four spots in the handicap.
O’Brien, though, has the quality stayer Defiantly (56.5kg), equal-first in the ballot after his G2 Prix Kergorlay win in France last time; Highwayman (56.5kg) ranks seventh in the ballot after last Saturday’s G1 St Leger score; Sons And Lovers, the highest-weighted overseas horse at 57.5kg and a high-class winner in Saudi Arabia and France this year, is 13th of 24 in the ballot; G2 Curragh Cup winner Trustyourinstinct (57kg) is 17th; last year’s Cup second Goodie Two Shoes (55kg) is number 18, and the G1 Derby third James J Braddock (53.5kg), since gelded, is number 20.
That all could make for a tough decision for O’Brien’s stable jockey, Dylan Browne McMonagle, whom O’Brien confirmed will have his pick.
“There haven’t been any decisions made for any of them in terms of riding arrangements yet, and Dylan has a choice of riding whatever he wants,” O’Brien said.
That brings Highwayman into the picture: a late-developing three-year-old who has rocketed through his progression in the last two months, going from maiden to Classic winner in three starts, and being a part of history when Saffie Osborne became the first woman to win a British classic aboard him in the St Leger.
“Highwayman has been progressive,” O’Brien said. “Obviously, he lacks a bit of experience, but we think he’s pretty durable and he should be able to be fine with the journey.
“I suppose Highwayman off the back of a Group 1 win is the obvious form horse at the moment, but they’re all going there as legitimate contenders in their own right. All of them have their own kind of paths, and they all have their own legitimate chances.”
The international raid on this year’s Melbourne Cup could also include the Miguel Clement-trained Tawny Port (55.5kg) from the United States, as well as Japan’s Stinger Glass (57kg) and the British candidates – all of which are currently outside the top 24 in the ballot – Wine Dark Sea (56kg), Enfjaar (56kg) and Hopewell Rock (54.5kg).
The Roger Varian-trained Enfjaar has already entered quarantine in Ireland, while the Harry Charlton-trained Wine Dark Sea is currently in quarantine in Britain.
Melbourne Cup candidates must undertake 14 days of pre-departure quarantine plus 14 days of post-arrival quarantine at Werribee once they land in Australia. There are also Computed Tomography (CT) or Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scans of the horses’ distal limbs to be had before they fly out, and a further CT scan pre-race in Australia. All that after the work of plotting a route to the race.
And there are further declaration stages after the weights are published. The first stage is September 29, the second is October 13, the third is October 26 and the final field is revealed on October 31, the day of the barrier draw.
“I think everything is about the planning (and the process),” said O’Brien, who won the race with Rekindling in 2017 and Twilight Payment in 2020.
“We‘ve been lucky enough that we’ve been supported by some great owners over the years: we have access to some lovely staying horses, and as they get older, they come into reckoning for races like Melbourne,” he added. “It is very much a horse-by-horse basis.” ∎
