Two Melbourne Cups and a Cox Plate say Joseph O’Brien knows what it takes to win big Australian races, and he was happy with his Championships team and the weather on Friday.
The Irish trainer arrived in Sydney on Thursday night and watched Sydney Cup favourite Cleveland do two laps of the track at Canterbury on a mild morning on Friday.
Joseph O’Brien watches Baron Samedi at Canterbury on Friday morning.Credit: Chris Roots
Wet-tracker Baron Samedi, which also contests the 3200m cup, did the same. It was more of a stretch of the legs than a serious workout for both.
O’Brien’s Queen Of The Turf contender, Statement, was a little sharper over the final two furlongs of her gallop to be ready for the 1600m assignment.
But most of the work has been done for this planned coup on his first trip to Sydney.
“The guys here are very pleased with the horses. It is great to be here and they’re in great order. It looks like we are going to have a pretty wet track tomorrow,” O’Brien said.
The genius of O’Brien is not only in selecting the right horses to come but having a team to prepare them to the minute.
His three Australian group 1s are complemented by two in the United States, where he has also won the group 2 Belmont Gold Cup over two miles with Baron Samedi. The results underline his reputation as one of the best travellers of horses in the world.
“The starting point to win a good race anywhere in the world is having a good horse,” O’Brien said. “You need to have the right temperament, and when you come here you have to have the horse with the right credentials for your racing; that is to be able to switch off and have a turn of foot.”
O’Brien had watched his Classic team go through their paces before leaving Ireland on Wednesday, and his focus is now on winning another Australian group 1. His assessment of the team is brief and concise.
“Baron Samedi and Statement love the mud and, to be quite honest, it couldn’t be heavy enough for them,” O’Brien said.
“Cleveland has come over in really good shape, and he is obviously the classiest horse of the bunch.
“He has had a good prep. I wouldn’t want it to be too heavy for him, but he has won on a slow track.”
Cleveland has been the centre of attention for the Sydney Cup since arriving at Canterbury. Some punters got $21 early on, but there will be plenty who are happy to take the $4 on offer for the two-miler on Saturday.
He had a warm-up run where he found the line as well as anything running into fifth in the Tancred Stakes won by Arapaho two weeks ago and this has been his target, especially after he was only allotted 51kg.
“He is down in the weights, which is good,” O’Brien said. “It’s a really nice weight for him to have because I think the lightest weight he has carried is 57 kilos in his career.
“He might be drawn wide [in gate 17] but over two miles that shouldn’t be a problem. He is fit and well and just looks great.”
Kerrin McEvoy, arguably the best Australian jockey at 2400m and beyond, was booked a couple of months out and has got down to the weight to ride Cleveland on Saturday.
“They have had this on the radar for a while and a lot has gone into being here with Cleveland,” McEvoy said. “He can stay, he has a change of gears and handles cut in the ground.
“I think the run in the Tancred will do him a fair bit of good and he would have improved off it.
“It is a two-mile race, so we will need to conserve energy, and we will have to offset the draw.
“It is all about getting him into a rhythm because he will stay and have a turn of foot when it is needed.”
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