Irish trainer Joseph O’Brien is back chasing a third Melbourne Cup victory with a strong arsenal at his disposal.
With five runners in Tuesday’s 3200m race at Flemington, O’Brien has the bases loaded with a multitude of talent.
There is the ‘baby’ of his quintet – James J Braddock, a Northern Hemisphere three-year-old – through to Goodie Two Shoes, a Northern Hemisphere seven-year-old mare.
Sprinkled in between are Kizlyar, Sons And Lovers and Trustyourinstinct.
O’Brien’s two previous Cup winners came with horses at each end of the age spectrum.
His first came with Rekindling, who like James J Braddock was a Northern Hemisphere three-year-old, while his second was with Twilight Payment, like Goodie Two Shoes, a Northern Hemisphere seven-year-old.
Kevin Blake, the race planner for O’Brien, said the team had been disappointed to lose Defiantly from the Cup, withdrawn on Saturday following a veterinary inspection that deemed the stayer unsuitable to accept, but was happy to have five runners in the race, despite a mixture of draws.
This year’s contingent has been the largest O’Brien has sent out.
“We’ve had horses at Werribee before being by themselves and have had to do all their work by themselves, but there’s a big team of horses, a big team of top-class people this year,” Blake said.
“It definitely helps. It’s a great atmosphere down there.”
Blake said it was not easy to get a horse like James J Braddock into the Cup with all the veterinary protocols that are now in place.
He said a plan was put in place after the gelding, part-owned in Australian interests, finished third in the Epsom Derby in June.
“After his run in the Derby, the official rating he was given put him in the perfect zone that if you thought he was suitable, then this was the place to come,” Blake said.
“There is 10 million reasons to come here but it’s been tricky to get Northern Hemisphere three-year-olds through the process here, but we committed, we came and he’s ticked every box.
“He’ll enjoy some rain, but the draw (24) will give us nightmares, but it is what it is.”
Goodie Two Shoes is back for her second Melbourne Cup attempt, having finished second last year under Wayne Lordan who takes the ride again.
“She had 20 last year, 19 this year, same man riding,” Blake said.
“Hopefully he can do the exact same thing as last year, keep it nice and simple.
“Wayne has had a wonderful year, and the mare is little bit older with a quirky profile running over fences 18 months ago, but the team seem particularly happy with her.
“They feel she is in a better place this year than she was last year.”
Blake said the Sons And Lovers was over-priced at $23 and liked the draw, barrier three.
“We wanted a soft draw,” Blake said.
“He wants to be covered up, relaxed, and stall three is perfect for him and Dylan Browne McMonagle rides him well.
“Trustyourinstinct, he’s a horse with a lot of ability.
“He’s a high achieving horse and we would have loved a lower draw as he’s a horse that will be ridden with a bit of patience.
“But when you need a magic act, you need a magician and we think we have one in J-Mac, not just James McDonald, but also J P McManus, two J-Macs.”
The fifth of the O’Brien team is Kizlyar who finished 11th in the Moonee Valley Cup (2500m) at Flemington on October 24, and in hindsight possibly should not have started.
“We brought him for the Melbourne Cup, and it wasn’t planned to run before,” Blake said.
“We felt he was right on the cusp to get in, so we tried to run to win and guarantee it, but as it transpires, we should have sat on our hands.
“It would have been some sweat if we did, but he’s in.
“He’s a strong stayer, he’s a forward goer, but a typical Aussie style race last time didn’t play to his strengths.
“People will rule him out because of what we saw last week, but I would be expecting a different horse on Tuesday.”
Blake said he would like to see a strongly run 3200m contest on Tuesday, as he believes that will play into all the Irish-trained stayer’s strengths.
“Trustyourinstinct has a wicked turn of foot, James J Braddock has shown a wicked turn of foot over shorter trips,” Blake said.
“Goodie Two Shoes is probably more of a grinder, Kizlyar more of a grinder and Sons And Lovers can quicken off a quick pace.
“I think it favours the internationals when there’s pace in the race because the locals are so good when the gears drop and they rev up again.
“We find them very hard to beat doing that, so we would be delighted to see pace in the race whether it’s us pushing it or someone else and we would love a true two-mile test and we feel as a bunch, that would suit our horses better.”
