Al Riffa has surged to the top of Melbourne Cup betting after powering to victory in the Group 1 Irish St Leger (2816m) at the Curragh in the early hours of Monday morning, Australian time.
The Joseph O’Brien-trained star, purchased earlier this year by Australian Bloodstock, coasted home by four lengths in his first start for his new connections and is now as short as $6 for the $10 million Melbourne Cup on November 4.
O’Brien, already a dual winner of Australia’s greatest race with Rekindling (2017) and Twilight Payment (2020), was thrilled with the performance and excited about the challenge ahead.
“He’s a multiple Group 1 winner, so he’s going to carry a lot more weight, but he’s going to carry it because he’s a very high-class horse,” O’Brien said. “Whether he can win carrying the weight, we’ll find out, but he is a classy horse and he does have some of the right attributes that we think you need for the race. We’re excited to hopefully get a smooth passage down there.”
Racing Victoria’s chief handicapper David Hegan will release the Melbourne Cup weights on Tuesday, revealing just what task awaits the six-year-old entire.
The Irish St Leger marked Al Riffa’s third elite-level success, having claimed the Group 1 National Stakes (1408m) as a two-year-old and the Grosser Preis von Berlin (2414m) last season. He also brought winning form into the race, fresh from success in the Curragh Cup (2816m) and a runner-up finish in the Hardwicke Stakes (2414m).
All of those runs have come under Dylan Browne-McMonagle, who is well-known to Australian fans through his time riding for Ciaron Maher. He was also booked for Asfoora at the same meeting, but the Henry Dwyer-trained mare couldn’t replicate her Nunthorpe Stakes heroics at York, finishing seventh in the Flying Five Stakes (1005m).