Irish trainer Joseph O’Brien has sent five of his best horses to Sydney for the autumn carnival

He has tasted success in Melbourne and now Irish trainer Joseph O’Brien is looking for further success in Australia when he sends out his first Sydney runners during The Championships.

Irish trainer Joseph O'Brien (left) has sent five horses to Sydney for The Championships at Randwick. Picture: AAP Image

Irish training genius Joseph O’Brien isn’t shying away from the challenge of trying to beat Godolphin superstar Anamoe again in the $5 million Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Royal Randwick during The Championships.

O’Brien has entered the reliable Raise You for Sydney’s richest autumn carnival weight-for-age race where Anamoe is the dominant favourite.

“We have a good guide on Anamoe’s level of form through State Of Rest as we beat him in the Cox Plate,” O’Brien said.

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O’Brien can get a line on Raise You’s Queen Elizabeth rival, Anamoe (right), through Cox Plate winner State Of Rest (left). Picture: Getty Images

“We have an entry for the Queen Elizabeth for Raise You but he is also in the Sydney Cup as well. Those decisions will be made at a later date.”

O’Brien, who was interviewed exclusively by News Corp from his stables at County Kilkenny in Ireland, has sent a team of five horses to Sydney and revealed plans to attend The Championships in early April.

Raise You is O’Brien’s only entry for the Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m), run at Royal Randwick on April 8, but the gelding is also nominated along with his stablemates Baron Samedi, Cleveland and Temple Of Artemis in the $2 million Sydney Cup (3200m) which is run on the same day.

The O’Brien-trained mare Statement is nominated for the Group 1 $1 million Queen of the Turf Stakes (1600m) at The Championships but she could make her Sydney debut as early as next week in the Group 1 $600,000 Coolmore Classic (1500m) at Rosehill Gardens on March 11.

O’Brien, who has trained two Melbourne Cup winners with Twilight Payment (2020) and Rekindling (2017) plus State Of Rest’s 2021 Cox Plate win over Anamoe, embraces the challenge of competing on racing’s international stage.

“We as a team are not afraid of having a go and I have a top class team of people with me who can travel with these horses all over the world,” O’Brien said.

Joseph O’Brien has already won two Melbourne Cups with Rekindling and Twilight Payment (right) as well as a Cox Plate and is looking to add some Sydney autumn features to he record. Picture: Getty Images

“Our record shows we can get the job done and hopefully the horses we have taken to Sydney can do us proud.”

The O’Brien quintet are coming out of a cold Irish winter into a sultry, late summer Sydney and how they acclimatise to the warmer weather will determine their race campaigns.

But England’s Addeybb, trained by William Haggas, won successive Queen Elizabeth Stakes in 2020 and 2021, proved it can be done and has certainly raised awareness of The Championships with northern hemisphere trainers.

“Obviously, we saw the results of Addeybb, he is a really high class horse and he performed well down there,” O’Brien said.

“The prizemoney is very good so those are the reasons we are there but mainly it is because we feel the races and race conditions will suit our horses.

“We feel this is the best opportunity for them to perform at the highest level that they will have for the season. The most important thing for us is placing our horses in what we feel are the right races for them.”

O’Brien said his Sydney autumn carnival hopefuls have settled in well at the Canterbury quarantine training and stabling facility since arriving there last Saturday.

“The team are happy with how the horses have arrived but it is very early days,” O’Brien said.

“We are looking forward to increasing their workload in coming weeks and getting a feel of where we are with them and then we will finalise race plans.

Baron Samedi (right) will contest the Group 1 Sydney Cup during The Championships. Picture: Sportsfile via Getty Images

“I suppose they all have the option of running once or twice but we will decide and lock in targets as we get closer to the time.

“Some may need more time to acclimatise and others might be ready to go earlier so we are keeping all our options open and will make the calls at a later date.”

O’Brien, 29, was a former champion jockey who rode two English Derby winners on Australia (2014) and Camelot (2012) for his father, trainer Aidan O’Brien, and was twice leading jockey in Ireland.

But O’Brien always struggled with his weight and retired from riding in 2016 to concentrate on a training career. He has already trained Group 1 winners in five countries.

Although O’Brien has never had a runner in Sydney, the trainer went on a secret reconnaissance mission to inspect the Canterbury training facilities last year as part of a long-term plan to target The Championships.

“We are very comfortable with the training surface at Canterbury,” O’Brien said.

“There is a lovely grass racetrack with a nice kind surface and there’s a sand track available to us as well so we have all the things we need.

“We have a couple of horses there who we think will do well under your conditions. We would like a bit of rain for them but we are looking forward to the challenge over the next couple of months.”

Raise You is a $101 chance with TAB fixed odds for the Queen Elizabeth and $15 for the Sydney Cup while Cleveland is $11 second favourite for the Sydney Cup with Baron Samedi and Temple Of Artemis both at $26.

Statement is rated a $51 chance in the April 9 Queen Of The Turf while she is not currently in the markets for next week’s Coolmore Classic.

Originally published as Irish trainer Joseph O’Brien has sent five of his best horses to Sydney for the autumn carnival