Enceladus strides out in the Goodwood sunshine
Enceladus strides out in the Goodwood sunshine

Joseph O'Brien outlines St Leger plans and huge Melbourne Cup squad


Joseph O'Brien has pinpointed two he could run in the Betfred St Leger at Doncaster on September 12, while he could have a significantly bigger team in the Melbourne Cup.

Speaking on the Nick Luck Daily Podcast on Tuesday, O'Brien rattled through his huge team of stayers with Enceladus and Highwayman the duo set to be pointed at the season's final Classic on Town Moor.

Enceladus was an impressive winner of the Group 3 Gordon Stakes at Goodwood last time and on him O'Brien said: "We discussed the plan with the Niarchos family after Goodwood and we decided to miss York and go to Doncaster fresh with a good prep.

"So far that has gone smoothly and he goes there as a live contender."

Highwayman is a rapid improver having gone from being eighth in a Naas mile maiden in June to winning a Leopardstown Listed contest by over two lengths over 1m6f last time and he too could run in the Classic.

"Highwayman could end up in the St Leger at Doncaster," O'Brien said. "That would then guide us to the next step for him. He has the option of the Irish Cesarewitch where he has a penalty.

"If he did happen to pop up the weights to make the Melbourne Cup field that would be a discussion to be had before he heads into quarantine."

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Highwayman is one of ten possible runners O'Brien has for the Melbourne Cup with Omni Man, Trustyourinstinct, Goodie Two Shoes, Sons And Lovers, Tennessee Stud, James J Braddock, Defiantly, Small Fry and Kizlyar being the others.

On potentially running all 10 in the Melbourne Cup O'Brien said: “I don’t think that will happen, plans always change.

"But the Melbourne Cup is a prestigious race and the vast majority of those horses have different ownerships, it’s our job to prepare the horses as best we can.

“At this stage it’s a long list of possibles. We’d love to have a few runners in the race again this year, hopefully."


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