Dual Melbourne Cup-winning trainer Joseph O’Brien is set to return to Melbourne this spring with the likelihood of at least two Spring Carnival runners.
It is planned for O’Brien’s gallopers Buckaroo and Valiant King, who are part-owned by Australian interests, to enter quarantine in order to race in Melbourne this spring, where they could vie for some of the feature races including the Cox Plate.
Ozzie Kheir confirmed on Monday that both gallopers, who he and his partners part-own with Sheikh Fahad’s Qatar Racing, will be prepared by O’Brien for their spring campaigns in Melbourne.
“Buckaroo is having a bit of a freshen up after Royal Ascot and Joseph is to bring him out,” Kheir said. “We hope he can go to a Cox Plate.
“Valiant King is another who will have one more run in Europe before he comes out with Joseph.
“He might be more of a long -term prospect, potentially taking the same path as Soulcombe last year as he’s only had the three starts.”
O’Brien has become among Europe’s most influential trainer in Australia over the past few years with a number of feature-race victories.
He famously won the Melbourne Cup in 2017 as a 24-year-old with Rekindling, before doing so again in 2020 with Twilight Payment. In between, he also trained the winner of the 2021 Cox Plate, State Of Rest.
Buckaroo and Valiant King are two of at least four European horses to race for Kheir and partners over the spring, with confirmation two other notable Royal Ascot runners are also bound for Melbourne.
The Melbourne Cup is the race programmed for Saint George, who surprised when he ran second in the Group 3 Queen’s Vase (2800m) at Royal Ascot before a close-up third placing in the G3 Bahrain Trophy (2600m) at Newmarket earlier this month.
He is likely to have one more run before flying out to Australia.
Also on the flight to Melbourne will be another Royal Ascot performer, Light Infantry, who will also have one more run in Europe before being transferred to Ciaron Maher and Dave Eustace for a Cox Plate tilt.
– racing.com
