Raise You is set to represent the Joseph O'Brien yard in the Comer Group International Irish St Leger at the Curragh on Irish Champions Weekend, with star stayers Kyprios and Stradivarius among the potential opposition.
The 14-furlong Group One is one of the highlights of the second day of action, with the fixture opening at Leopardstown on 10 September, and O’Brien is hoping his four-times course winner can sparkle again back at his favourite venue.
Previously trained by Andrew Balding, Raise You posted a career-best effort when tackling the Leger trip for the first time in the trial race earlier this month, beating dual Irish Leger scorer Search For A Song by two lengths.
O’Brien said: "It looks a good race. We’ve a couple of strong candidates for it.
"Raise You loves it there and I think since we’ve gone up in distance, that’s where the improvement has really come from. It was a very good performance the last day."
O’Brien’s father Aidan trains Kyprios, who has dominated the staying scene this term by winning both the Gold Cup at Royal Ascot and the Goodwood Cup, with the John and Thady Gosden-trained Stradivarius finishing third and second in each race respectively.
Kyprios is already entered for the Irish Leger while Stradivarius would have to be supplemented at a cost of €50,000 and when asked about taking on the star duo, O’Brien replied: "I don’t know if he’d beat them, but hopefully he’ll run his race.
"All you can do is win the trial for the race, beating a previous winner, and tune him up for a good challenge. He’s been a lovely horse this year."
Raise You is much the best in the G3 Irish St Leger Trial at @curraghrace, forging clear for a decisive victory for the @ShaneCrosse and @JosephOBrien2 team 🏆 pic.twitter.com/M4JX2BQURp
— Horse Racing Ireland (@HRIRacing) August 13, 2022
Cleveland is O’Brien’s other candidate after finishing a narrow second to stablemate Gear Up on his debut for the team, having previously been trained by his father.
The four-year-old won the Chester Cup earlier in the campaign.
O’Brien said: "It was a really good run and the Leger is an obvious stepping stone for him. Even this year, he’s had a good year so far. It was nice to see him take the step into Group company and perform well."
Curragh maiden winner Al Riffa could make the leap to Group One company, with connections considering supplementing the colt for the Goffs Vincent O'Brien National Stakes at that track.
Beaten by the well-regarded Hans Andersen on his racecourse bow, he stepped up on that to win over seven furlongs earlier this month.
Al Riffa is entered in the Group Two KPMG Champions Juvenile Stakes at Leopardstown a day earlier but he could wait 24 hours and chase a top-level triumph instead.
"Al Riffa might be put into the National Stakes," O’Brien said.
"He’s done well. He had the option of the Futurity but we decided to wait. He’s also in the Leopardstown race as well and it will be discussed with his owner in the meantime, but I think he might end up in the National Stakes."
The Moyglare Stud Stakes takes place on the same Curragh card and O’Brien could rely on Debutante Stakes third Thornbrook, who could clash again with the winner and second from that race, Meditate and Olivia Maralda.
The trainer said: "I think Thornbrook will be the main one, it doesn’t look like I might run another one as well as that.
"Zoinnocent is in there as well but she might wait for the Goffs Million, Caroline Street might run in a seven-furlong Group Three a couple of weeks after at the Curragh and then I have a couple of others, but Thornbrook would be the main one – probably the only one."
What a day fro Ryan Moore and Aidan O'Brien at The Curragh as the pair have the four timer up as Meditate wins the Group 2 Alpha Centauri Debutante Stakes in classy fashion. 👏@Ballydoyle @curraghrace pic.twitter.com/2rttLa3eIE
— Horse Racing Ireland (@HRIRacing) August 20, 2022
O’Brien has a strong squad to unleash over the fixture, with Above The Curve due to return to action having been sidelined since winning the Group One Prix Saint-Alary at ParisLongchamp back in May.
The three-year-old holds a clutch of Champions Weekend options, but O’Brien is currently favouring the Moyglare Jewels Blandford Stakes at the Curragh for her.
He said: "Above The Curve is possibly going to run in the Blandford. She had a little hold up in the spring and she’s coming back for an autumn campaign.
"She’s a nice filly, obviously a Group One winner. You’d think if she did happen to be in training next year, she’d be at least as good, maybe better.
"She’s in the Matron, but I’d say the Blandford would be the more logical race for her."
Point King is unbeaten in three runs so far this year and will put his Melbourne Cup hopes to the test in the Group Three Paddy Power Stakes at Leopardstown.
O’Brien, who won the Cup with both Rekindling 2017 and Twilight Payment in 2020, said: "That will be depend on how he goes in Leopardstown, but if he happened to go well then he would quite possibly go to Melbourne.
"He’s really been progressing this year. He had a lovely run at two and he’s progressed through the ranks from race to race this year.
"We had the option of sticking him into one of the Legers but this looks a nice stepping stone, Listed into Group Three company for him."
Agartha could fly the flag for O’Brien in the Coolmore America Justify Matron Stakes at Leopardstown after registering her first win in over a year last week.
Group One placed as a juvenile, Agartha landed the Group Three Fairy Bridge Stakes at Tipperary last Friday, atoning for her previous disappointing run when coming home last of 10 in the Belmont Oaks.
O’Brien said: "It was nice to get her back on track the other day, get her head in front again as she hadn’t won for a while. She’s been a very consistent performer really, other than her one disappointing run in America when she probably didn’t get the 10 furlongs.
"She’s a great filly, she jumps and runs and that’s her style. She likes to go, you let her run along and they have to come and get her – she’s not an easy horse to pass, she always boxes on well.
"She likes Leopardstown as well. She does have an option of going back to Tipperary as well a couple of weeks after, but we’ll see. The Matron is probably more likely."
