Joseph O’Brien has five chances to pull off a Melbourne Cup hat-trick

His father was dominant at the weekend’s Breeders’ Cup, but it’s Joseph O’Brien’s turn in the international racing spotlight at the Lexus Melbourne Cup in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

The 33-year-old Irishman is set to saddle five runners as he tries to secure a third success in the race that famously stops a nation.

One of Australia’s great sporting institutions is worth more than AU$10 million (about €6.2 million) and is due to start at 4am Irish time. It is live on Sky Sports Racing for insomniacs and those for whom setting the alarm clock on the first Tuesday in November has become an annual ritual.

It is 33 years since Dermot Weld changed the famous old race’s profile forever with Vintage Crop’s groundbreaking victory at Flemington. Weld won it again with Media Puzzle in 2002. That impact can never be matched, although the Curragh trainer could wind up numerically eclipsed by his compatriot.

O’Brien was the youngest ever to train a Melbourne Cup winner when beating his father Aidan in 2017 through Rekindling. The family order was repeated three years later with Twilight Payment’s success.

It underlined his apparent Midas touch in two-mile contests. By contrast, O’Brien snr’s relationship with Australia’s most famous race has been famously fractious.

It’s 18 years since a standoff between the world’s most successful trainer and Racing Victoria stewards keen to quiz him on the tactics employed by his runners in the 2008 Melbourne Cup.

That wound up in an uneasy detente, but just two years ago a livid O’Brien was left “devastated” when Jan Brueghel was ruled out of running in the race after a pre-race veterinary exam. He’d considered the horse a good thing, understandable given the horse’s subsequent Group One profile.

This time, pre-race checks have affected what many viewed as his son’s number one hope. Defiantly was due to be ridden by Dylan Browne McMonagle but he failed a weekend veterinary exam.

His stable companion Kizlyar stepped into one of the prized 24 starting slots, but Defiantly’s absence is a major blow to Irish hopes. Browne McMonagle switches to topweight Sons And Lovers. He’s got a favourable inside draw in stall three, but O’Brien’s other hopes fared considerably worse.

James J Braddock, third in June’s Epsom Derby, will have to overcome a classic “car park draw” in box 24. Kizlyar is in 20 and next to him are last year’s runner-up Goodie Two Shoes and another JP McManus-owned hopeful in Trustyourinstinct.

McManus was at Flemington over the weekend and described the experience as unbelievable before the main event.

“I’ve got up for years, it’s four o’clock Irish time it’s run, but for years, I’ve got up to make sure I watch it. It’s great, it’s a must,” he explained to local media.

As for his horses’ chances, he was characteristically less effusive, although the presence of Australian racing’s top rider, James McDonald, on Trustyourinstinct looks a statement of intent. “J-Mac” won the Cup on Verry Elleegant in 2021.

Fourth to Scandinavia in the Irish Leger, Trustyourinstinct had previously impressed in the Curragh Cup, suggesting the two-mile Flemington test should be little problem. Likely to be ridden for a late thrust, he might not be too severely affected by the draw.

O’Brien and Ciaron Maher have half the field between them. The Victorian trainer with the Irish name scored with Gold Trip in 2022 and his seven runners include recent Geelong Cup winner Point Of Law.

The ex-Johnny Murtagh-trained Zahrann is also in the Maher squad and he didn’t enjoy an unhindered passage when sixth in the recent Caulfield Cup.

With two French winners and a German and a Japanese winning since Vintage Crop’s benchmark victory, Godolphin’s Cross Counter remains the sole English-trained horse to land the Cup.

Enfjaar and Irish jockey Ray Dawson ran well in the Caulfield Cup and will be joined by Wine Dark Sea and Hopewell Rock in a three-pronged British raid. Another Irish rider, Robbie Dolan, is reunited with his 2024 Melbourne Cup winner Knight’s Choice.

O’Brien has won with a northern hemisphere three-year-old in Rekindling and a grizzled veteran in Twilight Payment. His team runs the age and experience gamut this time, putting him in a good position for a Melbourne Cup hat-trick.