Joseph O'Brien Saddles Two in Lucrative Sydney Cup

Joseph O'Brien will bid for more lucrative success in Australia this weekend in the Sydney Cup (G1) April 8 at Randwick Racecourse, with the trainer set to saddle two leading chances in the AU$2 million contest.

O'Brien will be represented by last season's Chester Cup winner, Cleveland , who was bought by Lloyd Williams last summer. The 5-year-old ran in the Tancred Stakes (G1) at Rosehill on March 25 as a prep for Saturday's race, finishing fifth by 2 1/4 lengths.

Owner Williams and O'Brien previously teamed up for success in Australia's flagship race, the Melbourne Cup (G1), with Rekindling in 2017 and Twilight Payment in 2020.

Baron Samedi  is also set to run at Randwick for the trainer and was last seen finishing second in the Loughbrown Stakes (G3) at the Curragh last October.

O'Brien said: "They're all doing well out there at the moment. Cleveland ran very well in his prep run in the Tancred Stakes, and the Sydney Cup is his main target. Baron Samedi had plans for a prep run but the ground was very quick so we decided to go straight for the Sydney Cup with him."

Both runners have been handed wide draws, with Cleveland in stall 17 and Baron Samedi set to come from widest of all in 20. The pair have been allocated weights of 112 and 121 pounds, respectively.

Raise You , Statement , and Temple Of Artemis had also traveled over to compete in Australia but only Statement will run this weekend in the AU$1 million Queen Of The Turf Stakes (G1).

Raise You met a setback while in Australia, while Temple Of Artemis sadly suffered a fatal injury.

O'Brien added: "Statement's target race is this weekend as well. She ran once already but it was on very quick ground and didn't run badly when only beaten four lengths. She prefers soft ground and her target race is this weekend, too.

"Raise You, unfortunately, had a holdup, so he's not going to get to run there, but we will have him back for an autumn campaign in Europe. Temple Of Artemis unfortunately had an injury out there."

While the Sydney Cup is part of the Sydney Autumn Racing Carnival, O'Brien hopes that it will also unearth live contenders for the Melbourne Cup later this year in an attempt to win the Flemington showpiece for the third time in the last seven runnings.

He said: "We could potentially bring some of the horses back for their spring carnival at Melbourne. It depends how their summer goes."