Joseph O'Brien: 'He's looked a bit special at home - and it could be straight to Royal Ascot now'
He has trained 30 Group or Grade 1 winners by the tender age of 30, as well as getting his hands on not one but two Melbourne Cups, and now Joseph O'Brien could have a proper Arc contender in Al Riffa.
The giant son of Wootton Bassett got closer to last year's unbeaten Arc winner Ace Impact than anything else when going down by three-quarters of a length in the Group 2 Prix Guillaume d'Ornano at Deauville in August. We didn't see him afterwards after a late setback ruled him out of the Irish Champion Stakes for which he was a leading fancy.
But Al Riffa is back and ready to make up for lost time at four by all accounts. He is VIP material at Owning Hill and will make his eagerly awaited comeback in the Prix Ganay on Sunday.
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Published on inStable Tours
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- 'We hope he's a Triumph Hurdle horse, so until he tells us otherwise we'll be aiming him that way'
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- 'He's bigger, stronger, definitely getting better - and he'll be a classy horse going back into handicaps'
- 'Our novice chasers are as good as anyone's in Britain - and this one is a proper horse'
- 'Having a winner at the Cheltenham Festival last season made a big difference - and this might be one for the same race'