Al Riffa makes Cup statement in Irish St Leger

Al Riffa now stands clear at the head of Lexus Melbourne Cup betting after a dominant win in the Group 1 Irish St Leger (2816m), which was run at the Curragh in the early hours of Monday morning, Australian time.

The Joseph O'Brien-trained entire cruised home by four lengths at his first start since being purchased by Australian Bloodstock and is now as short as $6 for the $10 million Melbourne Cup on November 4.

O'Brien has won the Melbourne Cup twice and he is excited about targetting the race with a horse who presents a different challenge to that of Rekindling and Twilight Payment.

"He's a multiple Group 1 winner, so he's going to carry a lot more weight, but he's going to carry it because he's a very high-class horse," O'Brien said after the Irish St Leger success.

"Whether he can win carrying the weight, we'll find out, but he is a classy horse and he does have some of the right attributes that we think you need for the race.

"We're excited to hopefully get a smooth passage down there."

Just how much weight Al Riffa will have to carry will be revealed on Tuesday when Racing Victoria's chief handicapper David Hegan announces weights for this year's Melbourne Cup.

The Irish St Leger success was Al Riffa's third at the highest level, having won the Group 1 National Stakes (1408m) at two and last year's Grosser Preis von Berlin (2414m) in Germany.

It was the second win in a row for Al Riffa, a six-year-old by Australian time, after success in the Group 2 Curragh Cup (2816m), while he was runner-up to Rebel's Romance in the Group 2 Hardwicke Stakes (2414m) the start prior.

Al Riffa has been ridden in all of those starts by Dylan Browne-McMonagle, a name known to Australian racing fans via stints in Australia riding for Ciaron Maher.

Browne-McMonagle also had the job aboard Australian mare Asfoora at the Irish St Leger meeting, but she was unable to repeat the heroics of her Nunthorpe Stakes success at York.

The Henry Dwyer-trained mare could manage only seventh in the Group 1 Flying Five Stakes (1005m) won by Arizona Blue.