Joseph O’Brien’s appetite for winners of all kinds is set to be underlined across the globe and across the codes this weekend.
The 32-year-old trainer has Kim Roque among the entries for Saturday’s December Gold Cup in Cheltenham. Before that, his stalwart campaigner Busselston is on course to line up in Friday’s Cross-Country Chase at jump racing’s spiritual home.
O’Brien’s focus will quickly switch to Hong Kong early on Sunday morning when he pitches both Al Riffa and Galen into International Carnival action at the Sha Tin track.
If Galen faces a massive task against local superstar Romantic Warrior in the €4.4 million Hong Kong Cup, Al Riffa is a leading player in the €2.8 million Vase over a mile and a half.
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O’Brien’s father, Aidan, has won the Vase three times and will be represented this time by Los Angeles in his final start before going to stud. For O’Brien Jnr, though, Hong Kong is a new international frontier to conquer.
O’Brien’s success, both in terms of quality and quantity, since officially starting to train in 2016 is remarkable.
He reached 1,000 winners in 2022. Last month, he hit 1,000 on the flat alone. There have been a pair of Melbourne Cup victories, Breeders’ Cup success, Classics in Ireland and England as well as top-flight wins over jumps including in the King George VI Chase last Christmas.
All of it makes for a massive operation at his Piltown base. O’Brien had nearly 800 runners in the latest flat season in Ireland, reaching 100 winners. He has had 111 winners in all here on the flat throughout 2025, and 14 over jumps in the current campaign.
Last Christmas underlined how potent a presence he remains over jumps too, with Banbridge’s King George one leg of a Grade One hat-trick completed by Solness and Home By The Lee at Leopardstown.
His global ambitions, though, have been obvious from the start including with Rekindling’s 2017 Melbourne Cup. His hopes of a Flemington hat-trick last month came up short as former chaser Goodie Two Shoes had to settle for second, while Al Riffa was seventh.
Al Riffa drops back to a mile and a half at Sha Tin where he is a general 9-2 shot to overcome last year’s winner, Giavellotto, and the Arc third, Sosie. Los Angeles is 20-1 with some firms.
“We are always keen to race internationally, and we will go where we can be competitive. We are aggressive in our campaigning and it’s something that we will continue to focus on in coming years,” the Irishman told local media in Hong Kong ahead of the final international date of 2025.
O’Brien described Al Riffa as “the ideal type” for the Vase but is already considering more travel for the horse in 2026, with the Dubai World Cup a potential date for him.
“His second behind Rebel’s Romance [in the Hardwicke Stakes] was over the same distance on fast ground, conditions not too dissimilar to what he will get at Sha Tin,” added O’Brien.
Galen was runner-up on his last start in Bahrain but faces a massive task against Romantic Warrior, who has won the Cup for the last three years.
The Lion In Winter is Ballydoyle’s other hope on a card featuring four Group One races and will take his chance in the Mile.
“They both travelled over well. They arrived on Sunday and have been doing great, I couldn’t be happier with them,” reported Ballydoyle’s spokesman Pat Keating.
Before that Kim Roque may be joined by Gavin Cromwell’s Will The Wise in the December Gold Cup, which is named in support of BBC commentator John Hunt whose wife and two daughters were murdered last year.
Kim Roque was runner-up at Cheltenham last month on his first start for O’Brien and is as low as 11-2 for the weekend highlight after a dozen entries were left following Monday’s acceptance stage.
Tuesday’s Irish action is in Punchestown where the Listed Matchbook Mares ‘Novice Hurdle features.
The €24,000 pot is dwarfed by the £410,000 (nearly €470,000) paid out by owner Kenny Alexander to purchase Echoing Silence following her point-to-point success. She broke her maiden at Cork last month and takes on six rivals.
They include the Galway winner Amen Kate and Chosen Comrade. Sam Ewing won on both of them last time out and significantly is on Peter Fahey’s unbeaten hope Chosen Comrade.
Henry de Bromhead will have hopes of landing the two opening chases through Its Bilbo and Butch Cassidy. The latter ran fourth to Final Demand in his chasing debut and faces a quartet of Willie Mullins runners.
