Al Riffa’s Cup mystery: jockey call on ice
Connections of Irish stayer Al Riffa will wait until after Saturday’s Caulfield Cup to make a call on which jockey will ride the horse in next month’s Melbourne Cup.
The $6 second favourite with Bet365, Al Riffa has won the G1 Irish St Leger and the G2 Curragh Cup at his two most recent starts, both with Irish young gun Dylan Browne McMonagle in the saddle.
The Joseph O’Brien-trained galloper will arrive in Melbourne on Wednesday and Australian Bloodstock’s Jamie Lovett said he will liaise with O’Brien next week regarding a firm jockey booking.
“We just want to get him here safe, get through the Caulfield Cup and we’ll have that discussion with Joseph,” Lovett said.
“There was no benefit in diving into that conversation too quickly.”
Amazing performance from our homebred Al Riffa 🏆 who landed the Irish St Leger at the Curragh 🇮🇪! This marks the third Group 1 victory for this representative of Australian Bloodstock Two! Congratulations to them, as well as to Joseph O'Brien and Dylan Browne McMonagle! 👏 pic.twitter.com/iHMC7lvZkm
— Haras d'Etreham (@Haras_d_Etreham) September 14, 2025
Al Riffa has 59kg in the Melbourne Cup and it is understood there has been strong interest in the ride from several leading Australian jockeys.
Second acceptances were taken for the $8 million staying handicap on Tuesday, with 53 horses still in the race.
Chris Waller’s star mare Via Sistina will run in the Cox Plate and was not among the Melbourne Cup acceptances.
