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By Ray Hickson

Jockey John Allen is happy to trust the genius of Irish trainer Joseph O’Brien when he’s legged aboard Raise You in Saturday’s Group 1 $1m Ranvet Stakes (2000m) at Rosehill Gardens.

John Allen (Pic: Bradley Photos)

The seven-year-old will be O’Brien’s first Sydney runner, one of five horses he’s sent from Ireland for the Sydney Autumn Carnival and The Star Championships, and Allen had his first feel of the horse at Canterbury on Wednesday morning.

Stablemates Baron Samedi and Cleveland, both Sydney Cup nominations, galloped with Raise You while Temple Of Artemis and Statement worked together later in the morning.

Raise You has won six of his 18 starts and while Allen didn’t ask him for anything serious he said O’Brien has already proven he can travel horses to Australia with success.

“Joseph has a pretty good handle on what he brings over, he has a good record with what he’s brought to Melbourne and hopefully he can translate that to Sydney,’’ Allen said.

“He seems to have a nice bunch of horses there and I’m sure they will be competitive.”

Originally trained by Andrew Balding, Raise You had won two races when he joined O’Brien about three years ago and was gelded towards the end of 2020.

Since then he’s won four more races from a mile up to 2816m and had his first Group 1 shot for the stable in last September's Irish St Leger.

Allen, who worked for O’Brien’s grandfather Joe Crowley for a number of years in Ireland primarily riding over the jumps, won a Cox Plate for O'Brien on State Of Rest.

He’s no stranger to big race success in Sydney having won the past two editions of the Australian Derby, among 17 career Group 1s, and he’s confident enough that Raise You can make his presence felt this autumn.

Whether that’s on Saturday or when he gets to Randwick is something he’s not as bullish about.

“He seems in good order, he’s a nice big rangy horse. Hopefully he can run well,’’ he said.

“They said he used to be very keen in his races before but he’s learned to relax better. He just might need a bit of room. We only cantered around, we didn’t have to do anything too serious.

“He’s a horse that improved a lot when he went to Joseph’s. He started a 6/1 shot in an Irish St Leger against Kyprios who is known as the best stayer in the world. I’d be surprised if he couldn’t match up.”

Raise You, $16 with TAB in the Ranvet on Wednesday, is nominated for the Group 1 $5m Longines Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m) and the Group 1 $2m Schweppes Sydney Cup (3200m) where he has 54kg.

William Haggas will be chasing his second Ranvet Stakes with Dubai Honour and the UK trainer’s imposing Sydney record has earned the five-year-old respect as a $5.50 chance for his local debut.

Of course Addeybb won the race in 2020 before being run down by Verry Elleegant in the 2021 edition and Haggas’ stable representative Isabella Paul said the horse is well but would prefer more give in the track than he’ll likely find on Saturday.

“The rain we’ve had the last two days we could do for the rest of the week with him,’’ she said.

Raise You travels up strongly and eases clear in the Group 3 @comerhomesgroup International Irish St Leger Trial Stakes for a convincing success for the @ShaneCrosse and @JosephOBrien2 combination 🥇 pic.twitter.com/CbXA3V00HN

— The Curragh Racecourse (@curraghrace) August 13, 2022

“He needs a run, the ground won’t necessarily suit him but he’s a lovely horse and the main aim will be hopefully the Queen Elizabeth.”

The gelding arrives with a sizeable reputation, he was twice a Group 2 winner in France and ran second in the Group 1 Champion Stakes at Ascot in 2021. He wasn’t able to repeat that last year, finishing sixth in that race.

“Dubai Honour wasn’t the same horse last year as he was as a three-year-old because he never got his ground,’’ Paul said.

“It would be a shame for that to happen again given usually there’s a bit of a deluge down here.”

Champion jockey Ryan Moore will partner Dubai Honour who will, all going well, attempt to emulate Addeybb and win the Group 1 $5m Longines Queen Elizabeth Stakes on April 8.

All the fields, form and replays for Saturday's Golden Slipper at Rosehill