O’Brien’s Latrobe to race for Cliffsofmoher

JOSEPH O’Brien hopes to erase the misery of The Cliffsofmoher’s Melbourne Cup demise when crack Irish colt Latrobe contests the Group 1 Mackinnon Stakes (2000m) at Flemington.

O’Brien was devastated by the death of The Cliffsofmoher, who was trained by his father Aidan, after the raider fractured a shoulder early in the Cup.

“It’s unfortunate,” he said. “Horses can be injured in a field. It’s unfortunate it happened in the Melbourne Cup.”

Ballydoyle foreman TJ Comerford said Aidan O’Brien was distressed by fatal injury to The Cliffsofmoher, one of several European horses either euthanased or seriously injured during the spring.

Joseph O’Brien said Latrobe had settled in well after connections decided to bypass the Cup and target the Mackinnon.

“Very happy with him, he seems to have travelled down well and we’re looking forward to the race now,” he said. “We decided, after talking with Lloyd and Nick [Williams], not to go to the Cup because he doesn’t have near the miles in him that Rekindling had coming down here last season.

“Rekindling was a guaranteed stayer. Latrobe is a less mature colt. That’s why we decided he was a Mackinnon Stakes horse.”

Latrobe will be ridden by Mark Zahra, who replaces suspended Hugh Bowman.

O’Brien praised Charlie Appleby’s effort to win the Cup with Cross Counter, a veteran of just seven starts prerace.

“Fair play to Charlie and his team,” O’Brien said. “They did a fantastic job. They mapped out a plan and it was a plan well executed.”

Aidan O’Brien has four runners in the $1 million VRC Sprint — US Navy Flag, Spirit Of Valor, Intelligence Cross and Fleet Review.