O’Brien Jnr tops his pop to claim Melbourne Cup
TRAINER Joseph O’Brien beat dad Aidan in a family battle for yesterday’s Melbourne Cup to leave winning owner Lloyd Williams predicting the 24-year-old could enjoy an even more spectacular career than his father. The win for 14-1 shot Rekindling, ridden by Corey Brown, secured a prize of £2.25million. It also made O’Brien Jnr the youngest trainer to win the Europe-dominated renewal of Australia’s biggest race — Irish runners filling the first three places. Rekindling edged out Johannes Vermeer, trained by O’Brien Snr, by half a length with Willie Mullins-trained Max Dynamite two lengths back in third and placed in the race for a second time. Aidan, 48, may have trained over 300 Group One wins but with Joseph, in only his second season of training, Williams might not be far wide of the mark. Williams, 77, who owns Rekindling with son Nick, enjoyed his sixth Melbourne Cup win and said: ‘I won’t be here long enough as I’m in the last quarter, but you’ll see a career kicked off here. ‘(Joseph) is going to emulate his father and maybe more. He is going to be one of the leading trainers in the world.’ Joseph, whose two Derby wins as a jockey appropriately included the 2014 event with Australia, won his first Group One race when Intricately landed the 2016 Moyglare Stud Stakes.