Joseph O’Brien could be racking up the air miles with “exciting” new recruit Rogue Millennium this season.

The five-year-old mare was a star performer for Tom Clover last term, winning the Group Two Duke of Cambridge Stakes at Royal Ascot and finishing second to Tahiyra in Leopardstown’s Matron Stakes at elite level.

Having initially been snapped up for just 35,000gns by the Rogues Gallery syndicate, the daughter of Dubawi was sold for 1,650,000gns in December and will now be trained by O’Brien in County Kilkenny.

In a stable tour on Attheraces.com, her new handler said: “We are very happy with her. She looks great. Her training is all going smoothly, and she’s been impressing.

“She gives the impression that she’ll always appreciate better ground and she shows plenty of pace.

“We won’t be shy about travelling her and have a long list of potential options for her in America where we think the style of racing will suit her. She’s a very exciting prospect to have in the yard.”

O’Brien is also looking forward to Lumiere Rock’s four-year-old campaign, with a crack at his father Aidan’s dual Derby hero Auguste Rodin on the cards in the Tattersalls Gold Cup at the Curragh.

The Saxon Warrior filly was a Group Two victor in the Blandford Stakes at that track last season, as well as being placed in the Ribblesdale and the Prix de l’Opera before finishing off with a solid sixth behind Inspiral at the Breeders’ Cup.

“She had a busy campaign last season, but never let us down and kept improving,” said O’Brien.

“We all got a real thrill from her win in the Blandford Stakes, and it was great that her owner Michael O’Flynn was there on the day to enjoy it with us.

“We are looking at the Tattersalls Gold Cup as an early-season target and will drive on from there.”

Irish Cesarewitch winner Magellan Strait has already got off the mark in 2024 with a Dundalk triumph in January and may be heading to the UK in search of more success.

O’Brien added: “He’s a solid staying horse that gave us all a great day when springing a very pleasant surprise in the Irish Cesarewitch.

“He could be one for the Chester Cup. We’ll see what happens between now and then, but the Ascot Stakes or Queen Alexandra Stakes at Royal Ascot would be options for him too.”

Last season’s Queen Alexandra Stakes star Dawn Rising went on to finish third in the Irish St Leger in the colours of JP McManus.

“At this stage, it looks likely that we’ll stick to the Flat with him,” said O’Brien. “He gave everyone a real thrill by winning at Royal Ascot last season and we’ll look to get him back to the Queen Alexandra Stakes again this year. He came back from a break in great shape and we’re looking forward to him.”

Al Riffa has not been seen since chasing home Ace Impact at Deauville last August but the 2022 National Stakes victor is very much on the comeback trail.

O’Brien declared: “We are delighted with him. He was always a tall, rangy horse and has filled out into a magnificent athlete now.

“We were very sweet on him for the Irish Champion Stakes, but a little issue the day before meant we couldn’t run. Everything has gone very smoothly with him this preparation and we are steadily stepping up his work.

“We are working him towards the Prix Ganay at ParisLongchamp in late April. Longer term, I could see him stepping up to a mile and a half.

“He won a Group One over seven furlongs as a two-year-old and has never looked short of pace, but he has the most lovely, relaxed way of going and it will give him a great chance to carry his pace over further if we ask him to. I’d be very hopeful he can win another Group One.”

Among the three-year-olds at Owning Hill, Atlantic Coast is being aimed at the Irish 2,000 Guineas or the French equivalent, while Stromberg could take in a Derby trial.

Auguste Rodin is set to have a busy first half of the season, which will kick off with a run in the Sheema Classic in Dubai.

Aidan O’Brien’s dual Derby and Breeders’ Cup winner is then scheduled to take in the Tattersalls Gold Cup closer to home at the Curragh before a trip to Royal Ascot, after which connections will take stock.

Being by Deep Impact, a race on dirt would not usually be considered, but O’Brien was so taken by the way he acted on the surface in the mornings when preparing for the Breeders’ Cup, that he is giving the idea some serious thought.

“Auguste Rodin has another bit of work to do before he goes on Saturday, but everything looks good at the moment. It’s his first run of the year but we’re very happy with him,” he said.

“The plan was he goes there, then he could go to the Curragh for the Tattersalls and then Ascot for the Prince of Wales’s.

“After that, we could have a look at a dirt race with him after that, we’ll see how that goes. He could go to Saratoga. The world has gone small now.

“His season will be split in two really, with a busy first half and then a break.

“As a rule, Deep Impacts are mainly turf horses, but we were surprised how well he worked on the dirt at the Breeders’ Cup, he floated over it. He has an unusual action, so it will be interesting to see.”

Another stalwart of the yard due to return is Kyprios, who missed the majority of last season before finishing second in the Irish St Leger and at Ascot on Champions Day.

The usual O’Brien route to the Gold Cup back at Ascot will be taken, with the Vintage Crop Stakes and the Saval Beg early targets.

“It was amazing he came back, I couldn’t believe it. He seems in good form, he’ll go to Navan and then he’ll go to Leopardstown, that’s the plan, the usual Ascot (Gold Cup) route,” said O’Brien.

As for the two-year-olds, none have been named to date but there are several catching the studious eyes at Ballydoyle.

“None of the two-year-olds are named yet, but we think we have two good Justifys, out of two sisters (Fabulous and Butterflies),” said O’Brien.

“We’ve some nice Wootton Bassetts this year, more than we’ve had before. We’re starting (the season) earlier and I was conscious that I didn’t want to have them ready to run in that ground because they have to be very fit, so if they are, they won’t make it through the summer.

“The Wootton Bassett out of Immortal Verse looks very smart, as does the Wootton Bassett out of Ennistymon. We’re just going gently with them.

“Wootton Bassett looks very different, we only had two colts last year and they were both very good – River Tiber and Unquestionable.”

Aidan O’Brien believes the best is still to come from last season’s Coventry Stakes winner River Tiber.

He suffered a scare in the days leading up to him finishing third to Vandeek in the Prix Morny at Deauville and then filled the same position behind the same horse in the Middle Park.

O’Brien felt he was not at his best in either race, though, and he was also a late withdrawal at the Breeders’ Cup, when he was meant to take on his stablemate Unquestionable in the Juvenile Turf, who ran out the winner.

“River Tiber always worked very good. He wasn’t right in Deauville or in the Middle Park, he wasn’t 100 per cent, so there’s a good chance there’s more to come from him. I think he’s a miler, he’s fast, I couldn’t see him getting much further,” said O’Brien.

“Unquestionable could go to the French Guineas, he’s done very well. He’ll go to Naas on Sunday (after racing) and he could go for a trial in France before going back for the Guineas – and he could be a French Derby horse, he’s not as quick as the others, so he could get a bit further.

“When we went to America with them last year, River Tiber was five lengths better than the winner. He’s not rated that way, but if you put the two of them together, that is what will happen.”

Another promising colt for the season ahead is the unbeaten Henry Longfellow, who could also have the French Classics on his agenda.

“Henry Longfellow could stretch out but he looks like a miler the way he’s going, so how much further he’d get, I’m not sure,” added O’Brien.

“He could be a French Derby horse, as could Diego Velazquez, he might be more that than a Guineas horse, but he’ll go with them (to Naas) as well, so it will be interesting.”

One going further afield is Henry Adams, who is heading to Dubai.

“Henry Adams is lovely and has done very well and he is down to go to Dubai to run in the UAE Derby on the dirt. He’s a No Nay Never so will be interesting on the dirt,” said O’Brien.

As for his Derby team, as usual there are several who at this stage would appear to have all the right credentials.

Leopardstown winner Ocean Of Dreams, from the family of the great Urban Sea, is certainly bred for the job.

“Ocean Of Dreams is getting ready for the Ballysax. He worked yesterday and worked lovely but he’s a bit of a baby because he’s only had one run, so he needs to get out,” continued O’Brien.

“He looks a lovely horse, he won very easily. He has a very good pedigree, he goes back to Urban Sea, I think he’s a Derby trial horse, no doubt about that.

“Los Angeles is a big, strong, powerful horse. He always worked much quicker than he should have been from the day we started working him, he showed loads. He’s very big and shouldn’t have shown as much as he was, but he always did.

“Then he ran in Tipperary and won in Saint-Cloud and Christophe (Soumillon) was impressed the day he rode him. He’ll go for a Derby trial and we’ll see what will happen. He’ll probably go to Naas on Sunday as well. He could be a Curragh (Irish Derby) horse.

“Grosvenor Square could be a very interesting horse. I think he’d have no problem with better ground. He’s not a heavy-framed horse, he’s a good mover. He’ll go for a Derby trial.”

As for the fillies, O’Brien was dealt a blow when news broke recently that Opera Singer, undoubtedly the best prospect in the division, was likely to miss Newmarket, but there are other options.

“Content was impressive last year, she had a lovely run first time but then went to Ascot and lost her way, we had to slow her down and get her to relax,” said O’Brien.

“She won at the Curragh and came home very well (fourth) in the Breeders’ Cup. She could be a very nice filly, you just have to take your time with her, as she has plenty of speed.

“I like Ylang Ylang a lot. She did very well to do what she did because everything went wrong with her the third day, she was too keen. She had to come back to Newmarket and relax but then to go back and do what she did in the Fillies’ Mile, you’d have to like her a lot.

“She could get a mile and a half, she’s out of a Shamardal mare, so there’s every chance she could and the way she likes to be ridden will help her.

“I don’t think if Opera Singer was going to make the Guineas it would have been a difficult choice for Ryan (Moore) though, she (Opera Singer) is very good. What she did in the Boussac…she’s another Justify, set her off in front and follow me if you want.

“The other filly is very good but you have to take your time with her. That’s what makes the Justifys so good, they are so uncomplicated.

“Opera Singer is cantering but missed a few weeks, so I imagine the Irish Guineas would be the earliest, we’d just have to rush her too much otherwise. The year is long.”

Fiona Needham has revelled in the Cheltenham Festival heroics of Sine Nomine – but there will be no shot at the Cheltenham-Aintree double this year for her star mare.

The Catterick clerk of the course was successful in the St. James’s Place Festival Challenge Cup Open Hunters’ Chase as a rider in 2002, partnering her father Robin Tate’s Last Option to victory.

And she joined the list of famous names to both ride and train the winner of the ‘amateur Gold Cup’ when saddling bargain buy Sine Nomine, who cost just £2,400 as a three-year-old, to topple the JP McManus-owned Its On The Line in the hands of John Dawson.

Owned by her father, Sine Nomine sported the same colours Needham wore to victory herself 22 years ago, with the joyous scenes seen in the winner’s enclosure carrying on right through the weekend.

“She put in a stellar performance and she’s very full of herself since,” said Needham.

“It was a wonderful day and really was the stuff dreams are made of. Her jockey gave her a brilliant ride and the bit of drama where he had to switch at the last didn’t do a lot for my heartrate at the time, but probably made the race more exciting.

“You would have to say she would have won quite easily but for that, but it really showed she is quite gutsy and determined. She quickened up a lot better than I expected up the hill.”

Dawson received a 14-day ban for using the whip two times more than the permitted seven which will see him on the sidelines while the Randox Foxhunters’ Open Hunters’ Chase takes place during the opening day of Aintree’s Grand National meeting.

However, some relief for Dawson will be Needham deciding against trying to replicate On The Fringe’s achievement of completing the same Aintree-Cheltenham hunter chase double, with a return to Cheltenham for their hunter chase card in early May followed by a crack at Stratford’s Pertemps Network Stratford Foxhunters Champion Hunters’ Chase later that month in the back of the trainer’s mind.

She said: “We debated Aintree but she did just knock a joint a little bit, which is fine and settling down, but I just want to give her a bit longer and she does not have an entry for Aintree.

“She jumps well but she’s quite bold and I’m not sure that’s the best way to be at Aintree.

“It could be straight to Cheltenham for the hunter chase meeting or Stratford and there re one or two options.

“Obviously it might depend on what the handicapper does with her, but we will see. One route could be the Cheltenham evening meeting and then it could be the Horse and Hound Cup (at Stratford), but that would all be ground dependent because it is going to dry up at some stage. If it keeps raining then great!”

Having savoured a second big afternoon at the Cheltenham Festival, Needham’s thoughts also turn to the eight-year-old returning to Prestbury Park in a bid to join the plethora of back-to-back winners.

On The Fringe (2015 and 2016) and Pacha Du Polder (2017 and 2018) were the most recent to win the race in consecutive years and Needham would be keen to give a repeat a chance after Sine Nomine proved with aplomb she can handle the white hot atmosphere of Gold Cup day in the Cotswolds.

“I’m not sure my nerves will stand it, but you do get repeat winners at Cheltenham,” continued Needham.

“One thing you never know until they get there is the occasion, because it is a big occasion for the horses, and she took it well – she thought everyone was coming to look at her, which is the best way to be.”

Despite training one of the most exciting – and valuable – horses for many a season, Aidan O’Brien insists he is not feeling under any extra pressure, as City Of Troy begins to build for the Qipco 2000 Guineas.

It is not unusual for the winter Guineas favourite to be trained at Ballydoyle, in fact it is an almost annual occurrence. But there does appear to be something special about City Of Troy on the evidence to date.

O’Brien’s comments following his winning debut at the Curragh, when he mentioned Ryan Moore had been worried because he could barely pull him up after crossing the line, caused a stir of excitement and that feeling was backed up with a six-and-a-half-length win in the Superlative Stakes at Newmarket.

The winning distance was ‘only’ three and a half lengths in soft ground in the Dewhurst, but what has really caught the imagination is the fact that his sire, Justify, was a Triple Crown winner on the dirt.

“He always looked a bit different, every time we worked him really. Then he ran in his maiden,” said O’Brien.

“All he can do is keep turning up and running and see what is happening, but he does work very different.

“Horses are working in very bad ground at the moment, it’s deep. Horses shouldn’t like that, but he is just powering through it.

“We hope to get him to Naas on Sunday after racing – him, Henry Longfellow, River Tiber, they’ll all go together over seven, seven and a half furlongs and we’ll have a little look and all get together, talk to the lads, but the plan is to go straight to the Guineas.

“If that went well, then he could go for the Derby, and if that went well, there’s a chance he could go to Saratoga for a dirt race, the Travers, and that’s very possible if things go well, it will be interesting.

“I don’t feel pressure, all we can do is our best and whatever will be will be.”

While O’Brien does admit he is not the biggest horse in the world, the colt is deceptive.

“He’s done very well over the winter. He’s a medium-sized horse to look at, but when you stand into him he’s much bigger than you think, which is the sign of a very well-proportioned horse. It will be exciting.

“When John (Magnier) and the lads are thinking like that, they are happy to push him out there and see what he can do. If it went well in the Guineas, we’re happy to step up to a mile and a half in the Derby and then come back to 10 furlongs for the Travers on dirt.

“The thinking is to expose him. Obviously he’s by Justify, which makes Justify very exciting for us because he should be able to do dirt as easily as he does grass, that’s what makes him unique really. It’s going to be very exciting, interesting really.”

With workouts planned for his Classic hopefuls at the weekend, O’Brien will be hoping the current saturated ground dries up.

He said: “I’d imagine if he goes to the Guineas he’ll go himself, but when we go to Naas on Sunday it will be the first time they’ve been put together, so we’ll see what will happen.

“What makes him unusual is that he’s by Justify, he should be at home on the dirt but they seem the same on the grass. They stay very well, they are uncomplicated, you can ride them forward.

“Justify looks like a big Quarter Horse but the unusual thing about all his stock is they are very similar, you can set them out there and you can go, that’s what makes him so easy, he can do his own thing, they don’t over-race and just keep going.”

Excitement is building ahead of the impending arrival of Honeysuckle’s eagerly-awaited first foal.

Owned by Kenny Alexander and trained by Henry de Bromhead, she was one of the most popular and successful National Hunt racemares of any era, winning four times at the Cheltenham Festival, including twice storming up the famous hill for Champion Hurdle glory.

She bowed out when landing a second Grade One Mares’ Hurdle at the showpiece meeting in 2023, lifting the roof off the Cheltenham grandstands as she outbattled Love Envoi for an emotional farewell in the Cotswolds.

Attention soon switched to her broodmare career and after becoming in foal to Walk In The Park, Honeysuckle is nearing her April due date, bringing both excitement and nerves to all associated with her.

“She’s about three weeks off and I’ve been told she is beginning to make a bit of a bag – it’s very exciting and there’s going to start being a few sleepless nights,” said Peter Molony, racing manager to owner Alexander.

Honeysuckle initially spent time at Molony’s Rathmore Stud in County Limerick before switching to Alexander’s New Hall Stud in Ayrshire.

He added: “It’s both a nervous time and exciting, but we’ve been in this game long enough and please God she will foal safely.

“I’ll definitely be on the first plane over to see what she has produced anyway.”

Honeysuckle’s on-track career may be over but Molony may have got his hands on a star of the future, having stretched to a sale-topping £410,000 for impressive point winner Echoing Silence at Cheltenham last Thursday.

Bravemansgame and Gerri Colombe are previous graduates of the sale held after racing on day three of the Festival, while the top two lots from the 2023 auction were Gordon Elliott’s Romeo Coolio and Jalon D’Oudairies, who finished second and third respectively in the Champion Bumper.

A four-length winner at Ballycahane, Echoing Silence will follow in Honeysuckle’s footsteps by joining County Waterford trainer De Bromhead. However, Molony insists it was not him who gave the four-year-old ‘the next Honeysuckle’ moniker.

“I saw that was the headline, but it certainly wasn’t me who said that,” Molony commented on the Honeysuckle comparison.

“It was a lot of money for her but she is the most beautiful-looking thing in the world and we actually sold her half-brother Deafening Silence, so I knew the family well.

“I saw her win her point and she was impressive, and I had been hearing about her beforehand. It’s always nice when you hear about them beforehand and they go on to deliver.

“We had to pull the choke out to get her but hopefully she will be lucky for us.”

Vauban’s big aim is a return to Australia for the Melbourne Cup but Willie Mullins has not definitively ruled out an appearance at the Punchestown Festival.

The Rich and Susannah Ricci-owned six-year-old has not been seen since finishing only 14th of 23 when sent off favourite for last year’s Melbourne Cup.

He has not run over hurdles since chasing home stable companion and current champion hurdler State Man at last season’s Punchestown Festival, after which his attentions were switched to the Flat.

He won the Copper Horse Handicap at Royal Ascot, beating another stablemate in Absurde, who won the County Hurdle last week, and then had little trouble in winning the Group Three Ballyroan Stakes before his trip to Australia.

“Yes (he’s likely to have a Flat campaign), I think that’s more or less the plan,” said Mullins.

“He might get a run in Punchestown if he’s ready but I think I’m going to concentrate on getting him back to Melbourne in ship shape and have another crack at the Melbourne Cup in November.”