STEPPING up in distance looks to have unlocked a host of new possibilities for dual Group 1 winner Al Riffa, who bolted up on his first try at a mile and six furlongs in the Group 2 Michael John Kennedy Curragh Cup.

Both of Joseph O’Brien’s previous Melbourne Cup winners, Rekindling and Twilight Payment, managed to win this prize and the possibility of this five-year-old heading down under has also been raised by connections.