The all-important weights for the race that stops a nation, to be run at Flemington on November 1, were released today by Racing Victoria chief handicapper Greg Carpenter.
The French-trained Americain, who is in quarantine in the UK in readiness for his return to Australia, carried 54.5kg when victorious last year.
Makybe Diva is the only horse to carry 58kg or more to victory in the past 30 years. She did so when completing her historic hat-trick of Cup wins in 2005.
"Americain was a dominant winner of the race last year, in what was one of the most competitive editions of the Melbourne Cup ever staged," Carpenter said.
"The task of carrying 58kg, an increase of 3.5kg on his weight in 2010, provides a significant challenge, as it should, in his bid to win successive Cups."
The top three horses in the weights are all internationals, with 2010 US Breeders Cup Turf winner Dangerous Midge on 57.5kg and fellow UK-trained stayer Jukebox Jury on 57kg.
Jukebox Jury defeated Americain two starts back in in France before dead-heating in last Saturday’s Irish St Leger.
Several runners have progressed in the weights for the Melbourne Cup as a result of victories since the release of Caulfield Cup weights last month, including the Sir Michael Stoute-trained UK entrant Modun.
Modun, who did not accept for the Caulfield Cup, has had his weight lifted from 51kg to 53kg following a stylish win in the Group 3 September Stakes at Kempton.
Of the Australian brigade, Trusting rises 1kg to 53kg for his win in the Chelmsford Stakes in Sydney, while current second favourite for the Cup, December Draw, rises 50kg to 50.5kg courtesy of an effortless 2000m Flemington win at his latest start.
Johnston, speaking from Keeneland Sales on Tuesday, said: “I hate running Group horses in handicaps, so the Melbourne Cup is not my favourite race. But it is still very likely that he’ll be running.”
Jukebox Jury has been the subject of a serious offer, but details of a sale, believed to be for a major share, have yet to be made public.
Johnston will send Fox Hunt to the Dortmund St Leger at the weekend in an attempt to qualify him for the Melbourne Cup, to be run at Flemington on Nov 1. He is weighted at 8st 5lb, but needs to finish in the first three in Germany to pass the ballot.
Publication of the long-awaited 2012 Fixture List has been postponed again. It had been hoped to announce the programme no later than Sept 30, but that will not happen. No new target date has been set.
Tuesday's statement from the BHA read: "At the request of its stakeholders - the Racecourse Association and Horsemen's Group - the British Horseracing Authority has agreed to further delay publishing the 2012 fixture list until after September 30.
"The Authority remains deeply concerned about the downgrading of the race programme, the declining horse population and the associated impact on competitiveness levels in 2012, all of which are the result of a Levy system that is failing the sport."
No comments:
Post a Comment