Melbourne Cup Countdown

Did you know that there are only 7 weeks to go before the running of the $5,100,000 Melbourne Cup at Flemington on the first Tuesday in November? Weights were released for both the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups last week, and top weight in the handicaps for both races is the 2006 Ascot Gold Cup winner Yeats from the UK.

The six-year-old son of Sadler’s Wells has been allotted 59kg in both of the Spring Racing Carnival’s feature handicap events. He is the sole top weight in the Emirates Melbourne Cup, but shares top billing with 2004 Irish Derby winner Grey Swallow in the BMW Caulfield Cup. Handicaps for the BMW Caulfield Cup and Emirates Melbourne Cup, in conjunction with the list of weights for the Tattersall’s Cox Plate, were announced by Racing Victoria Limited’s Chief Handicapper Greg Carpenter at a media conference at RVL headquarters.

Carpenter said Yeats was the outstanding stayer of the European summer with resounding wins in both the Ascot Gold Cup and the Goodwood Cup, but indicated he would not find things easy in Australia with 59kg. 'His wins in both the Ascot Gold Cup and Goodwood Cup were dominant performances, but he meets horses who finished behind him in those two races on significantly worse weight terms in both the BMW Caulfield Cup and the Emirates Melbourne Cup,' Carpenter said.

Reefscape, runner-up to Yeats in the Ascot Gold Cup when both horses carried 58kg, has been allotted 55.5kg in the Emirates Melbourne Cup. Goodwood Cup second placegetter Geordieland has 54kg in both Cups, a 3kg weight swing on when he met Yeats in the Goodwood Cup, while Tungsten Strike (53.5kg in the Emirates Melbourne Cup) meets Yeats 4.5kg better at the weights for his third placing at Goodwood. Carpenter said the record of recent Wadham Park purchase Grey Swallow, a winner of six of 14 starts and more than $2.1 in prizemoney, compared favourably to that of Yeats when assessing BMW Caulfield Cup weights.

'Grey Swallow is the best-performed racehorse ever purchased by Australian interests to race in this country and he deserves equal topweight of 59kg in the BMW Caulfield Cup, although connections have said all along their major spring target with Grey Swallow this year is the Tattersall’s Cox Plate.

Just below Yeats in the Emirates Melbourne Cup weights is American nomination Better Talk Now. The four-time Group 1 winner has been allotted 58kg. 'Better Talk Now has been an outstanding performer in the United States for a number of seasons and while he hasn’t won beyond 2400m his best form suggests he’ll be very competitive in this year’s Emirates Melbourne Cup', Carpenter said of the eight-year-old gelding.

Of the local entrants, Eremein is the highest-weighted with 58kg in both Cups. Carpenter pointed to the fact the Allan Denham-trained five-year-old had won more Group 1s than any other Cups entrant as reasoning for the impost. 'Eremein has been the dominant performer in Australia during 2006,' Carpenter said. 'And with five Group 1s win to his name he has won more races at the elite level than any other horse entered in either of the Cups and his performances have already been acknowledged internationally through the World Thoroughbred Rankings.

'The John Hawkes-trained Railings has been given 55.5kg as he strives to become the first horse since Rising Fast in 1954/55 to win back-to-back Caulfield Cups. 'Railings won the Caulfield Cup last year as a four-year-old with 52kg, which represented 4.5kg under weight-for-age. This year he had 55.5kg, 2.5kg under weightfor-age, representing a 2kg penalty against the scale,' Carpenter said.

Hawkes’s other leading Cups contender, 2006 AJC Derby champion Headturner, has been allotted 54kg, the same weight last year given to 2004 New Zealand Derby winner Xcellent and 2004 Victoria Derby winner Plastered. Last season’s Champion Three-Year-Old Filly of the Year, Serenade Rose, received 52.5kg following her dominant 2005/06 season which included claiming the VRC-AJC Oaks double. The Lee Freedman-trained Our Smoking Joe received 54.5kg in both Cups, while On A Jeune has been given 53kg after carrying 51kg in to second placing in last year’s Emirates Melbourne Cup.

Of the other internationals, Japanese runners Delta Blues and Pop Rock have been given 56kg and 53kg respectively. Delta Blues is a winner of the Japanese St Leger, while Pop Rock has won his past four starts including a victory over last year’s Caulfield Cup runner-up Eye Popper at his most recent outing. Cherry Mix is the highest-weighted of Godolphin’s spring entrants with 57kg in both Cups. Imperial Stride has been given 55.5kg, Gonbarda 54.5kg and Guadalajara 52kg.

The early favourite for the race, AJC Derby winner Headturner, has been allotted 54kg while last year’s runner-up, On A Jeune, has 53kg after carrying 51kg to a fast finishing second behind Makybe Diva last season...