A pair of Lloyd Williams-owned stayers head the weights for the 2010 BMW Caulfield Cup (2400m) and Emirates Melbourne Cup (3200m) which were released today by Racing Victoria Chief Handicapper Greg Carpenter.
Williams’ champion stayers from different hemispheres, 2007 Melbourne Cup winner Efficient (Zabeel ex Refused the Dance by Defensive Play) and Europe’s dominant stayer of 2009 Alandi (Galileo ex Aliya by Darshaan), have each been allocated 58kg and have the honour of heading the handicaps for both Cups.
 
The weights for the 2010 Tatts WS Cox Plate were also released today.

 “Efficient is the best performed stayer amongst the Australian entries and Alandi was the dominant stayer in Europe last season. Each has earned their place at the head of the 2010 Cup weights,” Carpenter said.

Williams has nominated 23 horses, including a number of European imports, in his bid to win the historic 150th Emirates Melbourne Cup, a race he has previously won with Just A Dash (1981), What A Nuisance (1985) and Efficient.
 
Efficient was allocated 58kg in both 2008 and 2009 (when heading the weights with Maldivian) and has not raced since winning the Group 1 Turnbull Stakes (2000m) at Flemington last October owing to injury.

After missing the three of the past four Melbourne Cups with injuries, Williams last week publicly declared that the seven-year-old grey may be unlikely to contest this year’s renewal.

“Peter Pan is the only horse to win two Cups (1932 and 1934) having missed the interceding renewal through injury. No horse has won the Cup twice with three years between victories,” Carpenter explained.

There are only four Group 1 races run for older horses each year in Europe beyond 2400m and Alandi won two of them in 2009, the Irish St Leger (2800m) and the Prix du Cadran (4000m), with four time Ascot Gold Cup hero Yeats finishing in his wake in both.

2009 Melbourne Cup winner Shocking (Street Cry ex Maria di Castiglia by Danehill) has been given 57kg in his title defence.  His win last year gave Mark Kavanagh his first success in the race and provided rider Corey Brown sweet revenge after being narrowly touched off on Bauer in 2008. The weight represents an increase of 6kg over his winning weight of 51kg and includes a weight-for-age (WFA) component of 1.5kg.

Shocking seeks to join Archer (1861-2), Rain Lover (1968-9), Think Big (1974-5) and Makybe Diva (2003-4-5) as the only horses to win the race in successive years. Cup heroine Makybe Diva had her weight increased by 4.5kg after her initial success in 2003. Think Big moved from 53kg to 58.5kg in the weights in his dual successes.

“The 6kg increase given to Shocking includes the weight-for-age component of 1.5kg providing in effect a net penalty of 4.5kg,” Carpenter explained.

“It acknowledges his win in the Melbourne Cup and the Group 3 Lexus Stakes (Hotham Handicap, 2500m) since weights were released in September 2009. It is the same weight (57kg) allocated to 2008 Melbourne Cup winner Viewed last year, a weight he carried to victory in the Caulfield Cup.”

World racing powerhouse Godolphin, which won the 2008 Caulfield Cup with All The Good and finished second for the third time in the 2009 Melbourne Cup with Crime Scene, have two of the highest weighted international entries.

2009 English St Leger (2920m) winner Mastery (Sulamani  ex Moyesii by Diesis) and Cavalryman (Halling ex Silversword by Highest Honor), third to superstar Sea The Stars in the Arc de Triomphe (2400m) last year, have both been allocated 57.5kg. Stablemate Campanologist (Kingmambo ex Ring of Music by Sadler’s Wells), a recent winner of back-to-back Group 1 races in Germany over 2400m has 56kg.

Also on 57.5kg is Japanese entry Jaguar Mail (Jungle Pocket ex Haya Beni Komachi by Sunday Silence), the winner of the Group 1 Tenno Sho (3200m) at Kyoto in May. Jaguar Mail has campaigned overseas twice finishing a narrow third in the 2008 Hong Kong Vase (2400m) and fourth, beaten less than a length by Daryakana, in the same race last December.  Indications are Jaguar Mail will be reserved for another tilt at the Hong Kong race rather than travel to Australia for the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups.

The 2008 Tenno Sho winner Meiner Kitz (Chief Bearhart ex Takara Kanna by Soccer Boy) has been allocated 57kg, but unfortunately has sustained an injury and is unlikely to be a first acceptor. Veteran Japanese stayer Tokai Trick (El Condor Pasa ex Zoonaqua by Silver Hawk), who took out the Grade 2 Hanshin Daishoten (3000m) in March, has 54.5kg and is still a strong chance to make the trip.

Irish trainer Dermot Weld, the only European to win the Melbourne Cup after triumphing with Vintage Crop (1993) and Media Puzzle (2002), is represented by this year’s Ascot Gold Cup (4000m) winner Rite Of Passage (Giant’s Causeway ex Dahlia’s Krissy by Kris S) (57kg) and Profound Beauty (Danehill ex Diamond Trim by Highest Honor) (54kg). Weld’s other entries, Majestic Concorde (Definite Article ex Talina’s Law by Law Society) and Natural High (Sadler’s Wells ex Cool Clarity by Indian Ridge), are both on the minimum of 50kg.

Previous Ascot Gold Cup winners to contest the Melbourne Cup in the same year are Drum Taps, who finished ninth in 1993 with 58.5kg, Double Trigger who finished 18th in 1995 with 60.5kg and Yeats who finished seventh in 2006 with 59kg.

“Rite Of Passage has a unique profile having had seven of his 10 lifetime starts in either Jumps races or National Hunt Flat Races (Jumpers Flat). His Ascot Gold Cup victory was achieved in only his third run in a professional flat race and his first in a black type event,” Carpenter said.

“With 57kg he is at the lower end of the scale for an Ascot Gold Cup winner and takes the same weight allocated to Kayf Tara in 1998 after he won England’s premier staying event at just his fifth race start.”

Profound Beauty ran fifth to Viewed in the 2008 Melbourne Cup with 51.5kg and was allocated 53.5kg last year but did not make the trip to Australia. The only mare to win the Melbourne Cup with more weight is Makybe Diva (55.5kg in 2004 and 58kg in 2005), while Empire Rose carried 53.5kg to victory in 1988.

Of the other key international entries, this year’s Group 2 Goodwood Cup (3200m) winner Illustrious Blue (Dansili ex Gipsy Moth by Efisio) has been allocated 55kg for English trainer William Knight.

Previous Goodwood Cup winners to contest the Melbourne Cup in the same year are Double Trigger (17th in 1995 with 60.5kg), Grey Shot (seventh in 1996 with 55kg), Persian Punch (third in 2001 with 57.5kg), Jardine’s Lookout (seventh in 2002 with 56kg), Distinction (19th in 2005 with 56.5kg) and Yeats (seventh in 2006 with 59kg).

Sans Frontieres (Galileo ex Llia by Shirley Heights), winner of the Group 2 Princess Of Wales’s Stakes (2400m) and Group 3 Geoffrey Freer Stakes (2656m) at his last two starts for English trainer Jeremy Noseda also has 55kg, as does the Hong Kong entrant Mr Medici (Medicean ex Way for Life by Platini) who won this year’s Group 1 Champion and Chaters Cup (2400m) and is being primarily targeted at the Caulfield Cup by his trainer Peter Ho.

The entries of Luca Cumani are headed by Manighar (Linamix ex Mintly Fresh by Rubiano) (54kg), previous Melbourne Cup placegetters in Bauer (Halling ex Dali’s Grey by Linamix) and Purple Moon (Galileo ex Vanishing Prairie by Alysheba) who are both allocated 53.5kg and Drunken Sailor (Tendulkar ex Ronni Pancake by Mujadil) (53kg). Purple Moon has sustained an injury and has already been ruled out of contention.

Americain (Dynaformer ex America by Arazi), trained in France by Alain de Royer Dupre and owned by Australian interests, has been allocated 54kg. He defeated Manighar in the Group 2 Prix de Kergolay (3000m) last week at Deauville.

Hall of Fame Legend Bart Cummings has already trained a record seven Caulfield Cup and 12 Melbourne Cup winners.

His 2009 Tatts Cox Plate winner So You Think (High Chaparral ex Triassic by Tights) has been allocated 56kg in both races, whilst four-year-old mare Faint Perfume (Shamardal ex Zona by Zabeel), winner of the Crown Oaks (2500m) and Vinery Stud Stakes (Storm Queen, 2000m) as a three-year-old, has been assigned 52kg.

Another Cummings entry Dariana (Redoute’s Choice ex Beldarian by Last Tycoon) has 51.5kg after impressively defeating the males in the Queensland Derby (2400m) impressively in June. All three are owned in partnership by Dato Tan Chin Nam who holds the record of four Melbourne Cup wins as an owner with Think Big (1974-75), Saintly (1995) and Viewed (2009).

Other leading entries for Cummings include dual Group 1 winner Sirmione (Encosta de Lago ex World Guide by Defensive Play) (55kg), Moatize (Danehill Dancer ex Shezabeel by Zabeel) (52kg), comeback galloper Empire’s Choice (Indian Empire ex Sheila’s Choice by Closing Time) (51kg) and Precedence (Zabeel ex Kowtow by Shadeed) (50.5kg).

Amongst the impressive line-up of Australian four-year-old entrants are AJC Derby (2400m) winner Shoot Out (High Chaparral ex Pentamerous by Pentire), who has been assigned 55kg, and Victoria Derby (2500m) winner Monaco Consul (High Chaparral ex Argante by Star Way) has 54kg. The Gai Waterhouse-trained Once Were Wild (Johannesburg ex Wildesong by Unbridled’s Song), who won this year’s AJC Oaks (2400m), has been allocated 51.5kg.

Of the older Australian trained horses, triple Group 1 winner Metal Bender (Danasinga ex Jacqwin by Bluebird) has 56kg for trainer Chris Waller. Rebel Raider (Reset ex Picholine by Dehere), who won the Victorian and South Australian Derbies in his three-year-old season, has been allocated 55.5kg, as has another Lloyd Williams entry Zipping (Danehill ex Social Scene by Grand Lodge), who has won the last three renewals of the Sandown Classic (2400m) and in March took out the Australian Cup (2000m) at Flemington.

The Sydney trained Zabeel duo,  Jessicabeel (Zabeel ex More Diamonds by Straight Strike), winner of the Sydney Cup has 52.5kg and the Rosehill Guineas winner Zabrasive (ex Danasia by Danehill) has 53kg.

First declarations for the BMW Caulfield Cup, Tatts Cox Plate and Emirates Melbourne Cup close at 12 noon on Tuesday, 7 September 2010.

Follow the links below to download a pdf file, courtesy of Racing Victoria, that contains the full details for each race. 
 
 
2010 $2,600,000 BMW Caulfield Cup (G1) weights file (PDF)
 

2010 $3,050,000 Tatts Cox Plate (G1) weights (PDF)
 

2010 $6,175,000 Emirates Melbourne Cup(G1) weights (PDF)

Tags: Spring Racing Carnival
Permalink| Sep 1, 2010

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