Carpenter weighs up Cup

By Robert Windmill

MELBOURNE, Sept 1 AAP - Chief handicapper Greg Carpenter says the lack of "superstar" horses has led to lower Melbourne Cup topweights in the last two years.

For the second year in a row no Cup entry has been given more than 58kg with Efficient, who headed last year's handicaps with Maldivian, again sharing the top honours with stablemate Alandi.

The topweights in the last two Cups are the lowest in the last 20 years when Better Loosen Up, Savage Toss and Super Impose were asked to carry 57kg in 1990.

Carpenter, who has handicapped six Cups, said records showed that it was a "misnomer" to say that the Cup weights were "totally compressed".

"You have got to realise that minimum weight is now higher but as far as the number of horses in that higher bracket there has been no drop off," Carpenter said.

"If you go back to 1990, 20 years ago, there were only 14 horses weighted 55kg or higher in the Cup while this year there are 19."

He said 30 years ago there were only 11 horses weighted on 55kg or higher with a topweight of 59.5kg for Kingston Town.

"It fluctuates from year to year but horses at the top end of the weights are still being asked to carry, in my opinion, the appropriate weight," Carpenter said.

Carpenter, who has a freakish recall of every Cup horse he has handicapped, said there was no ceiling on what weight a horse could get in the Melbourne Cup and he wouldn't be afraid to award a big weight when warranted.

"If I get a horse that is appropriately performed it will get the appropriate weight," Carpenter said.

"There is no ceiling on what weight that might be.

"I think this year there aren't quite the superstars we have seen in the past with that performance profile to get them up to a higher weight.

"It is a world-class Group One handicap now and we know the strength of those (Cup) horses very well.

"In more recent times most of the horses that have been allocated 60kg and above have been European stayers and the record shows that 66 have come and only two have won, so I think we have got the level of the European stayers right."

Original Melbourne Cup topweights with 60kg or more in recent years have been Northerly (60kg, 2004), and internationals Fantastic Light (61kg, 2000), Swain (62kg, 1998; 63kg, 1997), Classic Cliche (61.5kg, 1996), Double Trigger (60.5kg, 1995) and Vintage Crop (60kg, 1994).

Efficient and Alandi also head the Caulfield Cup weights on 58kg, the fourth time that the weights have been headed by horses handicapped at that level since 1996.

Click the "like" button on the Punters Paradise Facebook page to receive our news directly to your facebook feed, along with extra photos, discussions, newsletters, free tips and special betting offers.