Sports Then and Now

Racing Victoria is set to make a move to preserve the Caulfield Cup the much enjoyed Spring Cup Carnival feature by making dramatic changes to the manner in which the Cup winner is penalized in the Melbourne Cup, which follows 17 days later.

No More Penalties to the Caulfield Cup Winner!

As of this spring, the winner for the Caulfield Cup will no longer be penalized again if the animal has already been allocated a minimum of 56 kilograms. If the winner of the Cup has less than that in the Melbourne race, any possible re-handicap will no longer take the horse’s weight for the Melbourne Cup beyond that mark.

Horses with More Than 56 Kilograms Suffer in the Melbourne Cup

As punters who enjoy both Caulfield Cup betting and making wagers on the ensuing Melbourne Cup will well know, the Racing Victoria General Manager, Greg Carpenter, said that the past 40 years have shown that it was made difficult for a winner of the first Cup to be placed in the second with a weight of more than 56 kilograms.

The issue surrounding the Caulfield Cup penalty has been thoroughly discussed at the Victoria Racing Club, Carpenter went on to say, and everyone remains of the opinion that it is totally appropriate for the Caulfield Cup winner to be penalised if the handicapper wishes to do so. He added that, on the bases of research done as a handicapping panel over a period of 40 years, it has emerged that it is without a doubt very difficult to win the Caulfield Cup race, and then 17 days later run the Melbourne Cup with more than 56 kilograms.

The Details of the New Terms

Carpenter stated that, for 2017:

1. If the winning horse of the Caulfield Cup already has 56 kilograms or more in the Melbourne Cup, the handicapping panel for the Racing Victoria will not issue a penalty.
2. If the winner has less than 56 kilograms, the penalty’s quantum will not take the animal beyond 56 kilograms.

Carpenter explained that the reasons for this historic move lay in the fact that, since the first run of the Caulfield Cup in 1881, there have been 11 dual winners of it. However, of late the link seems to be disappearing, and, in the past decade, only one animal, Viewed, won the 2008 Melbourne Cup after running the Caulfield Cup. In the decade preceding that, seven of the Melbourne Cup winners had run the Caulfield Cup as well.

Carpenter stated that the Racing Victoria handicapping panel had reviewed the statistics available in order to discover what the standing of the Caulfield Cup was these days, and it became obvious that the race was simply no longer a clear option for contenders for the Melbourne Cup.

In the last 40 years there have been five dual winners in a race that saw many of Australia’s greatest horses taking part:

1. Let’s Elope, who won with 51 kilograms
2. Doriemus, who won with 54.5 kilograms
3. Ethereal with 52 kilograms
4. Gurners Lane, with 56 kilograms
5. Might and Power, with 56 kilograms

In that time period, eight Caulfield Cup winners ran the Melbourne Cup with a minimum of 56.5 kilograms, and none were able to be placed.