Without A Fight out to create history after Caulfield and Melbourne Cup weights revealed
Last year’s Caulfield and Melbourne Cup (Gr 1, 3200m) hero and reigning Victorian Racehorse of the Year Without A Fight (Teofilo) has been handed a top weight of 58.5 kilograms for both races after weights were released on Tuesday.
The Anthony and Sam Freedman-trained eight-year-old’s weight sees him cop a three-kilogram rise on his Caulfield Cup-winning weight and two kilograms on top of his win in the Melbourne Cup.
Without A Fight, who last year became just the 12th horse in history to secure his name onto the Cups double honour roll, will bid to become the first horse since Think Big (Sobig) in 1975 to carry more than 58 kilograms to success in the Melbourne Cup, while no horse has carried more than that weight to victory in the Caulfield Cup since the introduction of the metric system in 1972.
“It is almost 50 years since a horse carried more than 58 kilograms to victory in either Cup, so history suggests Without A Fight faces a tough task, but if he returns the same horse that we saw in 2023 then nothing is beyond him even with the penalty from last year,” Racing Victoria’s head of handicapping, David Hegan, said.
“No horse has claimed the Cups double and then returned to win the Melbourne Cup the following year, whilst only Rising Fast and Poseidon have returned to win Caulfield Cups the following year. Without A Fight would be in rare air and I hope he’s able to take up the challenge.”
The Chris Waller-trained three-time Group 1-winning mare Via Sistina (Fastnet Rock) sits second on the weights for both races with 56 kilograms, while last year’s Melbourne Cup favourite Vauban (Galiway) has 55.5 kilograms, a rise of half-a-kilogram from 2023, in which he ran a disappointing 14th of the 23 runners.
“His first three runs in Europe this year, whilst very good, weren’t running up to 55 [kilograms] where he was last year,” Hegan said of Vauban.
“His last two runs however, in winning the Lonsdale Cup and then his great run [second] in the Irish St Leger on Sunday sees him increase back in the ratings, back above one point where he was last year, effectively a half-kilo increase on last year.”
The horse to cause Hegan the most trouble in assessing was the Dermot Weld-trained Harbour Wind (Nathaniel), with the four-year-old eventually being handed 53 kilograms for the Melbourne Cup.
Weld is famously a two-time winner of the race, with Vintage Crop (Rousillon) scoring in 1993 before doubling up with Media Puzzle (Theatrical) in 2002.
“He’s a dual Listed winner and a last-start Group 3 placegetter at Longchamp,” Hegan said of Harbour Wind.
“In his seven starts, he hasn’t finished outside of the top two. I can’t take him too far in the weights, but I suspect he has got a lot more to offer but has been weighted right up to his maximum.”
Warmonger (War Decree), who ran out a hugely impressive 10.4-length winner of the Queensland Derby (Gr 1, 2400m) during the winter for Mick Price and Michael Kent Jnr, has been given a potentially lenient weight of 53.5 kilograms, an impost that Hegan also admitted wasn’t easy to assess, while Coco Sun (The Autumn Sun), who defeated Warmonger in the South Australian Derby (Gr 1, 2500m) in May, has been allotted 50.5 kilograms.
“Usually with a 10.4 length margin like that, you would expect a horse to be higher in the weights,” Hegan said of Warmonger.
“We’ve taken a conservative approach, both with his weight and his international rating until we see that franked, but it was most pleasing to see him run solidly into fourth in the Makybe Diva Stakes at Flemington on Saturday.”
Aidan O’Brien, who is still seeking his maiden win in the Melbourne Cup, could be represented by last Saturday’s English St Leger Stakes (Gr 1, 1m 6.5f) first and second Jan Brueghel (Galileo) and Illinois (Galileo), who have been handed 54 kilograms and 53 kilograms respectively.
The pair form part of a six-strong team of entries assembled by O’Brien, who has also nominated stakes scorers Point Lonsdale (Australia) (55.5kg), Grosvenor Square (Galileo) (52kg) and The Euphrates (Frankel) (50.5kg), along with The Equator (Galileo) (50kg) for the Melbourne Cup.
Seven-time Melbourne Cup-winning owner Lloyd Williams will have recent Archer Stakes (Gr 3, 2500m) scorer Point King (Zoffany) (50.5kg), who will aim to join his Freedman Racing stablemate Without A Fight on the Melbourne Cup-winning list of horses, while Godolphin head trainer James Cummings – whose grandfather Bart won the race on 12 occasions – has entered four-year-old mare Zardozi (Kingman), who has 51 kilograms.
Ciaron Maher, who trained Gold Trip (Outstrip) to Melbourne Cup glory two years ago, has a plethora of entries led by Circle Of Fire (Almanzor) who has been allotted 54.5 kilograms – three-kilograms more than he carried to victory in this year’s Sydney Cup (Gr 1, 3200m).
Hegan admitted that the final handicaps for the Cups would ideally have been released after Saturday’s racing in Melbourne and Sydney, instead of this midweek.
“The MRC Foundation Cup and the Underwood Stakes at Caulfield on Saturday will give us a further guide on which horses are set to play a major role in the spring features with stayers like Fawkner Park, Place Du Carrousel, Saint George, Que Tempesta and The Map among the entries,” Hegan said.
Second acceptances for the Caulfield Cup will close at 12 noon (AEST) on September 24, while first acceptances for the Melbourne Cup will be taken at 12 noon (AEST) on October 1.