KEW GARDENS SETS THE BENCHMARK FOR AUSTRALIA’S MOST FAMOUS RACE

Kew Gardens, winning the Listed Zetland Stakes at Newmarket in October, 2017 Image: Steve Cargill

Aidan O’Brien’s elite stayer Kew Gardens has been assigned the topweight of 58kg for the AU$8 million Lexus Melbourne Cup, known in Australia as ‘the race that stops a nation’.

Racing Victoria’s (RV) Executive General Manager – Racing, Greg Carpenter, unveiled the weights for Australia’s two richest handicap races, the Melbourne Cup and the AU$5.15 million Stella Artois Caulfield Cup, which was won last year by Godolphin’s Best Solution.

Should he travel to Melbourne for the 2019 Victorian Spring Racing Carnival, Kew Gardens – a winner of two Group 1 races including last year’s St Leger – will set the benchmark for the 159th Melbourne Cup on Tuesday, 5 November at Flemington. With Kew Gardens not nominated for the 142nd Caulfield Cup, held at Caulfield on Saturday, 19 October, the joint topweights for the world’s richest turf handicap over a mile-and-a-half are instead Avilius and Hartnell. The James Cummings-trained pair were both imported from Europe to race in Australia, where they have registered a combined six wins at Group 1 level.

Cross Counter, who surged to victory in last year’s Melbourne Cup for his trainer Charlie Appleby, will carry 57.5kg this year as he bids to become the first horse since Makybe Diva in 2005 to retain his crown.

The 6.5kg increase from last year’s weight of 51kg is the joint second highest progression in the weight allocated to a Melbourne Cup winner since 1970, with only Gala Supreme – in 1974 – receiving a larger increase of 8.5kg.

With differing topweights across the two Cups, the majority of dual entries have received 0.5kg less in the Melbourne Cup than the Caulfield Cup.

Avilius has been handed 57.5kg in the Melbourne Cup, with brilliant mare Lys Gracieux – trained in Japan by Yoshito Yahagi – next in the weight scale on 57kg.

“Kew Gardens was the world’s joint highest-rated stayer alongside Stradivarius last year, he was a dominant winner of the 2018 St Leger at Doncaster and so is a worthy topweight among the 152 entries for this year’s Melbourne Cup,” said Carpenter.

“Cross Counter will carry 6.5kg more than when he won the Melbourne Cup, which is the same increase as Let’s Elope in 1992; but given the nature of his victory last year and the natural progression in the weight-for-age benchmark from a three-year-old to a four-year-old, I felt it was an appropriate penalty to impose.

“In the Caulfield Cup, Avilius and Hartnell have both proven themselves at the highest level, and thus have been assigned equal topweight among the 145 entries. In the past 12 months, Avilius has won two Group 1 races at a mile-and-a-quarter or further and was Australia’s highest-rated stayer, while Hartnell has maintained his place among the nation’s elite performers.

“Inevitably the internationals will again pose a formidable challenge to the locally-trained stayers, with the first three home in the 2018 Melbourne Cup all set to return to Melbourne this year; but if the likes of Andrew Ramsden winner Steel Prince and Adelaide Cup winner Surprise Baby can maintain their form throughout the spring, I’m sure the visiting horses will have a real fight on their hands.”