Caulfield Cup Field Falls Away As Weight Increases

Green Moon

Green Moon (left, in front) will be the sole runner for Lloyd Williams in the Caulfield Cup

The Caulfield Cup field is dropping away rapidly with a mixture of injury and poor form combining with the fact many see the Cox Plate as a better option.

Prolific owner Lloyd Williams best highlights the current theme with his team of five likely to drop back to just a single entrant.

Williams had Midas Touch, At First Sight, Mourayan, Linton and Green Moon all headed that way but could be left with just Green Moon when the final field is revealed.

It’s a strange outcome given Green moon sits at 31st in the order of entry and was at one stage the least likely horse to represent the William’s squad.

As a result of Midas Touch being withdrawn (in favour of the Cox Plate) the Caulfield Cup weights will also be changed, a further half a kilo added to all runners.

That’s in combination with the 2kg rise that was already applied after Americain was sent a different direction.

Caulfield Cup conditions stipulate a minimum top weight of 57kg but chief handicapper with racing Victoria Greg Carpenter says never before have they had to push weight up 2.5kg just to meet the minimum.

The new toppy for the race is likely to be Mighty High from Hong Kong which is another unusual occurrence, not since 1998 has an international topped the weights when Faithful Son finished fourth with 58kg.

Other prominent horses to bypass the cup in favour of the Cox Plate include Shamrocker and Glass Harmonium while Alcopop will head back to Adelaide.

Alcopop was disappointing on the weekend with trainer Jake Stephens returning home to assess the situation.

“He’s got a few little issues and they’ve taken their toll,” he said.

It wouldn’t surprise for one or two trainers to see the disparity in quality now between the Caulfield Cup and Cox Plate and return back to the 2400m feature, however Mike Moroney says that won’t be the case for Glass Harmonium.

“We just think at a mile and a half, there is a little question mark on him to a degree so at this stage we will head to the Cox Plate,” he said.

In some good news for the race though English import Saptapadi will back up for the Caulfield Cup after running 8th in the Herbert Power Stakes without much luck form a wide barrier.

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