Caulfield Cup topweights Americain and Dunaden will have to break history if they are to claim victory in the world’s richest 2400-metre handicap race.
No original topweight has ever tasted success in the prestigious staying test and the pair were yesterday allocated 58kg.
If Americain (pictured) or Dunaden win the Caulfield Cup they will be the first original top-weight to do so. Photo by: Taron Clarke
Neither of the Melbourne Cup winners have contested the Caulfield Cup before but may use it as a lead-up this year as they attempt to score their second success in Australia’s biggest race.
Only Northerly (2002) has lumped the 58kg impost to Caulfield Cup glory but he was not the original topweight that year.
Better news for connections of the French pair is that four Melbourne Cup winners have gone on to win the Caulfield Cup with the most recent being Viewed (2009).
Racing Victoria chief handicapper Greg Carpenter said the pair had earned their positions on the back of consistent staying performances both in Australia and internationally.
“Dunaden won last year’s Emirates Melbourne Cup with 54.5kg, the identical weight that Americain carried to success in 2010, and he then went on to capture the Hong Kong Vase over 2400 metres and has been in excellent form in Europe this year,” Carpenter said on the Racing Victoria website.
“Americain has also been allocated 58kg, the same weight he carried to fourth place in last year’s Melbourne Cup. He has proven himself at the 2400-metre trip with wins in the 2010 Geelong Cup and the 2011 Moonee Valley Gold Cup (2500m) and the Zipping Classic.”
As expected, there is a strong international presence at the top end of Caulfield Cup weights with Americain’s stablemate Reliable Man just behind the pair with 57.5kg.
Other notable weights are defending champion Southern Speed (54.5kg), current favourite and last year’s runner-up Green Moon (53.5kg), Peter Moody’s Lights Of Heaven (53kg) and Australian Derby runner-up Polish Knight (52.5kg).
Current Melbourne Cup favourite Mount Athos received 54kg but is unlikely to start and is expected to race on the first Tuesday in November without a lead-up run.
