Incentivise loaded up
INCENTIVISE would join the legend Makybe Diva as the only horse to win the Melbourne Cup, if successful, with more than 57kg in the past five decades.
Not since Gold And Black in 1977, Bart Cummings’ fifth of a record 12 Cups, has the winner lumped 57kg.
Makybe Diva famously carried 58kg in 2005, winning an unprecedented third straight Melbourne Cup.
Racing Victoria chief handicapper Greg Carpenter on Monday announced a 1.5kg penalty for the Peter Moody-trained Caulfield Cup winner Incentivise, taking the progressive galloper to 57kg, ahead of the first Tuesday in November.
“We are comfortable giving him 1.5kg, taking him to 57kg, is the right assessment,” Carpenter said.
“If you look at the 11 horses that have done the double, there’s only one that’s carried 57kg or more in winning the Melbourne Cup, Rising Fast (1954).
“Galilee (1966) was one of the great champions and he had 56.5kg, Might And Power (1997) was astonishing in his Caulfield Cup victory and he carried 56kg.
“People get very excited about the win on Saturday, but 57kg is a very challenging weight.
“When we decide a penalty we have to sit back a bit from the excitement of seeing such a rapidly improving horse and make an assessment that’s fair to him and also his fellow competitors.”
Incentivise has an opportunity to become only the 12th horse in history to complete the Cups double and first since Kiwi mare Ethereal in 2001.
Fourteen Caulfield Cup winners after Ethereal have competed in the Melbourne Cup, but not one of them has finished in the top three.
The penalty sees Incentivise join Verry Elleegant and Gold Trip, both set to run in Saturday’s $5m Group 1 W.S Cox Plate, and star import Spanish Mission on the weight scale. Reigning Melbourne Cup winner Twilight Payment is the top weight with 58kg.
Incentivise is set to start the shortest-priced Melbourne Cup favourite since Phar Lap after tightening – $2.50 into $2.30 – in TAB’s all-in market following the penalty announcement.
Phar Lap was 8/11 ($1.73) when he won in 1930, after running third as an even money ($2) favourite in 1929.