Even the Wellington Cup legend Castletown carried only 58kg when he won his second and third Cups in 1992 and 1994.
Of course, 59kg isn’t quite as imposing as it used to be.
The minimum weight for today’s Cup is 53kg, whereas when Castletown got beaten in between winning his three Cups (yes, he didn’t win them in a row), it was won by Dancing Lord carrying just 48.5kg.
But 59kg is still a lot of weight to carry over 3200m and few horses have even carried 57kg to win one of our three 3200m Cups, with most winners in recent years carrying that 53kg minimum, interspersed with a smattering of 54 to 56kg winners.
Punters are so used to seeing the small weights, big race formula work that Interpretation has already drifted from his $3 opening quote to $3.50, although with co-mingling and the Maher factor he could be the best-backed horse today.
While a trio of Melbourne Cup appearances suggest Interpretation is a serious stayer, his best two recent runs were both seconds, in the Bagot Handicap at Flemington over 2800m on New Year’s Day and to Onesmoothoperator in the 2400m Geelong Cup on October 23.
Those performances suggest he can win today but again, he didn’t have to carry 59kg on those occasions.
For those who can’t get their head around backing such a clear topweight over 3200m, the problem becomes: if you intend to bet, who can beat him?
Nereus has a bit more class than most in today’s Cup but failed at Ellerslie last start when asked to carry, guess what, 59kg.
“He isn’t a huge horse and it was too much for him so dropping to 56.5kg really helps and I have no doubts he will get the 3200m,” says co-trainer Shaune Ritchie.
Beavertown Boy has proven 3200m form with an NZ Cup second and is the big weights winner this week, carrying just 53.5kg. And even though he is an 8-year-old, he has had only 17 starts so he can win for sure.
So too can the Weatherley pair of Ess Vee Are and Arby, while Testify Me and Wolfgang have some big race form, the latter an incredibly hard horse to work out and an obvious doubt at 3200m.
The blowout hope in a race primed for an upset is Trav, who always seems to be running on, has a Wellington Cup-winning trainer and whose sire, Almanzor, is consistently leaving horses who are players in major 3200m races.
Trav carries that magical 53kg and even if he can’t win he is $4 to run Top 4 for a horse who should relish 3200m and gets Lisa Allpress, a luxury for any lightweight horse.
As complicated as the Cup is, today’s $350,000 Remutaka Classic is just as tricky, with an even, full field. But the $200,000 NZB Desert Gold Stakes should provide the bet of the day in last-start Eulogy winner Leica Lucy (R6, No 1).
Legends inducted into Hall of Fame
Two of the recent equine legends of New Zealand racing are being inducted into the Hall of Fame.
Champion mare Imperatriz and superstar racehorse and now stallion Savabeel will both join the elite club along with the man who purchased Imperatriz, Te Akau boss David Ellis, at the Hall of Fame induction dinner in Hamilton on May 11.
Imperatriz won 10 Group 1 races and was rated the best sprinter in the world before her retirement and sale last May.
Savabeel is still the King of the Karaka sales yard and a constant source of Group 1 winners after an enormously distinguished career at Waikato Stud.
He also won the Cox Plate as a 3-year-old and will join his sire, Zabeel, and Zabeel’s sire, Sir Tristram, in the Hall of Fame.
Michael Guerin wrote his first nationally published racing articles while still in school and started writing about horse racing and the gambling industry for the Herald as a 20-year-old in 1990. He became the Herald’s racing editor in 1995 and covers the world’s biggest horse racing carnivals.
