Protectionist Tops 2015 Caulfield Cup Weights

Reigning Melbourne Cup winner Protectionist is the 58kg equal top weight for the Caulfield Cup 2015 after Racing Victoria Chief Handicapper Greg Carpenter released the allocations for this year’s mile and a half classic.

2014 Emirates Melbourne Cup winner Protectionist is the equal 58kg top weight for the Caulfield Cup 2015 this spring. Photo: Sarah Ebbett.

Run at Caulfield Racecourse on Saturday October 17, this year’s $3 million Group 1 BMW Caulfield Cup (2400m) is the 138^th running and features 210 entries including the now Kris Lees-trained German import Protectionist.

The Monsun stallion will carry the 58kg top weight if accepted into the capacity 18 starter plus 4 emergency Caulfield Cup field on way to his title defence in the world’s richest handicap this Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival.

That is the weight carried to victory by two of the past three Caulfield Cup winners with Dunaden (2012) and Japan’s Admire Rakti (2014) both carting 58kg to their respective wins in the feature.

Equal at the top of the Caulfield Cup weights this year is international raider Snow Sky, the Sir Michael Stoute-trained Group 2 Hardwicke Stakes (2414m) winner from June boasting two wins and a third from his six previous starts over the Caulfield Cup distance.

“In recent years we have seen the better performed horses to the fore in the BMW Caulfield Cup with two of the past three renewals won by a horse carrying the top weight of 58kg in the international entrants Dunaden (2012) and Admire Rakti,” Carpenter said.

“Protectionist is out to emulate Dunaden and Viewed (2009) who won the Caulfield Cup the year after winning the Melbourne Cup.

“They carried 58kg and 57kg respectively when winning their Caulfield Cup. Fellow top weight Snow Sky is the highest rated horse in the entries having achieved an international rating of 122 when demolishing his rivals by 3.5 lengths in the Hardwicke Stakes.”

Snow Sky is one of a number of horses already exempt from Caulfield Cup ballot along with Qatar Racing’s Glorious Stakes winner Dubday (54kg) and Scott Brunton’s eight-year-old Seven Mile Beach-trained Banca Mo (50.5kg).

The next heaviest-weighted Caulfield Cup entries are the internationally-performed David Hayes & Tom Dabernig-trained Sebring stallion Criterion (57.5kg), 2015 Cox Plate favourite Contributer (57kg) who resumes in the Dato’ Tan Chin Nam Stakes at Moonee Valley this weekend, Japanese visitor Fame Game (57kg) looking to go back-to-back in the race for his nation and topping the early Melbourne Cup odds through Ladbrokes.com.au, and the Lee & Anthony Freedman-trained Group 1 winner in Germany Our Ivanhowe (56kg).

Fame Game will have Zac Purton aboard, the Hong Kong-based Aussie jockey having ridden fellow Japanese stayer Admire Rakti to victory last year.

Some of the other notable international weights include French visitor Galilo Chop (55.5kg), the other Japanese raider in the mix Hokko Brave (55.5kg), the William Mullins-trained Lonsdale Cup winner Max Dynamite (55kg), and the Ed Dunlop-trained stablemates Trip To Paris (55kg) and Red Cadeaux (55kg).

“Five Japanese horses have contested the Caulfield Cup and three have finished in the first three placings including last year’s emphatic winner Admire Rakti,” Carpenter said.

“The Japanese are a strong force in world staying races and Fame Game and Hokko Brave both have exposed form at Group 1 level in Japan.”

As for the top Australasian hopes in the mix weights include the John O’Shea-trained The BMW winner Hartnell (55.5kg), the Kiwi duo of Mongolian Khan (55kg) and Volkstok’n’barrell (53.5kg), Lees’ classy mare Lucia Valentina (53kg) and fellow mare Rising Romance (53kg).

Lucia Valentina and Rising Romance ran second and third respectively in the Caulfield Cup last spring carrying the same 53kg weight they are both allocated again in 2015.

Along with one of the early top fancies Mongolian Khan who won the ATC Derby in Sydney last time out other key four-year-old Caulfield Cup weights this spring include Chris Waller’s Doncaster Mile winner Kermadec (54kg), stablemate Preferment (53.5kg) who won last year’s Victoria Derby, Hauraki (53kg), Gust Of Wind (51kg), Set Square (51kg) and Winx who is very nicely weighted on just 50.5kg.

A host of notable Caulfield Cup-bound stayers are yet to pass the ballot including Complacent (53kg), Dibayani (53kg), Singing (51.5kg) and The United States (50kg).

Also yet to pass the Caulfield Cup ballot is veteran 10-year-old Precedence (52kg) who will be a crowd favourite over the Carnival in honour of his late great trainer, ‘Cups King’ Bart Cummings.

2015 Caulfield Cup first acceptances close at midday on Tuesday September 8.

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2015 Caulfield Cup Weights

Caulfield Race 7 – 17/10/2015