Racing Victoria (RV) Executive General Manager – Racing, Greg Carpenter, on Thursday announced that he has issued a weight penalty of 1kg to Prince of Arran (GB) in the $8 million Lexus Melbourne Cup (3200m).
Carpenter has penalised the Charlie Fellowes-trained stayer, who finished third in last year’s Melbourne Cup, following his win in the $400,000 bet365 Geelong Cup (2400m) on Wednesday. The penalty takes Prince of Arran to 54kg and moves him to 23rd place in the Order of Entry for the Melbourne Cup, which will be run at Flemington on Tuesday, 5 November.
His victory continued an impressive run of results on Victorian soil for the northern hemisphere six-year-old, who has now raced five times in Australia. In addition to yesterday’s win and his placing in the 2018 Melbourne Cup, Prince of Arran also won last year’s Group 3 Lexus Stakes (2500m) and was placed in both the 2018 and 2019 editions of the Group 2 Herbert Power Stakes (2400m).
“Prince of Arran and Irish mare True Self were both outstanding in yesterday’s Geelong Cup, drawing clear of the rest of the field in an extremely strong renewal of the race,” said Carpenter.
“The win continues an exceptional run of performances by Prince of Arran in Australia over the last 12 months, and comes after he ran second to The Chosen One in the Group 2 Herbert Power Stakes on October 12, when he gave the New Zealand four-year-old 3.5kg in weight. He has clearly improved further from that run to win the Geelong Cup so impressively.
“Americain, in 2010, and Dunaden, in 2011, were both penalised 0.5kg for their Geelong Cup wins, before they carried 54.5kg to victory in the Melbourne Cup at their next start.
“The 1kg penalty takes Prince of Arran to 54kg and he has every chance of emulating those two French stayers, as well as Dermot Weld’s Media Puzzle in 2002, by completing the Geelong Cup-Melbourne Cup double.”
Third acceptances for the Melbourne Cup close at 10am (AEDT) on Monday, 28 October.
Click here to view the updated Lexus Melbourne Cup Order of Entry.
Click here to view the Melbourne Cup penalties given to Geelong Cup winners since 1980.
Prince Of Arran (GB) and Michael Walker winning the Group 3 Geelong Cup on Wednesday, picture Darryl Sherer
