WINNING PAIR PENALISED FOR IMPRESSIVE FEATURE WINS

RACING Victoria Ltd (RVL) Chief Handicapper, Greg Carpenter, today announced weight
penalties for Alcopop and Allez Wonder in the Emirates Melbourne Cup following their
impressive feature race victories at Caulfield on Saturday.

Alcopop has been handed a 1.5kg penalty after his runaway win in the Group 2 Herbert Power Stakes, while Allez Wonder has been penalised 0.5kg for her win in the Group 1 Toorak Handicap.

Allez Wonder’s victory in the Toorak gave her exemption into this Saturday’s BMW Caulfield Cup and thus she could not be re-handicapped for that race.

Alcopop had already received a 1kg penalty for his win in the Listed JRA Cup at Moonee Valley on September 25, with the additional penalty lifting his weight to 52.5kg in the Melbourne Cup.

Allez Wonder will now carry 50.5kg in the Melbourne Cup following her penalty and has moved from 49th to 17th in the elimination order, thus guaranteeing her a place in the race for 12-time Cup winning trainer Bart Cummings.

Today’s additional penalty for the Jake Stephens trained Alcopop lifts him from 63rd to 26th in the elimination order for the Cup which boasts a final starting line-up of 24.

In issuing the additional penalty to Alcopop Carpenter said, “Alcopop has demonstrated enormous progression since the weights were originally released and his win in a truly run staying contest on Saturday was totally dominant.”

The last horse to win the Herbert Power Stakes and go on to win the Melbourne Cup was Rogan Josh, ironically trained by Cummings, who carried 50kg to victory in 1999.

Upon announcing the penalty for Allez Wonder, Carpenter said, “Allez Wonder beat one of the most competitive Toorak fields in recent years and whilst in a race of 1600m she is now a Group 1 winner who was placed in the Crown Oaks over 2500m in her three-year-old season.”

The last horse to win the Toorak Handicap and go on to win the Melbourne Cup was Galilee, again trained by Cummings, in 1966.

The last horse to complete the Toorak-Caulfield Cup double was the Greg Mance-trained Cole Diesel in 1989.

Final declarations for the BMW Caulfield Cup close at 10am tomorrow.

RACING VICTORIA MEDIA RELEASE
Media Contact: Shaun Kelly – RVL Communications Manager M: 0417 145 796 P: (03) 9258 4252

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