Point Of Law, the impressive winner of the Geelong Cup, has seen his Melbourne Cup handicap weight boosted by 2kg.
The penalty was issued on Thursday by David Hegan, Racing Victoria’s handicapper, following the Ciaron Maher-trained horse’s victory over 2400m at Geelong on Wednesday.
Point Of Law was initially assigned the minimum 51kg for the Melbourne Cup, but will now carry 53kg after the handicapper’s decision.
“Point Of Law’s strong display of sustained on pace running left his rivals off the bit and chasing from the 600 metres, opening up a gap that couldn’t be closed,” Hegan commented.
“He had been a difficult horse to assess with only four career starts, all at three-year-old level, prior to the Geelong Cup, but the nature of his strong win against older horses with exposed form dictated that a meaningful weight reassessment was required heading towards the Melbourne Cup.”
The handicapper elaborated on the changes: “The reassessment was actually a 2.5kg increase against the weight for age scale, with the horse’s true weight previously sitting at 6kg below his weight for age benchmark at 50.5kg.”
“His new weight of 53kg means he now sits at 3.5kg below weight for age, which is the equivalent of an older male horse at 56kg such as Enfjaar, who ran an excellent third in the Sportsbet Caulfield Cup on Saturday.”
He also added, “He also moves to 0.5kg below fellow northern hemisphere three-year-old and Epsom Derby placegetter James J Braddock who has 53.5kg.”
Hegan also noted that Point Of Law, having only raced five times, is still considered a horse with potential for further improvement.
“I can’t handicap Point Of Law on potential, only on what he has done to date,” Hegan said.
“Having performed yesterday against older horses, I now have a better measurement of his ability and so he moves to 53kg in the weight scale.
“He may well improve off that run next time out, but only time will tell.”
The Moonee Valley Cup and the Cox Plate, both to be held at Flemington on Saturday, offer the final ‘Golden Tickets’ for entry into the Melbourne Cup (3200m) at Flemington on November 3.
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