Historic quest for Cup topweights

Last weekend's dominant Group 1 Irish St Leger (2816m) winner was allotted 59kg when Racing Victoria's chief handicapper David Hegan announced the weights on Tuesday.

The Joseph O'Brien-trained stayer is joint topweight for the $10 million event with champion mare Via Sistina, but the more likely to the two to take their place at Flemington on November 4.

Such a weight has not been carried to victory since Rain Lover lumped 9 stone 7 – the equivalent of 60.5kg – to victory in a 1969 Cup when the limit weight was 7 stone (44kg).

Since the metric system took over in 1972, 17 horses have attempted to win the Melbourne Cup with at least 59kg.

Battle Heights holds the distinction of carrying the most weight in a metric Melbourne Cup, finishing seventh under 61kg in 1974, two years after Gunsynd carried 60.5kg into third position.

'The Goondiwindi Grey' is one of three to carry at least 59kg into the placings since 1972. Kingston Town ran second under 59kg in 1982, while Vintage Crop was third under the same weight in 1995.

The feat has not been attempted since Dunaden ran 14th under 59kg in 2012 and he is one of only three to try it since the turn of the millennium.

Four-time Irish St Leger winner Vinnie Roe ran fourth in 2002, while Yeats, a dual winner of the Irish St Leger, was seventh four years later.

Racing Victoria enhanced the likelihood of it recurring this year when it raised the minimum topweight to 59kg, at the same time raising the limit weight to 51kg, and Racing And Sports head of handicapping Adam Blencowe said Al Riffa had claims at being considered a legitimate chance to buck the trend.

The son of Wootton Bassett earned a Timeform rating of 125 for his four-length win in the Irish St Leger, which is the identical figure that another France-bred entire Gold Trip ran to win the 2022 Melbourne Cup.

"Al Riffa will inevitably draw comparison with other Irish St Leger winners to tackle the Cup but Al Riffa is better than the typical Irish Leger winner," Blencowe said.

"As such, comparisons are not disinteresting or uninformative, but perhaps the best recent like-for-like is Gold Trip who carried the same colours, and 57.5kgs, to victory in 2022.

"It is easy to spot the differences, but the similarities are there – not only in attributes, but in the measurable talent that those attributes give rise to.

"It is true that Makybe Diva is the only winner with 58kg or more in the modern Melbourne Cup, but such runners are infrequent, accounting for just three percent of Cup runners since 2000 and showing their lone win (4% of 25 Cups won) in a finer light."

Think Big (58.5kg, 1975), Makybe Diva (58kg, 2005) and Gold And Black (57kg, 1977) were the only three to win under at least 57kg in the first 49 editions of the Melbourne Cup at metric level, but there have been two in the past four years.

Verry Elleegant won with 57kg, a weight carried by all three placegetters in 2021, Gold Trip won the following year with 57.5kg while Without A Fight, the 2023 champion, was only half-a-kilo off joining them after winning with 56.5kg.

Next in the weights is Buckaroo, who was beaten as $6 favourite last year under 54.5kg and is up to 57kg this year, while Vauban and Arapaho have 56.5kg apiece.

Melbourne Cup runners with 59kg+ since 1972