Glamour horse It’s A Dundeel is the 58kg topweight for the $3 million Doncaster Mile with Irish raider Gordon Lord Byron next on 56.5kg alongside Epsom Handicap winner Boban.
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Ninth Legion, who earned ballot exemption with his win in the Villiers Stakes, gets in on the 50kg limit.
The equal early favourites for the famous Randwick showpiece on April 12, Appearance and Guelph, have 55.5kg and 52.5kg respectively.
Gordon Lord Byron is scheduled to fly to Australia this week with the TJ Smith Stakes on Doncaster day a target.
Japanese mare Hana’s Goal, who arrived in Sydney on Monday after serving her quarantine at Werribee in Victoria, has 50.5kg.
Last year’s Melbourne Cup winner Fiorente will have to carry 59.5kg if he is to add the Sydney Cup to his other 3200m feature.
Green Moon, winner of the 2012 Melbourne Cup, is next with 58kg while his Lloyd Williams-owned stablemate and last year’s Sydney Cup winner Mourayan has a kilo less.
Sydney Cup equal favourite Sertorius has 54kg while the other market leaders Opinion and The Offer are on the 52kg limit.
Racing NSW chief handicapper Damien Hay said weighting the Doncaster Mile had been an interesting task for his panel, especially lining up Group One winning mares Appearance, Streama and Red Tracer.
Appearance has 55.5kg, her Guy Walter-trained stablemate Streama 55g and Red Tracer 54.5kg with the minimum of 50kg providing a wider spread than in recent years among the 127 nominations.
“We could not have given It’s A Dundeel any more weight based on that 50kg limit and the three great mares proved a little bit tricky but they all had to be close to each other,” Hay said.
“We gave Appearance slightly more than the other two in the end based on the fact that she beat them home in the Coolmore Classic and Queen Of The Turf last year.
“Boban has been given 56.5kg, which put him an extra kilo above the minimum in comparison to his weight when he won the Emirates in the spring and it lines him right up against Gordon Lord Byron, an accomplished international Group One performer who was very impressive last start in the Hong Kong International Mile.”
Hay said Shamus Award’s 55.5kg in the Doncaster equated to the weight given to So You Think four years ago.
“We have Shamus Award on 55.5kg, and when we gave So You Think 56.5kg he was on a 51kg limit, so there is nothing between them at this stage of their careers in our opinion,” he said.
Hay said Green Moon dropped a kilo on last year after being unplaced on four Group One races this season, while Mourayan goes up 1.5kg on his 2013 win.
