The Melbourne Cup aspirations of Point Of Law have been adjusted, with the impressive Geelong Cup winner copping a 2kg weight increase for the major race.
Racing Victoria’s handicapper, David Hegan, issued the penalty on Thursday, a day after the Ciaron Maher-trained galloper secured a victory over 2400m at Geelong.
Originally handicapped at the minimum of 51kg for the Melbourne Cup, Point Of Law’s weight has now been raised to 53kg following the announcement.
“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 explained.
“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 detailed the recalculation: “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 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 commented that Point Of Law, with only five starts under his belt, is still considered open to further improvement.
“I can’t handicap Point Of Law on potential, only on what he has done to date,” Hegan stated.
“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 final opportunities to gain entry into the Melbourne Cup (3200m) at Flemington on November 3 are the Moonee Valley Cup and the Cox Plate, both scheduled to be run at Flemington this Saturday.
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