Militarize’s weighty Doncaster task

[Wandering Eyes]

Few people know how to win a Doncaster Mile like Chris Waller.

A six-time winner of the 1600-metre Group One, Waller sits just one win behind Tommy Smith and Gai Waterhouse who share the record for most wins in the A$3 million event that will be run at Randwick this Saturday.

Three of Waller’s wins have come with three-year-olds, Triple Honour (NZ) (Honours List), Kermadec (NZ) (Teofilo) and Sacred Falls (NZ) (O’Reilly), meaning he is aware of the task confronting Militarize (NZ) (Dundeel) this weekend.

The three-time Group One winner has 54kg, a weight that has been carried to victory just twice by a three-year-old since the introduction of the metric system in 1973.

“(He’s got a) bit of weight to carry, he’s giving away five kilos to Celestial Legend, but he only knows how to run well,” Waller said.

“He doesn’t know how to run bad, so we know he’s going to be consistent, we know he’ll try his best, he just needs a bit of luck with that big weight.”

Seven three-year-olds have attempted Doncaster glory this century with at least 54kg and while Assertive Lad is the only one to win, Pierro (57kg) and Mentality (55kg) both finished runner-up, while Whobegotyou (54.5kg) finished third.

No 21st century three-year-old has carried more weight than Pierro, but he ran in it on a 53kg minimum.

Show A Heart, who ran 13th under 54.5kg the year Assertive Lad won, is the only other three-year-old who has been 5kg above the limit this century, while Assertive Lad and Super Seth were 4.5kg above.

Mentality had 3.5kg more than the lightest-weighted horses, while Whobegotyou and Megatic were 3kg above.

Militarize not only has the two Group 1 Guineas winners, Celestial Legend and Southport Tycoon, on the 49kg limit, he has two other rivals on 50kg, another on 50.5kg – including favourite Another Wil– and four on 51kg, meaning he’s conceding at least 3kg to nine rivals.

Pierro and Show A Heart both gave at least 3kg to 11 rivals, Assertive Lad had nine, Whobegotyou eight, Super Seth three and Megatic just one.

Militarize is the highest-weighted of Waller’s five runners in Saturday’s race, in which Think About It is the 57kg topweight.

The Joe Pride-trained The Everest winner will become the 48th horse to run in a Doncaster with at least 57kg in the past 35 years.

Six have won, Happy Clapper (57kg) the most recent, while an additional six have finished second and three others third with 32 unplaced.

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