Incentivise given 55.5kg for both Cups - "Rated on Performance NOT Potential!"

[Chief Stipe]

Incentivise weighted on performance not potential

Incentivise was given 55.5kg for the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups. Picture: Racing Photos via Getty Images

 

By Brad Waters
05:33pm • 14 September 2021

20

Comments

Racing Victoria’s chief handicapper Greg Carpenter says the Caulfield and Melbourne Cup weights favour boom galloper Incentivise.

Carpenter announced 55.5kg handicaps for Incentivise in both the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups.

Incentivise was weighted 2.5kg below the Caulfield Cup topweight Sir Dragonet and the Melbourne Cup topweight Twilight Payment.

TAB left Incentivise as a $4.50 favourite to win the Caulfield Cup and an $8 chance in Melbourne Cup betting.

He said the RV handicapping panel found Incentivise difficult to assess but could only rate Incentivise on his performances to date.

Incentivise would not attract a penalty if he won his likely next start in the Turnbull Stakes but winning the Caulfield Cup would render him liable for a Melbourne Cup weight penalty.

Carpenter added the Peter Moody-trained galloper would have received more weight if projected performances were considered.

“If he was handicapped on potential, he’d be the top weight,” Carpenter said.

Carpenter said the fact Incentivise posted his maiden Group 1 win in last Saturday’s Makybe Diva Stakes cost him a penalty of about 2kg.

“He would have definitely got less weight than what he’s got now,” Carpenter said.

 

SUPERCOACH RACING IS BACK! SIGN UP FOR YOUR CHANCE TO WIN $10,000 AND WEEKLY PRIZES UP TO $1000

 

Greg Carpenter says the weights for the Caulfield Cup still favours Incentivise. Picture: AAP

 

“Had he not won the Makybe Diva Stakes, even if he ran second or third, I’d say he would have got around 53.5kg.

“Irrespective of the margin, it was an enormously impressive win.”

Carpenter said Incentivise achieved an international rating of 117 for his Makybe Diva Stakes win.

That figure left Incentivise only three points short of making the top 50 in the last round on the World’s Best Racehorse Rankings.

Carpenter said Incentivise’s owners had contacted him before and after the Makybe Diva Stakes to discuss the gelding’s likely Caulfield and Melbourne Cup weights.

He said the horse’s owners produced other examples of weights horses with similar records have received in recent years, including last year’s South Australian Derby winner Russian Camelot.

Carpenter argued Incentivise was better off at the weights than Russian Camelot was last year.

“When you take into account the fact Russian Camelot was a northern hemisphere three-year-old last year, Incentivise is 1kg better off,” Carpenter said.

CLICK HERE FOR THE CAULFIELD CUP WEIGHTS

CLICK HERE FOR THE MELBOURNE CUP WEIGHTS