Point Of Law hit with 2kg Melbourne Cup penalty after Geelong Cup win
Ciaron Maher’s Point Of Law will carry 53kg in the $10.2 million Lexus Melbourne Cup (3200m) after Racing Victoria head of handicapping David Hegan issued a 2kg penalty for his Geelong Cup win.
The northern hemisphere-bred three-year-old had been weighted on the 51kg minimum. He raced on the speed under Ethan Brown in Wednesday’s Group 3 Geelong Cup (2400m) and fought off Small Fry to win by half a length. It was his fifth career start and his first in Australia.
The win gave Maher his first Geelong Cup and Point Of Law a ballot exemption for the Cup at Flemington on November 3. All four of the Frankel colt’s previous starts had come against three-year-olds.
“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,” Hegan said.
On the weight-for-age scale, the reassessment is 2.5kg. Point Of Law’s true rating had been 50.5kg, or 6kg below his weight-for-age benchmark, so the 51kg minimum was already carrying him above his rating.
“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 Caulfield Cup on Saturday,” Hegan said. “He also moves to 0.5kg below fellow northern hemisphere three-year-old and Epsom Derby placegetter James J Braddock who has 53.5kg.”
“I can’t handicap Point Of Law on potential, only on what he has done to date,” Hegan said. “He may well improve off that run next time out, but only time will tell.”
The Joseph O’Brien-trained Small Fry and Omni Man, second and third at Geelong, have both cleared the first elimination clause. At 42nd and 44th in the order of entry, they need horses above them to drop out.
