Australian Horse Of The Year Lankan Rupee will need to match the weight-carrying record of Hay List to claim a second Newmarket Handicap.
Lankan Rupee will carry 58.5kg in the $1 million sprint over 1200m at Flemington on March 14, a rise of 2kg on last year’s winning weight.
Hay List won the 2012 Newmarket Handicap carrying the highest handicap since weights went metric in 1973.
The world’s three highest-rated sprinters will line up in the Newmarket after fighting out the finish of the Darley Classic last spring.
Lankan Rupee and Terravista have a world ranking of 123, one point clear of Chautauqua.
Racing Victoria senior handicapper Neil Jennings said if those rankings were used, Lankan Rupee and Terravista would have received the same weight and Chautauqua 0.5kg less.
However Jennings gave Terravista 56.5kg and Chautauqua 55.5kg.
Splitting Terravista and Chautauqua is Criterion on 56kg but he is down to run in the Canterbury Stakes (1300m) at Randwick on Saturday.
Lankan Rupee, Terravista and Chatutauqua met on equal terms in the Darley Classic (1200m) at Flemington in November.
It was Terravista’s day as the Sydney star defeated Chautauqua and Lankan Rupee.
“The thing we have to look at is their overall profile,” Jennings told Melbourne radio station RSN.
“Lankan Rupee has won five Group Ones.”
Unbeaten in four fresh runs, Terravista, with one Group One win to his record, needs to defy history as no horse has been successful first-up in the Newmarket in almost 100 years.
“Since 2000 there have been 29 horses try to win the Newmarket at their first run back after a spell and Titanic Jack in 2004 is the only horse to have placed,” Jennings said.
Chautauqua is yet to win at Group One level but boasts an excellent straight 1200-metre record with two victories and his Darley Classic placing from three runs.
Three-year-old Coolmore Stakes winner Brazen Beau, who chased home Lankan Rupee in the weight-for-age Lightning Stakes (1000m) at Flemington on February 21, has 52kg.
With 22 horses weighted for the Newmarket, the final field and barriers will be finalised next Wednesday.
