Half Yours has been rehandicapped for the Melbourne Cup following his Caulfield Cup victory, with the emerging stayer to now carry 53kg in next month’s 3200-metre feature.
Racing Victoria’s head of handicapping David Hegan on Monday morning announced that the Tony and Calvin McEvoy-trained gelding was in receipt of a 2kg penalty for his breakout win.
Half Yours carried 52.5kg in Saturday’s 2400-metre Caulfield Cup, which included a 1.5kg penalty for his Group 3 Naturalism Stakes success, and Hegan said the Melbourne Cup penalty represented a swing of between 1.5kg and 2.5kg for last Saturday’s beaten brigade.
The penalty for Half Yours is the same that was handed to Durston, All The Good, Tawqeet and Railings after their Caulfield Cup wins.
“With the different weight scales this year between the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups, he remained on the limit weight for the Melbourne Cup going into Saturday’s race,” Hegan said.
“The 2kg penalty lifts Half Yours off the limit to 53kg and importantly it provides relief to those horses he defeated on Saturday come the Melbourne Cup.
“Those that finished behind him in the Caulfield Cup will now meet Half Yours between 1.5kg and 2.5kg better in the Melbourne Cup which gives them a chance to bridge the gap.
“The 2kg penalty is the same handed to Durston in 2022 and they both have a similar profile winning off a low weight in the Caulfield Cup and in doing so posting their third win from their last four black type starts with a close-up finish in a Group 1 race wedged between.”
Half Yours’ Caulfield Cup victory, his seventh from just 14 starts, has seen the horse move to the top of the Melbourne Cup order of entry with the race offering the winner a ballot exemption.
The five-year-old son of St Jean is now $3.50 favourite for the Melbourne Cup, heading Melbourne Cup odds from 59kg topweight Al Riffa, who is a $6 chance.
