Sea King (GB) ridden by Declan Bates wins the Apiam Bendigo Cup at Bendigo Racecourse.
Racing Victoria (RV) Head of Handicapping, David Hegan, has announced that yesterday’s Group 3 Apiam Bendigo Cup (2400m) winner Sea King has received a 0.5kg penalty in the $8.56 million Lexus Melbourne Cup (3200m).
The Harry Eustace-trained English stayer has been lifted from his original weight of 50kg to 50.5kg thus elevating the horse to 17th in the Order of Entry for the iconic race at Flemington next Tuesday, 5 November.
Hegan explained: “Sea King was a dominant winner of the Bendigo Cup yesterday with Declan Bates using the horse’s sustained stamina to steal a march on his rivals and never be challenged.
“The decisive nature of his victory warrants a penalty and a key line of relativity in the Melbourne Cup is Onesmoothoperator who sits on 51kg after receiving a 1kg penalty following his Geelong Cup win last week.
“The two horses met recently in the Ebor Handicap in the UK where they crossed the line together. Sea King carried 1kg less than Onesmoothoperator that day but now moves to within 0.5kg of him.
“In relative terms to the benchmark, Onesmoothoperator was effectively given a 2.5kg increase on his overseas mark for the Geelong Cup win so Sea King now moves 3kg up on his previous best form.”
Final acceptances for the Melbourne Cup will be taken at 4.30pm (AEDT) on Saturday, 2 November with the field to be released by early evening.
The Order of Entry has been updated with the penalty afforded to Sea King and today’s withdrawals of Brayden Star, Le Don De Vie, Muramasa and Whisky On The Hill from the entry list.
Click here to view the updated Lexus Melbourne Cup Order of Entry as 31 October 2024.