Sprinter Lankan Rupee will have to be every bit as good as his stellar world ranking after weights for Saturday week's $1 million Newmarket Handicap were released on Tuesday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
In fact, Lankan Rupee will have to become just the second horse in half a century to win one of Australia's most revered sprint races with 58.5 kilograms, which he has been allotted.
While the Mick Price-trained Lankan Rupee rises just two kilograms on his Newmarket success in 2014, his task has become all that much tougher with a generation of young sprinters ready to test his mettle.
In 2012 Hay List became just the second horse to lump 58.5kg to win a Newmarket since 1959. And Racing Victoria senior handicapper Neil Jennings conceded that while Lankan Rupee had won three group 1 races since his Newmarket victory, he believed the horse still had a tough assignment on his hands.
After emerging as as one of Australia's finest sprinting talents by winning last year's Newmarket, he went on to win the group 1 TJ Smith Stakes in Sydney, the Manikato Stakes at Moonee Valley and the recent Lightning Stakes.
Jennings pointed out that Lankan Rupee defeated three-year-old Brazen Beau — a Coolmore Stakes winner — at weight-for-age in the Lightning but the youngster meets Lankan Rupee far better under the handicap conditions of the Newmarket.
Brazen Beau's chances were further improved with the news that he would have the services of the world's finest jockey, Joao Moreira, in the group 1 sprint.
Moreira showed why he is one of the most gifted horsemen of his time when he booted home six winners last Sunday at Sha Tin in Hong Kong.
"It's not going to be easy for Lankan Rupee to win back-to-back Newmarkets as you've got to turn some significant tables on his rivals," Jennings said.
"Take for instance Terravista [56.5kg in Newmarket] who when they last met beat Lankan Rupee by a length and on Saturday week meets him two kilograms better.
"And then you come up to a horse like Chautauqua who has 55.5kg in the Newmarket but beat Lankan Rupee when they last met in the Darley Classic by three-quarters of a length and now meets the horse three kilograms better on weights.
"I know Lankan Rupee was brave in winning the Lightning Stakes, but don't forget he was beating Deep Field — admittedly a sprinter on the way up — but had they both clashed under handicap conditions there would be at least 5.5kg between them," he said.
Meanwhile, trainer John O'Shea has announced that Hartnell, who finished a brave second to stablemate Contributer in Saturday's Chipping Norton Stakes, would come to Melbourne for the Australian Cup in a fortnight.
International jockeys William Buick and James Doyle are in contention for the mount.
And stunning winner of last Saturday's Autumn Classic, Alpine Eagle, will now start in next Saturday's $500,000 Australian Guineas at Flemington.
Alpine Eagle came from an impossible position to win the group 2 event and, in fact, betting exchange Bet Fair offered as much as 380-1 about the three-year-old winning at the top of the straight.
Alpine Eagle, who looks to have a mortgage on this year's Adelaide Derby, is likely to have the services of champion international jockey Douglas Whyte on Saturday.
Whyte will fly in from Hong Kong on Saturday and return on Saturday night for Sunday's meeting in Sha Tin.
Damien Oliver, who rode Alpine Eagle last Saturday, will be required to ride Wandjina if he can successfully win an appeal against an eight-meeting suspension incurred at Caulfield last Saturday.
