Racing Victoria's Chief Handicapper Greg Carpenter has handed a 1kg Caulfield Cup penalty to improving stayer Stout Hearted after his impressive Grp 3 Kingston Town Stakes (2000m) win on Saturday. The Chris Waller-trained import is now on 51kgs in the Cup and has moved to equal 59th in the elimination order after passing the ballot for the $2.5 million feature. Carpenter says: 'He is a very progressive European stayer who has won four of his six starts this preparation. Saturday was his first te
Racing Victoria's Chief Handicapper Greg Carpenter has handed a 1kg Caulfield Cup penalty to improving stayer Stout Hearted after his impressive Grp 3 Kingston Town Stakes (2000m) win on Saturday. The Chris Waller-trained import is now on 51kgs in the Cup and has moved to equal 59th in the elimination order after passing the ballot for the $2.5 million feature. Carpenter says: 'He is a very progressive European stayer who has won four of his six starts this preparation. Saturday was his first test at Group level and he was very strong at the end of the 2000-metre contest, which was run at a genuine pace, winning in race record time.'
Although the Gai Waterhouse-trained Strawberry Boy had to be content with 3rd place behind Stout Hearted in the Kingston Town Stakes, the 4YO has now passed the Caulfield Cup ballot and is now equal 67th on the order of entry. In other news from the weekend's racing, Grp 2 Dato Tan Chin Nam Stakes (1600m) winner Happy Trails is now exempt from the Caulfield Cup and Cox Plate (2040m) ballot following his victory on Saturday. The Paul Beshara-trained South Australian has leapt from equal 83rd on the Caulfield Cup order of entry to second, although connections have indicated that the Cox Plate a week later may be his likely goal.