A 1kg penalty for his Bendigo Cup win and the withdrawal of Saint George have lifted Bjorn Baker's So You Are into the Melbourne Cup top 24.
The Melbourne Cup field has shuffled again in the past 48 hours. Bjorn Baker's in-form stayer So You Are has climbed into the top 24, while Ciaron Maher's Caulfield Cup runner-up Saint George is out of the race.
Bendigo Cup win does the job
So You Are won the Group 3 Bendigo Cup (2400m) on Wednesday, beating Berkeley Square by about three-quarters of a length. Litzdeel ran third and Kings Valley fourth. Rachel King rode the five-year-old son of So You Think, who started favourite. It's his fourth black-type win in a row, following his ATC St Leger win at Randwick.
Before the race he sat outside the top 24 and needed a good penalty to get into the field. Racing Victoria's handicapper David Hegan gave him a full 1kg on Thursday. That's an unusually big re-handicap for a Bendigo Cup winner; Hegan noted that the last 1kg rise was Tanby back in 2011. It's So You Are's third penalty since the original weights came out, and he now carries 54kg on Tuesday.
Saint George ruled out
Saint George, second in the Caulfield Cup, has been withdrawn from the Melbourne Cup and the rest of the spring carnival. He had CT and PET scans, and an independent panel of imaging specialists judged him to be at higher risk of injury. It's a blow for Maher, who had several runners in the top end of the order of entry.
His withdrawal moved So You Are up to 24th in the official order of entry, the last spot in the field. Without it, he would have been 25th.
Key dates
- Saturday 31 October: final acceptances close after Derby Day racing, then the barrier draw.
- Tuesday 3 November: the $10.2 million Melbourne Cup (3200m) at Flemington.
So You Are is right on the cut-off, so he's still not completely safe until acceptances close. Horses in the top 24 can still change position before then, and every runner must pass the vet checks.
The punting angle
So You Are arrives as the form stayer of the spring, with four straight black-type wins. The question is whether 54kg and a step up to Group 1 company will stop the winning run. Check the final field and barriers on Saturday night before you form a view. You can also follow every runner on our Melbourne Cup horses page.
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