Penalty helps Herculian Prince up the entry order for Caulfield Cup

LAST weekend's racing brought more bad news concerning the growing group of horses on the cusp of securing a Caulfield Cup start, with Sydney winners Herculian Prince and C'est La Guerre moving up dramatically in the rankings, reports The Age.Its report adds: The Craven Plate win of C'est La Guerre meant he passed the qualifying clause for the Caulfield Cup and so shot up from equal 54th in order to equal 11th.The Metropolitan win of Herculian Prince attracted a two-kilogram penalty to 53.5 for

LAST weekend's racing brought more bad news concerning the growing group of horses on the cusp of securing a Caulfield Cup start, with Sydney winners Herculian Prince and C'est La Guerre moving up dramatically in the rankings, reports The Age.

Its report adds: The Craven Plate win of C'est La Guerre meant he passed the qualifying clause for the Caulfield Cup and so shot up from equal 54th in order to equal 11th.

The Metropolitan win of Herculian Prince attracted a two-kilogram penalty to 53.5 for both cups from Racing Victoria chief handicapper Greg Carpenter. The five-year-old, who was struggling on equal 40th in order for a Caulfield Cup start, moved up sharply to equal 22nd.

Herculian Prince has now passed the first ballot clause for the Melbourne Cup and looks assured of a run after moving from 77th to 30th.

Carpenter decided not to penalise Flemington winner Harris Tweed, who has 54 in both cups. He is already assured of a run in both races, being equal 11th in the Caulfield Cup order and 18th in the Melbourne Cup order.

Caulfield Cup hopefuls Moudre (equal 42nd) and Precedence (37th) are stranded well outside the final field before today's third acceptances. They are expected to clash in Saturday's Herbert Power Stakes.