Weight penalties have assured Melbourne Cup starts for the Bart Cummings-trained Allez Wonder and South Australian galloper Alcopop.Allez Wonder jumped from 49th in order of elimination to 17th after Racing Victoria chief handicapper Greg Carpenter penalised her a half kilogram to 50.5kg for her win in Saturday's Group One Toorak Handicap.Alcopop surged up the list from 63rd to 26th following his easy Herbert Power Stakes win which earned him a 1.5kg penalty from Carpenter, taking his Cup weight
Weight penalties have assured Melbourne Cup starts for the Bart Cummings-trained Allez Wonder and South Australian galloper Alcopop.
Allez Wonder jumped from 49th in order of elimination to 17th after Racing Victoria chief handicapper Greg Carpenter penalised her a half kilogram to 50.5kg for her win in Saturday's Group One Toorak Handicap.
Alcopop surged up the list from 63rd to 26th following his easy Herbert Power Stakes win which earned him a 1.5kg penalty from Carpenter, taking his Cup weight to 52.5kg.
The Cup field is limited to 24 but there are still third declarations scheduled for October 26 and final declarations on October 31.
Alcopop has now been penalised twice for the Melbourne Cup.
Last month Carpenter have him an extra kilogram after he won the Listed JRA Cup (2040m) at Moonee Valley.
Trained by part-owner Jake Stephens, Alcopop has won seven of his 10 starts and connections have in recent weeks turned down offers which value Alcopop at more than $1 million.
More offers are expected to be tabled in the run up to the Cup.
The five-year-old has impressed Carpenter with his meteoric rise from a class three winner in August to be one of the Melbourne Cup favourites at $7.50.
"Alcopop has demonstrated enormous progression since the weights were originally released and his win in a truly run staying contest on Saturday was totally dominant," Carpenter said.
"The last horse to win the Herbert Power Stakes and go on to win the Melbourne Cup was the Cummings-trained Rogan Josh who carried 50kg to victory in 1999.
Carpenter noted the strength of this year's Toorak Handicap when he penalised Allez Wonder who is a chance to give Cummings his 13th Melbourne Cup win.
"Allez Wonder beat one of the most competitive Toorak fields in recent years and while in a race of 1600 metres she is now a Group One winner who was placed in the VRC Oaks over 2500 in her three-year-old season," Carpenter said.
The last Toorak Handicap winner to win the Melbourne Cup was the Cummings-trained Galilee in 1966. Galilee also won the Caulfield Cup that year.
Allez Wonder's Toorak win gave her an automatic start in Saturday's Caulfield Cup, without a penalty.
The last horse to complete the Toorak-Caulfield Cup double was the Greg Mance-trained Cole Diesel in 1989.
Final declarations for the Caulfield Cup (2400m) close at 10am on Tuesday.