History is against Weekend Hussler winning Saturday's $2.5 million Caulfield Cup, with only one four-year-old carrying more weight than him to win the race in the past 50 years.That was Gay Icarus who carried 58kg in 1971.Weekend Hussler will carry topweight of 57kg after the weights had to be raised 1.5kg due to the higher-weighted horses dropping out of the race.Racing Victoria chief handicapper Greg Carpenter said at Tuesday's announcement of the final field that the last time the weights had

History is against Weekend Hussler winning Saturday's $2.5 million Caulfield Cup, with only one four-year-old carrying more weight than him to win the race in the past 50 years.

That was Gay Icarus who carried 58kg in 1971.

Weekend Hussler will carry topweight of 57kg after the weights had to be raised 1.5kg due to the higher-weighted horses dropping out of the race.

Racing Victoria chief handicapper Greg Carpenter said at Tuesday's announcement of the final field that the last time the weights had to be raised for the Caulfield Cup was in 1999 when the four-year-old Sky Heights carried topweight of 56.5kg.

That year the weights were also raised 1.5kg which Carpenter said augured well for Weekend Hussler.

The Australian Racing rules have since been changed and the topweight must now carry 57kg.

Weekend Hussler's weight represents 0.5kg below weight-for-age for a four-year-old.

Carpenter said there had been only two four-year-olds to have carried more than 55kg to victory in the Caulfield Cup in the past 50 years - Gay Icarus and Sky Heights.

The last horse to carry more than 57kg to win the race was Northerly (2002) as a six-year-old.

"It is fair to say that all the weights have gone up 1.5kg but when you go up from 55.5 to 57 the impact potentially on your performance is greater than say on a horse such as Guillotine on the bottom of the weights from 50 to 51.5," Carpenter said.

"So it (Weekend Hussler) is going to be an outstanding horse if he is able to do the job on Saturday."

There are 11 individual Group One winners in this year's 2400m feature.

"Add to that two very strong international candidates in All The Good, who won the Newburgh Handicap (at Newbury in England) at his last start, and Mad Rush," Carpenter said.

"The other element this year is the resurgence of the New Zealand horses.

"We've got three horses coming off the Kelt Capital Stakes, Nom Du Jeu and Red Ruler who quinellaed the AJC Australian Derby and Boundless who won the New Zealand Oaks and came second in the AJC Oaks.

"I can only say it's a classic Caulfield Cup."

There was no controversy with the announcement of the final field of 18 plus four emergencies who are, in order, Barbaricus, Newport, Red Lord and Moatize.

Three horses were balloted out - Baughurst, Get Up Jude and The Wolverine.

Melbourne Racing Club chairman Peter Young said despite the weights having to be raised the Caulfield Cup field was "outstanding".

"It will be a great race. A very competitive race, a very good betting race with a lot of questions to be answered on the track," he said.

Leading trainer David Hayes has three four-year-olds engaged, Victoria Derby victor Kibbutz, Zagreb and Guillotine, while Danny O'Brien has last year's winner Master O'Reilly, runner-up Douro Valley and first emergency Barbaricus.

Maldivian, from the Mark Kavanagh stable, who was sensationally scratched last year due to rearing up and cutting his neck on a piece of television equipment in the barriers, is back.

Six-time Caulfield Cup winning trainer Bart Cummings has Viewed and fourth emergency Moatize.

The barrier draw will be conducted on Wednesday.