Chief handicapper Greg Carpenter has defended a two kilo Melbourne Cup penalty for international stayer Sans Frontieres for his win in the Group One Irish St Leger.Carpenter conceded connections may now abort Cup plans for the Galileo five-year-old who will now carry 57kg in the Cup following Saturday's victory at The Curragh.Significantly Racing Victoria's chief handicapper did not penalise past Irish St Leger winners Yeats in 2007 or 2008 winner Septimus who won the St Leger by 13 lengths."The

Chief handicapper Greg Carpenter has defended a two kilo Melbourne Cup penalty for international stayer Sans Frontieres for his win in the Group One Irish St Leger.

Carpenter conceded connections may now abort Cup plans for the Galileo five-year-old who will now carry 57kg in the Cup following Saturday's victory at The Curragh.

Significantly Racing Victoria's chief handicapper did not penalise past Irish St Leger winners Yeats in 2007 or 2008 winner Septimus who won the St Leger by 13 lengths.

"The end result might be that Sans Frontieres doesn't travel but I try and make the right decision about what weight a horse gets," Carpenter said.

He said Sans Frontieres was relatively lowly weighted compared to both Yeats (59kg) and Septimus (58.5kg) and that he now had a 119 international rating which was equal to that of last year's Melbourne Cup winner Shocking and one below Rite of Passage, winner of the Ascot Gold Cup.

All three horses now have 57kg in the Cup.

"Sans Frontieres has won his last three starts and his come-from-behind win in the Irish St Leger was impressive," Carpenter said.

"It was quite a dominant display coming from off the pace, running past Profound Beauty and idling the last 50 metres.

"Really he displayed the turn of foot required to be competitive in the Melbourne Cup".

He said the determining factors in arriving at the penalty were the relativity to the horse he beat in the St Leger, Profound Beauty, and given the authority of the performance, his proximity in the weights to horses like Alandi, Shocking and Rite of Passage."

Alandi won last year's Irish St Leger and is equal Melbourne Cup top weight with 58kg.

Sans Frontieres gave Profound Beauty 3lb (just under 1.5kg) on Saturday.

"Profound Beauty has 54 kilograms in the Melbourne Cup and Sans Frontieres will now be asked to concede her three (kg) if they both travel to Australia," Carpenter said.

The winner of the 2010 Irish St Leger is exempt from the ballot for the Melbourne Cup and Sans Frontieres now heads the order of entry.

The winner of the Irish St Leger has only been liable for a penalty since 2005 when Collier Hill won the race as a seven-year-old and was penalised 1.5kg, rising from 55kg to 56.5kg for the Melbourne Cup. He did not contest the race.

Carpenter also announced a one kilo penalty for the Mark Johnston-trained Eastern Aria following her win in last Thursday's Group Two Park Hill Stakes at Doncaster, taking her weight in the Melbourne Cup to 51.5kg.

The Park Hill Stakes is a set weights race restricted to fillies and mares and Eastern Aria defeated promising three-year-old fillies Rumoush and Meeznah who had finished fourth and second respectively in the English Oaks.

Johnston has had three previous runners in the Melbourne Cup with his best result his most recent runner Yavana's Pace who finished 12th to Rogan Josh in 1999.