First Command and Varenna Miss may be at opposite ends of the weight scale in the Oakleigh Plate but the trainers of both horses are unhappy with the system that has led to their assessment.Lee Freedman says First Command has been weighted like a Group One winner being a half-kilo below 58kg topweight Catapulted on Saturday while Tony Noonan says the compressed weights badly disadvantage Varenna Miss who is on the minimum 53kg."I really like everything about the race except the weight he was giv

First Command and Varenna Miss may be at opposite ends of the weight scale in the Oakleigh Plate but the trainers of both horses are unhappy with the system that has led to their assessment.

Lee Freedman says First Command has been weighted like a Group One winner being a half-kilo below 58kg topweight Catapulted on Saturday while Tony Noonan says the compressed weights badly disadvantage Varenna Miss who is on the minimum 53kg.

"I really like everything about the race except the weight he was given," Freedman said.

"I think he has been weighted like a Group One winner."

Noonan said Varenna Miss was a very good mare but is poorly weighted in a handicap event where there is only 5kg difference from top to bottom.

"With a 53kg minimum it take may as well be a set weights and penalties race," Noonan said.

"It takes away any aspect of handicapping."

He said he was mystified how three-time Group One placegetter Ortensia, who he also nominated for the Oakleigh Plate but will run in the Futurity, had only 3.5kg more than her stablemate Varenna Miss.

"There should have been eight kilos between them," Noonan said.

"On weights she (Varenna Miss) can't win but I haven't told her that."

A Racing Victoria handicapping spokesman said that handicaps were allocated from the top down and not from the bottom up.

Noonan said that Varenna Miss was a progressive mare and deserved her chance in an Oakleigh Plate.

"It is Group One race and you don't get many opportunities to run in them," he said.

"She is up against it but she is improving with every run and has stepped up every time we have asked her to."

Last start, at just her fifth run, she attempted her first feature assignment and finished second to Beaded in the Group Three Hyderabad Race Club Stakes at Caulfield.

Noonan said it was likely that Steven King would ride Varenna Miss back from barrier 14 on Saturday in the hope that she could come with a late run.

"If we can ride her back off the speed I think we might see a different mare," Noonan said.

Freedman said First Command, who won the Listed Cleary Stakes at Caulfield first-up, had freshened up well from his last-start second to King Mufhasa in the Group One Telegraph Handicap (1200m) in New Zealand on January 22.

"He is a terrific Caulfield horse, loves the 1100 metres there and has drawn well (four)," Freedman said.

Peter Moody is happy with his five Oakleigh Plate runners.

He said a gear change from winkers to blinkers was positive for Reward For Effort after he struck interference when unplaced last start in the Rubiton Stakes.

"His work on Tuesday was absolutely super," Moody said.

He said Avenue settled better when second to Catapulted in the Rubiton and he expects her to be hitting the line strongly while the race had been planned three months ago for Set For Fame.

Three-year-old Hinchinbrook has impressed Moody since joining his stable this preparation and he has held off running him until now.

"He has got a lot of ability but we thought this was a more suitable race for him than the Lightning last week," Moody said.

He said Panipique got the chance to prove herself at the top level.

"She will be in the second half of the field but with luck she will be strong late," Moody said.