Bookmakers have a weathered a barrage of support for New Zealand stayer Pentane and fear it may get worse after he was pitch-forked in to the Melbourne Cup with just 52kg.

The winner of the Auckland Cup in March, Pentane has been backed from $161 and is as short as $15 with some betting agencies.

Racing Victoria chief handicapper Greg Carpenter gave credence to the heavy support by declaring that this could be the year the next champion stayer is buried down in the Cup weights.

"There has been a generational change," Carpenter said.

"You haven't got the likes of Makybe Diva, Vinnie Roe and Mummify around anymore and I really feel that this may well be the year an emerging stayer from down in the weights comes in to play.

"Pentane may well be one of those horses."

The Lance O'Sullivan-trained Pentane won the Auckland Cup in a photo finish from seven-year-old Zabeat who also has 52kg in the Melbourne Cup.

Zabeat, who won the 2005 Wellington Cup, carried 1.5kg more than Pentane in this year's Auckland Cup and then went on to finish second to Country Tyrone in the Sydney Cup making him one of the finest two milers in training.

However Carpenter rates Pentane a better horse than Brisbane Cup winner Art Success (51.5kg) and Adelaide Cup winner Exalted Time (50.5kg) and believes he has scope to improve with six wins and four seconds from 12 starts.

Leading doubles bookmaker Michael Eskander said Pentane had been sensationally backed for the Melbourne Cup since December.

"I haven't see a bigger go in the doubles than Pentane," Eskander said.

"We put our markets up in November and they hit us at $161 in December and they kept coming back.

"I guarantee there isn't a betting shop in Australia that hasn't laid him at $51 or better.

Eskander said that in win bets alone he currently stood to lose $180,000 on Pentane who he now has at $15 for the Melbourne Cup and $34 for the Caulfield Cup.

Gary Davies at TAB Sportsbet agreed that Pentane was easily the best backed horse for the Melbourne Cup and has shortened him from $26 to $17 after bets up to $5000 each-way.

PIC - Sportpix.