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Caulfield Cup favourite Zipping is assured of a start in the feature race after he was on Monday penalised a kilo for his win in the Naturalism Stakes.
Zipping will now carry 52.5kg, which is 5.5kg under weight-for-age and promoted him from equal 42nd to equal 29th on the order of entry but he will be higher when second declarations are taken on Tuesday.
The winner of nine races from 16 starts, the Danehill five-year-old was also penalised a kilo to 52.5kg for the Melbourne Cup but is yet satisfy the ballot clause for a performance at 2300 metres or further.
Zipping's Cups quotes with TAB Sportsbet were unaffected by the penalties and he remains the $6 favourite for the Caulfield Cup and $17 for the Melbourne Cup.
Racing Victoria chief handicapper Greg Carpenter noted that Zipping, who carried 58kg in the Listed Naturalism (2000m) at Caulfield on Saturday, beat fellow Cup aspirants Show Barry (second), Growl (third) and Tawqeet (fifth) and that the penalty only brought him into line with those horses for the Caulfield Cup.
"In actual fact the kilo penalty doesn't make him any worse off against the main players from that race on Saturday but reflect that he was able to beat those horses giving them weight," Carpenter said.
"He gave Show Barry a half kilo and now with the kilo penalty has half a kilo more than him again in the Cup while he has the same weight as Tawqeet after giving him a kilo on Saturday," Carpenter said.
Zipping carried five kilos more than Growl in the Naturalism and will carry 3.5kg more than him in the Caulfield cup.
Recent winners of the Naturalism Stakes to be issued a Cup penalty include Our Unicorn (1g in 1998), Second Coming (1.5kg in 1999), Rose Archway (.5kg in 2003) and Confectioner (1.5kg in 2004).
Carpenter also gave English stayer Young Mick a kilo penalty for the Melbourne Cup and he will now carry 53kg after his dominant win over Munsef and fellow Cup hopeful Glistening in the Group Three Cumberland Lodge Stakes over 2400m at Ascot on Sunday.
He has leapt on the order of entry from 33rd to 22nd but trainer George Margarson said he was only a 50-50 chance to make the trip.
"The Melbourne Cup is foremost in my mind although it's only 50-50 at the moment," Margarson told racingpost.co.uk, adding that races in Japan and Dubai also figure in his plans.
"He's been running for 18 months solid and I just wonder whether he'd relish an 18-hour aeroplane ride to Australia."
The win was the gelding's first at Group level and remarkably his 10th victory in England this year having started 2006 as an unheralded maiden performer.
© 2010 Published 25/09/06
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