Victoria Racing Club

News Summary:

On September 17, 2026, RV’s Head of Handicapping David Hegan assigned the 2025 Lexus Melbourne Cup champion Half Yours the top weight of 59kg for the upcoming race. After a strong run in the Group 1 Crown Makybe Diva Stakes, the gelding aims to break a historical precedent, as Rain Lover in 1969 was the last horse to successfully carry 59kg or more to victory. Previously, on September 16, punters at Flemington encountered significant delays, up to 30 minutes, to enter the venue, followed by long queues for drinks and food inside. The Victoria Racing Club attributed these issues to a substantial increase in crowd numbers. Earlier, on September 14, the Half Yours team expressed satisfaction with the gelding's first-up run, finishing sixth, 4.65 lengths behind Sheza Alibi in the Crown Makybe Diva Stakes, with jockey Jamie Melham noting her excitement post-race. Also on September 14, the first batch of international Cup entries entered quarantine, including Joseph O'Brien's quartet—Kizlyar, Omni Man, Small Fry, and Starford—and Roger Varian's Enfjaar from Ireland, alongside Harry Charlton's Wine Dark Sea and Ciaron Maher's Point Of Law from England. All horses, entered for both the $6 million Caulfield Cup and the $10 million Lexus Melbourne Cup, have passed Racing Victoria's veterinary protocols. This followed the Group 1 Crown Makybe Diva Stakes at Flemington on September 13, where the Peter Moody and Katherine Coleman-trained mare Sheza Alibi secured a dominant victory in the 1600m race, becoming the first female galloper to win the Makybe Diva since it attained Group 1 status in 2013.