Prince Of Arran has been given a 1kg penalty after winning the Geelong Cup. I wonder what the result would have been had he not placed in last year's Melbourne Cup and been in danger of missing this field....?

The Geelong Cup winner has earned a weight penalty the past 13 years. And I know this because Racing Victoria have released the list, presumably as defense of the decision: https://cdn.racing.com/-/media/rv/2...ners-since-1980

I think he was pretty lucky. It looks like they may have based it on his finish with respect to Red Cardinal and Red Galileo, neither of whom are going to be in the Cup. It wasn't based on True Self: despite her finishing within 0.2L, Prince of Arran now carries 1kg more (were True Self to make the Cup - and she almost definitely won't).

The only other runners that were there and still in line to contest the Cup now (save for winning exemption through the Hotham Handicap on Saturday week) were Steel Prince (who looked to just treat it as a conditioning run back in 8th) and Muntahaa. Somehow - despite finishing last in each of his 4 races since the 2018 Melbourne Cup - Muntahaa is 25th in the Order. Hopefully they don't pay for third acceptance (due this Monday). If they don't drop out then surely the organisers must use their powers to turf him out themselves. Prince of Arran certainly deserves to be there ahead of him, though several others may feel aggrieved about it, having been leapt also.

Prince of Arran now moved into 23rd in the Order of Entry, per the updated list: https://cdn.racing.com/-/media/rv/2...ry-as-at-oct-24.