Weights for the 2026 Melbourne Cup are now public

Dual Melbourne Cup victor Half Yours faces a formidable challenge if he is to claim another title in the iconic race.

The stayer prepared by Tony and Calvin McEvoy has been given a handicap of 59kg for this year's Melbourne Cup, marking a 6kg increase on his winning weight from the previous year.

Half Yours competed with 52.5kg in the Caulfield Cup, and his weight for that event has now risen to 57.5kg, while Sir Delius is assigned the topweight of 59kg.

This year's Cups, following consultations with racing bodies after last year's races, have introduced a minimum weight of 51kg, which is a 1kg rise from last year.

This 1kg rise also means that a 59kg minimum topweight is now required when the weights are initially published.

Although Sir Delius was the clear topweight for the Caulfield Cup (2400m) scheduled for October 17, the Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott-trained galloper was not entered for the Melbourne Cup (3200m) at Flemington on November 3.

This situation necessitated an upward adjustment of 1.5kg for the Melbourne Cup weights to achieve the 59kg minimum topweight.

"Sir Delius, a three-time Group 1 winner, stands out as the best performed horse and natural topweight for this year's Caulfield Cup, however his absence from the Melbourne Cup has necessitated two different sets of weights," Racing Victoria's Head of Handicapping David Hegan commented.

"Last year saw the introduction of a 1kg overall increase to the weight structure of both races where topweights must be assigned 59kg at the release of weights and the minimum weight for older horses is 51kg.

"Half Yours was the dominant Caulfield and Melbourne Cup champion in 2025 and has been weighted accordingly. He effectively rises 4.5kg from his Melbourne Cup performance before the additional 1.5kg was applied to ensure a 59kg topweight."

"That increase applies to all Melbourne Cup entrants above the minimum weight."

Hegan pointed out that Highwayman, who recently secured the English St Leger, was one of the more interesting acceptors in the handicap.

By achieving the same rating as the 2024 winner Jan Brueghel, Highwayman has been assigned 56.5kg under the new weight scale.

Last year's runner-up in the Melbourne Cup, Goodie Two Shoes, sees her weight increase to 55kg, up from the 51.5kg she carried in the previous year's Cup.

Joseph O'Brien, a trainer with two Cups to his name, has 11 entries for the Cup, including Sons And Lovers (57.5kg) and Defiantly (56.5kg), both carrying substantial weights.

Aeliana has been allocated 58kg for the Melbourne Cup and would have been the topweight, had she not received the 2kg weight-for-age allowance for mares.

The current favourite for the Caulfield Cup, Green Spaces, has been given 54.5kg following his Australian Derby triumph at Randwick in the autumn, matching the weight of Enfjaar and Wine Dark Sea, both of whom are recent Group 3 winners in Europe.

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