Melbourne Cup hopes boosted for Ciaron Maher runners after handicapping

Juja Kibo has taken a significant step towards a Melbourne Cup start, receiving a revised handicap following his impressive victory in The Metropolitan last Saturday.

The chief handicapper for Racing Victoria, David Hegan, assigned the Ciaron Maher-trained stayer a 2kg penalty for the $10 million event, acknowledging his dominant 1-3/4-length win over Aethelwulf in the 2400-metre Randwick contest with 56.5kg.

With this adjustment, Juja Kibo's weight for the Melbourne Cup is now 53.5kg, elevating him to 34th in the order of entry for the 24-horse field.

A 1kg penalty was also applied to Juja Kibo for the Caulfield Cup, a consequence of the different weight scales employed for this year's major spring races.

"Juja Kibo's Metropolitan performance was worthy of a handicap reconsideration after strongly defeating several key Cups rivals in impressive fashion and thus he advances 2kg in both races against both the weight for age scale and a number of runners from Saturday," Hegan explained.

He continued, "Due to the different weight scales in the Cups, he takes a 1kg penalty in the Caulfield Cup and a 2kg penalty in the Melbourne Cup."

"In the Caulfield Cup, he moves from a true weight of 50kg to 52kg, which is an actual weight penalty of 1kg above the minimum, and he will now carry 52kg."

"In the Melbourne Cup he rises from 51.5kg to 53.5kg which puts him 0.5kg below The Euphrates, who conceded him 2.5kg on Saturday when finishing third."

"Juja Kibo progresses significantly in the order of entry for both races, climbing 11 places to 30th in the Caulfield Cup and 12 places to 34th in the Melbourne Cup."

Mr Monaco, another of Maher's stayers, also had his Melbourne Cup weight adjusted, now set to carry 52.5kg in the 3200m Group 1 on November 3.

This represents a 1.5kg penalty for the imported son of Territories, who secured ballot exemption for the Melbourne Cup with his strong victory in The Bart Cummings (2520m) last Saturday.

"Mr Monaco was previously weighted in the Melbourne Cup at 1.5kg below fellow competitor Valiant King who ran third in the Bart Cummings, but now meets him on level terms with that 1.5kg increase," Hegan noted.

Mr Monaco's Caulfield Cup weight remains unchanged at 51kg, placing him 33rd in the updated order of entry following the weekend's racing action. Explore the latest racing betting markets for these exciting upcoming races.