Racing
A Closer Look – Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes
Few horses attempt Caulfield Group 1 with 59kg, as Another Wil will do this weekend
Ciaron Maher is not one to shy away from a challenge and he has assigned a weighty one to Another Wil this weekend.
The Group 1-winning gelding heads the field for Saturday's Group 1 Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes at Caulfield.
Maher chose the 1400-metre handicap over the Makybe Diva Stakes, where Another Wil might have proven the biggest threat to Mr Brightside the way that 1600m event was run, and he now has to spot every one of his 15 rivals weight this weekend.
It looms as a daunting task with more than half the field on 53.5kg or less, but the Another Wil camp can take heart from the recent record of horses up in the weights.
Testa Rossa lumped 58.5kg to his second-straight win in 2000, but 13 of the next 17 Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes winners carried 54.5kg or less with Toorak Toff's 56.5kg the heaviest winning weight.
In recent years that trend has changed with Callsign Mav (57.5kg, 2022), Jungle Cat (58kg, 2018) and Behemoth (60kg, 2020) winning up in the weights.
It's rare for a horse to tackle the race with 59kg, though.
Behemoth owns the weight-carrying record this century, but it is worth noting the year that he won was a Covid-affected year and weights for all races were raised 2kg, meaning the limit was 54kg.
Hence, he only carried 59kg the following year, when he had to settle for sixth, while the only other horse to run with 59kg since 2000 is Tie The Knot, who finished 14th under 59kg in 2001.
Another Wil heads into the Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes second-up, after resuming in the Memsie Stakes, which was the formline of three of the four winners prior to its two-year stint at the back end of the Spring Carnival the past two seasons.
Behemoth won both the Memsie and Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes, while Begood Toya Mother (2019) and Callsign Mav both ran sixth in the Memsie, which is where Another Wil finished in this year's Memsie.
Another Wil is on the third line of betting on Saturday, behind Angel Capital and Sepals, who are out to continue the strong record of four-year-olds in the race.
That age group won the two editions run in late November, giving them 13 of the 25 since 2000, including seven in a row between 2010 and 2016.
Four is also the most successful age group in Saturday's other $1 million Group 1, the Underwood Stakes, with 10 wins this century but Russian Camelot the only one in the past seven years.
Last year's winner Buckaroo back from another crack, now at seven years of age, out to emulate the previous winner Alligator Blood as a back-to-back winner.
Buckaroo went on to run second in last year's Caulfield Cup, which was won by Duke De Sessa, who ran fourth in the Underwood Stakes.
The 1800m event was also the launching pad of Without A Fight's spring campaign in 2023 and has produced more Caulfield Cup winners than any other lead-up with 32.
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