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Tralee Rose cemented her place in the Melbourne Cup with a hard-fought victory in the Geelong Cup.
Geelong Cup winner Tralee Rose has escaped a weight penalty for the Melbourne Cup but is now safely in the top 24 of the Order of Entry.
Racing Victoria Handicapper Greg Carpenter declined to penalise Tralee Rose for the Group 1 Melbourne Cup (3200m) at Flemington on November 2 after he hard-fought half-length win in the Group 3 Geelong Cup (2400m) on Wednesday.
While Tralee Rose had been borderline in the Order of Entry, the Symon Wilde-trained mare moved up four spots to 20th position in the Cup field courtesy of the prize money earned from her victory and the scratchings of higher-ranked horses Montefilia, Dawn Patrol and King Of Leogrance .
In electing not to penalise the five-year-old daughter of Tavistock, Carpenter noted the win was hard-fought over outsider Dr Drill who is not nominated for the Melbourne Cup.
He further added that no mare had placed in the 15 runnings of the Melbourne Cup since Makybe Diva won the race in 2005.
Geelong Cup third placegetter, the Sue Murphy-trained South Australian visitor Hasta La War, was another to rise in the order of entry owing to prizemoney earned, moving up one spot to 39th.
The Group 3 Hotham Handicap (2500m) at Flemington on Saturday week is one of two remaining races that provides the winner a ballot exemption for the Melbourne Cup.
The other, Saturday's Group 1 Cox Plate (2040m) at The Valley, will have little bearing on the Order of Entry with the two Cup acceptors engaged, Verry Elleegant (third) and Gold Trip (fifth), both assured of starts at Flemington.
Fourth acceptances for the Melbourne Cup will be taken on Monday.
