Weight of history against Private Eye and Gringotts in The Ingham

Private Eye and Gringotts face a sizeable task in The Ingham that hasn’t been accomplished in more than 100 years.

Private Eye is bidding to become the fifth horse to win the Festival Stakes-Villiers (now Ingham) double but has to carry the 61kg topweight. Picture: Bradley Photos

Private Eye or Gringotts must shoulder a burden that no horse has managed successfully for more than 100 years to win the Group 2 $2m The Ingham (1600m) at Royal Randwick on Saturday.

Racing NSW handicappers have allocated Private Eye topweight with 61kg and Gringotts is next on 60.5kg for the feature race.

But since The Ingham, formerly known as the Villiers Stakes, was first run in 1892, no horse has carried as much as either Private Eye or Gringotts and won since 1918 when Rebus set the race’s weight-carrying record under 9st 10lbs or 61.5kg.

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There’s been some outstanding winners of Randwick’s premier summer mile, most notably the legendary Bernborough who won the 1945 Villiers under 9st 2lb or 58kg.

The Ingham was formerly a handicap race but these days it is run under quality conditions with a 54kg minimum so the spread of weights is not as wide but Private Eye and Gringotts are still confronted by a sizeable task.

Since metrics was introduced in 1972, Monton set the modern-day weight-carrying record of 58kg when he won the Villiers in 2011, while Utzon had 57.5kg when he scored in 2006.

Monton and Utzon are the last horses to complete the Festival Stakes-Villiers double which Private Eye is attempting this weekend.

Gringotts has been allotted 60.5kg in The Ingham. Picture: Jeremy Ng/Getty Images

If Private Eye does win The Ingham, he will become the fifth horse to claim the double after Monton, Utzon, Ike’s Dream (2004) and Castanea (1965).

• Berry looking to cash in on Gringotts In The Ingham

Gringotts, winner of the Big Dance and The Gong at his two recent runs, is the early TAB fixed odds favourite for The Ingham at $3 ahead of Private Eye at $5 then last start Group 1 Railway Stakes winner Port Lockroy at $5.

The Ingham has 27 entries and there is a huge total of 208 nominations for Saturday’s meeting.

However, the entry deadline has been extended to 11am Tuesday for two races including the feature sprint, the Listed $200,000 Razor Sharp (1200m) where last-start Starlight Stakes winner, Eagle Nest, and runner-up, Our Kobison, are among the early entries.

The $500,000 Inglis Nursery (1000m) for two-year-olds has 18 nominations headed by Within The Law, a brilliant winner of the Inglis Banner at Flemington, and Gobi Desert, who won the Max Lees Classic on debut at Newcastle’s The Hunter meeting.

Originally published as Weight of history against Private Eye and Gringotts in The Ingham