Runaway is a step closer to a Melbourne Cup start with the stayer penalised 1.5kg for his Geelong Cup win.
The penalty takes Runaway's weight to 52kg and lifts the Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott-trained horse to No. 28 in the order of entry.
Runaway led home a one-two finish for the Waterhouse-Bott combination in Wednesday's Geelong Cup, scoring a three-quarter length win over Northwest Passage.
The four-year-old won the VRC St Leger (2800m) at Flemington in April before running third in the South Australian Derby at Morphettville the following month.
Racing Victoria handicapper Greg Carpenter said the performance of Runaway was outstanding.
“It is encouraging to see a VRC St Leger winner return in such good form as a four-year-old and Runaway will be very competitive in the Melbourne Cup with 52kg if he can secure a place in the final field of 24 runners,” Carpenter said.
Since 2000, 12 Geelong Cup winners have gone on to run in the Melbourne Cup with Media Puzzle (2002), Americain (2010) and Dunaden (2011) claiming victory.
Other Geelong Cup winners Bauer (2008) and On A Jeune (2005) finished in second place while Karasi (2001) and Qewy (2016) went on to run fourth.
The 1.5kg penalty is the same given to Media Puzzle before his Melbourne Cup victory and 2014 winner Caravan Rolls On who did not make that year's Melbourne Cup field.
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