(TONY BOURKE is a former chief racing writer at The Age newspaper.)

How times have changed. It used to be par for the course that owners and trainers would criticise handicappers for not penalising rival horses enough for winning a feature race.

Now it is just the opposite. Leviathan owner Lloyd Williams says the 1.5kg penalty meted out to the Bart Cummings-trained Precedence for winning last Saturday's Cathay Pacific Cup at Moonee Valley is ''the worst thing he has seen in 45 years of owning racehorses''. 

Hang on. What is going on here? Lloyd's really saying that one of his rivals in the $6.1 million 150th Emirates Melbourne Cup (3200m) next Tuesday, which will be the most prestigious race ever run in this part of the world, should not get some extra weight?

Aha, but there we have it. This is the Melbourne Cup we are talking about and owners and trainers from all over the world are busting to get their horses in to the race. And, as of today's third acceptances, there are 47 horses vying for 24 spots.

The Melbourne Cup has been the Holy Grail for Lloyd ever since he started owning racechorses and he has managed to win three of them and spent many millions of dollars trying to increase that total.

This year he is assured of having two starters - the evergreen Zipping and C'est La Guerre and he would like to have more. One of them happens to be the import Mourayan who has now been replaced by Precedence in the order of entry.

Neither is yet assured of getting into the race with Precedence now No.26 and Mourayan at No.27 but there is a possibility that at least two or three of the horses above them will drop out before final declarations are taken at 5pm on Saturday.

Lloyd also has the promising Linton (30) lurking in the wings although his chances will rely on his performance in The Lexus at Flemington on Saturday, the winner of which will be exempt from any ballot on the cup.

As for Racing Victoria chief handicapper Greg Carpenter, he is usually content to hold a straight bat to ward off the criticism of owners and trainers against his methods of employing the ancient art of handicapping racehorses which, ironically, is usually based on precedents (see Precedence).

Carpenter today explained his reasons for penalising Precedence 1.5kgs to 53.5kgs in the Melbourne Cup after he had also imposed another 1.5kgs penalty on the five-year-old for his win in the JRA Cup at Moonee Valley last month.

‘'Lloyd Williams has made a firm contribution to horse racing over more than 45 years and he is entitled to his opinion, but it is my job to assess the horses as I see fit and not worry about the court of public opinion,'' Carpenter said.

‘'In the case of Precedence, the penalty was imposed because of the merits of his win on Saturday and not structured to guarantee a start in any other race.

‘'I believe that the penalty was justifiable and that 53.5kgs is the appropriate weight and it has not guaranteed him a start in the Melbourne Cup.''

But Carpenter could not resist turning the straight bat for a deft glance behind square leg when he explained the precedent he had worked on in the case of Precedence.

‘'In 1988, my predecessor Jim Bowler penalised a horse called Ideal Centreman 1.5kgs for winning the Coongy Handicap at Caulfield and then a further 2kgs for winning the Moonee Valley Cup making a total of 3.5kgs,'' he said.

It so happens that Bowler later became a long-term member of the Lloyd Williams' team when he left his job as handicapper. Touche, Mr C!