Yeats gets top weight for Melbourne Cup

Aidan O’Brien’s Yeats has been given top weight for November’s Emirates Melbourne Cup with the dual Ascot Gold Cup winner allotted 59kg, the same as carried when running seventh in Australia’s richest race last year.

O’Brien nominated five horses for the race, but doubts persist over whether the champion Irish trainer will bring any of them to Australia, with uncertainty over the equine influenza outbreak which has crippled Australian racing.