A narrow Caulfield Cup winner over highly rated Irish stayer Anthony Van Dyck, Verry Elleegant earned a 0.5kg weight penalty for her sixth Group One success.

She will carry 55.5kg at Flemington after having 55kg at Caulfield.

Verry Elleegant's Melbourne Cup weight matches the one Maykbe Diva carried to victory in 2004 in the second of her three wins in Australia's greatest race.

Racing Victoria handicapper Greg Carpenter said the Melbourne Cup would represent a much sterner test for Verry Elleegant.

"The Caulfield-Melbourne Cup double is a significant challenge and one that has become more difficult in recent times with the growing international presence and the different paths taken by horses to the first Tuesday in November," he said.

The first three horses in Melbourne Cup betting - Tiger Moth, Russian Camelot and Surprise Baby - did not run in the Caulfield Cup.

"A further 800 metres and a new wave of competitors await Verry Elleegant at Flemington and history says that with 55.5kg she faces a challenge to become just the 12th horse in 143 years of the Caulfield Cup to race on and win the Melbourne Cup," Carpenter said.

"When we took into account her performance on Saturday, the relative weight to those placed behind her and her overall record, we felt that (0.5kg) was the appropriate penalty which equates to a length over 3200m."

Verry Elleegant carried the second-highest weight for a winning mare in Caulfield Cup history behind 1942 heroine Tranquil Star's 56kg in 1942.

Since Makybe Diva's third Melbourne Cup triumph in 2005, 30 mares have contested race without being in the top-three finishers.

Verry Elleegant sits on the third line in Melbourne Cup markets as an $11 chance with the Aidan O'Brien-trained Tiger Moth the $6 favourite.

Australian Associated Press