A boom horse of Australian racing, Incentivise has been re-handicapped to 57kg for the $8 million Melbourne Cup at Flemington on November 2.

The penalty comes after Incentivise made it nine wins in a row when he trounced his Caulfield Cup rivals.

In scoring one of the more emphatic Caulfield Cup wins of the modern era, Incentivise is poised to start one of the shortest Melbourne Cup favourites in almost a century.

But Racing Victoria chief handicapper Greg Carpenter said Incentivise's Melbourne Cup task was not going to be easy.

"It's a big challenge, but we are comfortable that the 1.5 kilos taking him to 57 is the right assessment," Carpenter said.

"If you look at the 11 horses who have done the double there's only one horse who has actually carried 57 or more to win the Melbourne Cup, and that was Rising Fast."

The Caulfield Cup was missing international representation and Carpenter said the Flemington presence of northern hemisphere stayers such as Spanish Mission would provide a much sterner test for Incentivise.

Spanish Mission will be equal Melbourne Cup top weight with Incentivise, arriving from England with six wins from 18 starts.

The six-year-old will go into Australia's greatest race with one of the best staying formlines on the world stage after a photo-finish defeat behind the incomparable Stradivarius over 3300m at York.

Australian Associated Press