Sacred Star has 2kg more to carry than last year when he won the Telegraph. But that is only one factor in the equation at Trentham tomorrow.
The more complicated conclusion is he is probably not much worse off with 59kg than he was with 57kg 12 months ago.
Sacred Star made the country's best sprinters look ordinary a year back, winning by four lengths and running the 1200m in a remarkable 1.7.01.
With earnings of $681,614 from just 26 starts Sacred Star is well placed under the set weights and penalties conditions.
"In a straight handicap he'd have been asked to carry a lot more, so you can't argue he's harshly treated,'' his Cambridge trainer, Tony Pike, admitted.
Sacred Star has had just four races since winning the 2015 version of the Telegraph.
"He had a long spell after he came back from Queensland [after two starts].''
The 6yr-old finished two lengths off winner Ryan Mark in fourth place in the Railway on an unsuitable wet Ellerslie track on New Year's Day.
"I think he's going as well as he was this time last year. So from his good gate, all he needs is a good track and a clear run.''
Sacred Star opened the clear $3.60 TAB favourite for the feature.
Stablemate Allez Eagle, better suited by the slow conditions, was just nosed out in the Railway.
"This time he has a shocking barrier [No18 without the emergencies], but it is down the Trentham dogleg, so he's going to get his chance and shouldn't be far away.''
It is time for southern sprinter Soubrettes to step up to the plate in the Telegraph.
That is the opinion of co-trainer Mandy Brown.
Soubrettes is a slow learner with a light frame,and Brown and husband and training partner Matt have shown
patience in nursing the mare through only nine career starts, for five wins. She has had just three starts since last year's fifth in the Telegraph.
"She's 5 and she can step up,'' Mandy Brown said.
Soubrettes could finish only seventh in the Stewards at Riccarton last start, but Brown was unconcerned.
"She was taken on in front in that race, didn't settle, and she'd have been a lot better if she'd been in behind a couple of runners.''
Soubrettes will be tried in blinkers for the first time, and the Browns are hoping the mare will trail this time.
"I feel she's better than she was this time a year ago. She's more mature physically and mentally,'' Mandy Brown said.
Ryan Mark goes up 2kg to 58kg for his Railway win, which was somewhat aided by rain on the day, something he is unlikely to encounter this time.
The forecast suggests the possibility of a few light showers today.
