THANK goodness Black Caviar isn’t racing at Caulfield on Saturday.

If she was lining up for her 20^th consecutive win it would have taken some of the gloss of a high quality Sportingbet Oakleigh Plate.

A full field of 18 have accepted for the 1100 metre dash and you can make a strong case for a lot of them.

Heading the weights and the markets is star three-year-old Sepoy ($2.70 fav.) who has lost only once in his twelve runs to date with five wins from as many starts at Caulfield, including three from three over the 1100 metres.

Of course the best of them was when he blew his rivals away in the 2011 Blue Diamond Stakes before going on to win the Golden Slipper.

Barrier 11 is the widest he has yet drawn in a race but that shouldn’t be too much of a concern as he has the early pace to snare a handy position.

What might test the resolve of Sepoy and punters is the hefty 58kg he has been lumbered with.

Three-year-olds have claimed three of the last six Oakleigh Plates but none of them carried close to the burden that Sepoy has been given, even allowing for the recent lift of minimum weights by 1kg.

When Starspangledbanner won in 2010 he carried only 52kg and it should also be noted that five of the 13 starters that year were three-year-olds with four of them missing a place.

Weekend Hussler carried 53kg. when he won in 2008 and we all know what a superstar he turned out to be while Snitzel won in 2006 with 51.5kg.

Allowing for the recent 1kg weight rise only two horses in the last 40 years have successfully carried the weight Sepoy will carry.

Undue won as a five-year-old with 57kg in 2007 and Fastnet Rock was a three-year-old when he carried that same weight in 2005.

Rated high among the chances is the lightly raced flying machine Bel Sprinter ($3.20), a winner at five of his only six starts including his only two at Caulfield.

He resumed from five months off with an extra-ordinary win at Caulfield on February 4, when he got a long way further back than usual and flashed home to win in great style against Listed company.

He has been kept fresh for this race where he gets 4kg off Sepoy in the weights and he has drawn nicely in barrier five.

Add to the mix Eagle Falls ($21.00), a last start Group 2 Rubiton Stakes winner over this course, along with West Australian star Grand Nirvana ($41.00) and a handful of other smart ones and the Oakleigh Plate looks certain to be a hotly contested event.

Race 6 Sportingbet Oakleigh Plate – 1100 metres 3.50pm.