One of the attractions of weight-for-age racing is the possibility it offers for a reigning champion to defend his or her title.

For obvious reasons there are no repeat winners in Group 1 races restricted to two-year-olds or three-year-olds, and weight penalties make it difficult to win big handicaps two years in a row.

Not that it’s any mean feat to win a weight-for-age major back-to-back. Take this Saturday’s Tancred Stakes, headline event of the Rosehill carnival’s final day.

In a race that dates back to 1963, just two horses have gone back-to-back. And they’re both rather good ones — Octagonal in 1996 and 1997, Tie The Knot in 1999 and 2000.

Before we get carried away I should note that only 13 Tancred winners have been back the following year. Result: those two wins, three seconds, two thirds and six unplaced.

Attempting to become the third repeat winner this Saturday is England’s gallant Dubai Honour, who added last year’s Tancred to the Ranvet and Queen Elizabeth crowns he won in 2023.

Should he win another Tancred (or next month’s Queen Elizabeth), Dubai Honour will outstrip his former stablemate Addeybb by becoming the first northern hemisphere-trained horse to win four Australian Group 1s.

There have been more repeat winners in Saturday’s other weight-for-age major, Flemington’s Australian Cup (albeit over a much longer history), and the list just might be lengthened this weekend.

Woodman (1865, ’66), Welkin Prince (1962, ’63), Craftsman (1965, ’66), Vo Rogue (1989, ’90), Harlem (2018, ’19) and Cascadian (2023, ’24) have gone back-to-back, while Ming Dynasty (1978, ’80) and Northerly (2001, ’03) won it in non-consecutive years.

Last year’s Australian Cup winner, Light Infantry Man, will be back at Flemington on Saturday, with Pride Of Jenni (ninth in 2025) also backing up from last year’s event.