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Victorian stayer Hawks Bay will have to break his own modern day weight-carrying record to win his second successive $200,000 Darwin Cup at Fannie Bay on August 5.

The Kyneton-trained Hawks Bay has to carry 65kg in the 2000m feature, half a kilogram more than he carried in his narrow victory over Bolton last year.

Bolton will again be a rival for Hawks Bay on Monday week and will be carrying 10kg less than the topweight, his 55kg being 2kg less than he carried last year.

The Neil Dyer-trained Hawks Bay heads an entry list of 23 nominations for the Darwin Cup with the nominations including the classy David Hayes-trained Group winner Extra Zero.

Extra Zero, weighted on 60kg, is set to make his Darwin debut in Saturday's Metric Mile.

ROANT Cup winner Red Colossus is closest to Hawks Bay in the weights with 61kg while the former Chris Waller-trained Sydney winner Thumbtacks has 60.5kg.

Now trained by Mark Nyhan, Thumbtacks finished fourth at Flemington last Saturday.

Other interstate entries include Constant Force, prepared at Warrnambool in Victoria by the father and son combination of Bill and Symon Wilde.

The three-year-old Host Of The Party is aiming to join Brinney and Ventilago as the third horse to complete the Darwin Triple Crown after wins in the Darwin Guineas and NT Derby. He has half a kilo over the limit on 54.5kg.

Trainer Michael Hickmott will be chasing his third win in the Darwin Cup with Agrippa while The Ruffian will attempt to become the first horse since 1995 to win the Alice Spring Cup-Darwin Cup double.

DARWIN CUP WEIGHTS

Hawks Bay 65kg; Red Colossus 61kg; Thumbtacks 60.5kg; Extra Zero 60kg; The Ruffian 57.5kg; Constant Force 57kg; The Big Steel 57kg; Agrippa 56kg; Bolton 55kg; Generous Beau 55kg; Host Of The Party 54.5kg; Adynata 54kg; Bel Sir 54kg; Drafted 54kg; Frank The Ripper 54kg; Haulage 54kg; Hierarchy 54kg; Igles Star 54kg; Le Beau Cheval 54kg; Mr Jansz 54kg; Palmyra Boy 54kg; Port Vell 54kg; Spartan Eagle 54kg.