Melbourne Cup

The Melbourne Cup is the most valuable two-mile handicap race in the world and Australia’s most famous horse race.

It is known as “the race that stops a nation” and regularly attracts high-class stayers from Europe who are bidding for international glory.

It is no surprise the Australian Melbourne Cup has been voted by many punters as the top international horse race of all time.

Makybe Diva completed an unprecedented hat-trick in the race from 2003 to 2005 while other notable winners include Vintage Crop (1993), Media Puzzle (2002), Dunaden (2011) and Cross Counter (2018).

Find out more about the Melbourne Cup:

The Race – Melbourne Cup Overview

The Melbourne Cup takes place at Flemington on the first Tuesday in November.

It is a two-mile handicap race on a left-handed track and the going is usually good or faster. This is certainly something to consider when assessing the form of European challengers with winning form on the soft.

The race is always very competitive and a middle draw is considered ideal.

Famous Melbourne Cup Winners & History

The Melbourne Cup was first held in 1861 with victory going to Archer. The following season he repeated his victory, this time by a record margin of 8 lengths.

The race was moved to the first Tuesday in November In 1875 which has remained its traditional place in the racing calendar.

Interest in the race in Europe has intensified with the easier transportation of horses and Vintage Crop became the first winner trained in the Northern Hemisphere in 1993. The Irish gelding was trained by Dermot Weld who won the race for a second time with Media Puzzle in 2002. That was an emotional win for jockey Damien Oliver who had suffered the tragic loss of his brother just a week before the Cup.

Makybe Diva became the first horse in history to win three Melbourne Cups. The mare carried just 8 stone when gaining her first success in 2003. She defied 9st 2lbs for her second victory in 2004 when brought with a sweeping run by Glen Boss to catch Vinnie Roe. She seemed better than ever in 2005, winning the Group 1 Cox Plate prior to landing the Cup hat-trick, beating 70-1 outsider On A Jeune.

Ireland struck for a third time in 2017 when Joseph O’Brien saddled Rekindling to beat his father’s Johannes Vermeer by half a length. English-trained runners toiled in vain until Cross Counter finally made the breakthrough in 2018. He was trained at Newmarket by Charlie Appleby and ridden by Kerrin McEvoy.

Ed Dunlop’s Red Cadeaux had a huge following in Australia despite never quite managing to win the Cup. The gallant chestnut finished runner-up in 2011 when beaten a nose by Dunaden. He filled the same spot in 2013 and 2014. He returned to Flemington in 2015 but tragically fractured a leg during the race and could not be saved.

Fiorente was a popular winner for leading trainer Gai Waterhouse. He had won the Group 2 Princess of Wales’s Stakes earlier in his career for Sir Michael Stoute. He finished second to another European import in Green Moon in 2012 before going one better in 2013.

Key Melbourne Cup Trials

Australian trainers have no concerns about running their Melbourne Cup horses over much shorter distances. The ten furlong Cox Plate regularly features Cup horses with Efficient (2007), Green Moon (2012) and Fiorente (2013) all having a prep race in that event.

The Caulfield Cup is another significant Melbourne Cup Trial. Let’s Elope (1991), Doriemus (1995), Might and Power (1997) and Ethereal (2001) all completed the Cup double. Vow And Declare (2019) finished second in the Caulfield Cup before his Flemington victory. The Geelong Cup has also provided Flemington winners Media Puzzle (2002), Americain (2010) and Dunaden (2011).

Some European trainers choose to send their horses over to Australia early so that they can acclimatise and have a prep run. The French-trained Americain (2010) and Protectionist (2014) both benefitted from this approach. Recent winners Rekindling (2017) and Cross Counter (2018) did not have a race in Australia before the Cup.

Melbourne Cup Tips

Below are the tips we offer for the Melbourne Cup – tbc

Many runners for Australia’s annual thoroughbred race in November will race throughout the year. Be sure to check out how they do in those races before placing your bets or check out the ante-post betting today.

Melbourne Cup Betting Trends

Favourites have a poor recent record in the Melbourne Cup with only Fiorente (2013) obliging in the past ten years.

Dunaden (2011), Protectionist (2014) and Cross Counter (2018) all returned at single-figure prices while Almandin (2016) and Vow And Declare (2019) were both well-backed at 10-1.

The shortest-priced winner in the history of the Cup was 8-11 favourite Phar Lap back in 1930.

There was a 100-1 shock in 2015 when Prince Of Penzance held off the fast-finishing Irish challenger Max Dynamite. His victory was also notable for the brilliant ride by Michelle Payne, the first female jockey to win the race.

Melbourne Cup Stats

• Horses aged 4 to 6 have the best recent record in the Melbourne Cup.
• European-trained Rekindling and Cross Counter won as three-year-olds, although they were technically registered as four-year-olds in Australia.
• Almandin (2016) won as a seven-year-old, the first to do so since Makybe Diva landed her third victory in 2005.
• Many recent winners have shown previous form in Group races. Cross Counter had finished second in the Group 2 Great Voltigeur Stakes at York whereas Rekindling had finished a close fourth in the St Leger at Doncaster.
• Colts and geldings have the best record, Makybe Diva being the last mare to win in 2005.

Top Trainers and Jockeys of the Melbourne Cup

Bart Cummings is the most successful trainer in the history of the Melbourne Cup with 12 victories between 1965 and 2008. He became known as the Cups King and landed his final success with Viewed who beat Luca Cumani’s Bauer by one-hundredth of a second.

Owner Lloyd Williams has a remarkable Melbourne Cup record with six wins. His blue and white colours were most recently carried to victory by Rekindling in 2017. Kerrin McEvoy’s win on Cross Counter took him level with Glen Boss and Damien Oliver with three Cup victories. The record is four, shared by Bobby Lewis (1902 – 1927) and Harry White (1974 – 1979).

Betting on the Melbourne Cup 2024

Ante-post betting on the Melbourne Cup is available throughout the year but really hots up once the European running plans are confirmed in October.

Extensive coverage of the build-up and trial races is freely available on the top Australian horse racing sites. The betting often gets a big shake-up after the Caulfield Cup in mid-October.

If you are looking to bet online we recommend the following great deals via the best international betting sites shown on this page. 

Summary of the Melbourne Cup

There is always huge European interest in the Melbourne Cup, making it attractive to British racing fans.

Godolphin and the Coolmore operation have targeted this race for many years, going close on several occasions before Cross Counter’s 2018 victory.

It is one of the greatest International horse racing events of the year.

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