Melbourne Cup Race Guide

Melbourne Cup
Racecourse: Flemington Park
Distance: 3200 metres
Prize Money: AU$5 million
Qualification: 3 year olds and over
First Run: 1861
Status: Group One handicap

The Melbourne Cup is Australia’s biggest thoroughbred racing event. Also known as ‘the race that stops a nation’, the Melbourne Cup is a massive betting event, and it is estimated that almost 80% of Australia’s adult population bet on the event every year.

Run on the first Tuesday in November at Flemington racecourse in Melbourne, the Melbourne Cup attracts massive crowds, with over 100,000 race goers attending the event every year. The race offers over AS$5 million in prize money.

The Melbourne Cup is a handicap race run over a distance of 2 miles, and is recognised as the most important thoroughbred handicap flat race over this distance. The event dates back to 1861 when the first Melbourne Cup was run for the prize of a gold watch and a cash prize of �170.

Melbourne Cup Betting

The Melbourne Cup is an almost unique betting phenomenon, rivaled only by the Ascot Gold Cup at the Royal Ascot meeting. The event is treated as something of a racing lottery by the majority of the betting public, which means pool betting markets are inflated to enormous proportions with dead money.

However, betting on the Melbourne Cup is no simple matter, even for the experienced punter. The work of the handicapper ensures that each of the runners in the field has a reasonable chance of winning the race, and with rare exceptions, starting position has as much to do with a horse’s prospects as form.

Betting specials are an important element of Melbourne Cup betting. High odds mean that each way bets can generate good payouts, which in turn means that punters will benefit most from seeking out sportsbooks paying out each way bets on extra places.

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Melbourne Cup Winners

The Melbourne Cup is famous for introducing the world to the talents of one of the greatest racehorses in history - Phar Lap. The New Zealand born racehorse won the Melbourne Cup only once during his brilliant career, but is recognised as the most talented racehorse ever to appear in the race.

In the last decade Makybe Diva came close to building a legend to rival that of Phar Lap. Makybe Diva is the only racehorse to have captured three Melbourne Cup winners titles, a feat made all the more remarkable by the fact that she is the only mare to have achieved multiple wins in the race, and one of only 11 mares and 3 fillies to have won the race in over a hundred years.

Official Site: Flemington Racecourse