The Melbourne Cup is an annual Group 1 Thoroughbred horse race held in Melbourne, Australia, at the Flemington Racecourse. It is a 3200-metre race for three-year-olds and older, conducted by the Victoria Racing Club that forms part of the Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival. It is the richest two-mile handicap in the world and one of the richest turf races. The event starts at 3:00 pm on the first Tuesday of November and is known locally as "the race that stops the nation".
The Melbourne Cup has cemented itself as a part of Melbourne and Australian culture, having been run every year since 1861. The day of the race has been a public holiday for much of Victoria since 1876. It was originally run over but was shortened to in 1972 when Australia adopted the metric system. This reduced the distance by , and Rain Lover's 1968 race record of 3:19.1 was accordingly adjusted to 3:17.9. The present record holder is the 1990 winner Kingston Rule with a time of 3:16.3.
Qualifying and race conditions
The race is a quality handicap for horses three years old and older, run over a distance of 3200 metres, on the first Tuesday in November at Flemington Racecourse. The minimum handicap weight is 50 kg. There is no maximum weight, but the top allocated weight must not be less than 57 kg. The weight allocated to each horse is declared by the VRC Handicapper in early September.
The Melbourne Cup race is a handicap contest in which the weight of the jockey and riding gear is adjusted with ballast to a nominated figure. Older horses carry more weight than younger ones and weights are adjusted further according to the horse's previous results. The field is selected based on a range of factors, including each horse's age, weight, and previous racing performance.
Weights were theoretically calculated to give each horse an equal winning chance in the past, but in recent years the rules were adjusted to a "quality handicap" formula where superior horses are given less severe weight penalties than under pure handicap rules.
Weight penalties After the declaration of weights for the Melbourne Cup, the winner of any handicap flat race of the advertised value of A$55,000 or over to the winner, or an internationally recognised Listed, Group, or Graded handicap flat race, shall carry such additional weight (if any), for each win, as the VRC Handicapper shall determine.
Fees Entries for the Melbourne Cup usually close during the first week of August. The initial entry fee is $600 per horse. Around 300 to 400 horses are nominated each year, but the final field is limited to 24 starters. Following the allocation of weights, the owner of each horse must on the four occasions before the race in November declare the horse as an acceptor and pay a fee. First acceptance is $960, second acceptance is $1,450 and third acceptance is $2,420. The final acceptance fee, on the Saturday prior to the race, is $45,375. Should a horse be balloted out of the final field, the final declaration fee is refunded.
Balloting conditions The race directors may exclude any horse from the race or exempt any horse from the ballot on the race, but in order to reduce the field to the safety limit of 24, horses are balloted out based on a number of factors which include prize money earned in the previous two years, wins or placings in certain lead-up races and allocated handicap weight.
The winners of the following races are exempt from any ballot:More Qualifying Races For Melbourne Cup Lexus Stakes (formerly Saab Quality and registered as The Hotham Handicap) Cox Plate Caulfield Cup The Bart Cummings (from 2015) Andrew Ramsden Stakes (from 2019) Ebor Handicap (from 2019) The Roy Higgins Quality (from 2022) Geelong Cup Moonee Valley Gold Cup Belmont Gold Cup Stakes Prix Kergorlay (from 2026)
The limitation of 24 starters is stated explicitly to be for safety reasons. However, in the past far larger numbers were allowed – the largest field ever raced was 39 runners in 1890.
Quarantine International horses (except from New Zealand) entering Australia must undergo quarantine in an approved premises in their own country for a minimum period of 14 days before travelling to Australia. Premises must meet the Australian Government Standards. The Werribee International Horse Centre at Werribee Racecourse is the Victorian quarantine station for international horses competing in the Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival. The facility has stabling for up to 24 horses in five separate stable complexes and is located 32 km from the Melbourne CBD.
Prize money and trophies
Prize money The total prize money for the 2023 race was A$8,410,000, plus an 18-carat solid gold trophy weighing 1.69 kg and valued at $600,000 to the winner. The first 12 past the post receive prize money, with the winner being paid $4.4 million, second $1.1 million, third $550,000, fourth $350,000, fifth $230,000, with sixth through to twelfth place earning $160,000. Prize money is distributed to the connections of each horse in the ratio of 85 percent to the owner, 10 percent to the trainer and 5 percent to the jockey.
The 1985 Melbourne Cup, won by What a Nuisance, was the first race run in Australia with prize money of $1 million. Year Prize money 2025 $10,000,000 2024 $8,560,000 2023 $8,410,000 2022 $8,000,000 2021 2020 2019 2018 $7,300,000 2017 $6,200,000 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 $6,175,000 2010 $6,000,000 2009 $5,500,000 2008 2007 $5,000,000 2006 2005 2004 $4,600,000
Trophies
The winner of the first Melbourne Cup in 1861 received a gold watch. The first Melbourne Cup trophy was awarded in 1865 and was an elaborate silver bowl on a stand that had been manufactured in England. This is currently owned by Australian wine personality Wolf Blass and is on display at the Wolf Blass Gallery & Museum/Adelaide Hills Wine Bar in Hahndorf, South Australia. The first existing and un-altered Melbourne Cup is from 1866, presented to the owners of The Barb; as of 2013, it is in the National Museum of Australia.1866 Melbourne Cup: Earliest Melbourne Cup trophy , National Museum of Australia, accessed 9 November 2013 The silver trophy presented in 1867, now also in the National Museum of Australia, was also made in England, but jewellers in Victoria complained to the Victorian Racing Club that the trophy should have been made locally. They believed the work of a Melburnian, William Edwards, to be superior in both design and workmanship to the English-made trophy. No trophy was awarded to the Melbourne Cup winner for the next eight years.
In 1876, Edward Fischer, an immigrant from Austria, produced the first Australian-made trophy. It was an Etruscan shape with two handles. One side depicted a horse race with the grandstand and hill of Flemington in the background. The opposite side had the words "Melbourne Cup, 1876" and the name of the winning horse. A silver-plated base sporting three silver horses was added in 1888, but in 1891 the prize changed to being a , trophy showing a Victory figure offering an olive wreath to a jockey. From 1899, the trophy was in the form of silver galloping horse embossed on a plaque, although it was said to look like a greyhound by some people.
The last Melbourne Cup trophy manufactured in England was made for the 1914 event. It was a chalice centred on a long base which had a horse at each end. The trophy awarded in 1916,The Age. The Choux Choux Express . Published 16 October 2011, Retrieved 17 October 2011 the first gold trophy, was a three-legged, three-armed rose bowl. The three-handled loving cup design was first awarded in 1919. In that year, the Victorian Racing Club had commissioned James Steeth to design a trophy that would be in keeping with the prestige of the race, little realising that it would become the iconic Melbourne Cup still presented today.The Loving Cup, Victoria Racing Club In the Second World War years (1942, 1943 and 1944), the winning owner received war bonds valued at 200 pounds.
A new trophy is struck each year and becomes the property of the winning owner. In the event of a dead heat, a second cup is on hand. The present trophy is hand spun from 1.65 kg of 18-carat gold. The winning trainer and jockey also receive a miniature replica of the cup (since 1973) and the strapper is awarded the Tommy Woodcock Trophy, named after the strapper of Phar Lap.
Melbourne Cup Tour In 2003, an annual tour of the Melbourne Cup trophy was initiated to provide communities across Australia and New Zealand with an opportunity to view the Cup trophy and highlight the contribution the Melbourne Cup has made to Australia's social, sporting and racing culture. Each year, communities in Australia and New Zealand apply for the cup to tour their community and the tour also takes in cities around the world as part of the Victoria Racing Club's strategy to promote the Melbourne Cup and the Melbourne Cup Carnival internationally.
The Tour has visited schools and aged-care and hospital facilities, and participated in community events and celebrations including race days across Australia and New Zealand.
History
Early years Frederick Standish, member of the Victorian Turf Club and steward on the day of the first Cup, was credited with forming the idea to hold a horse race and calling it the "Melbourne Cup".
Seventeen horses contested the first Melbourne Cup on Thursday 7 November 1861, racing for the modest prize of 710 gold sovereigns (£710) cash and a hand-beaten gold watch, winner takes all.The Masters Touch, Racing with Etienne de Mestre, Winner of 5 Melbourne Cups by Keith W. Paterson, Published by Keith W. Paterson [Nowra] (2008) ()"The history of the Cup dates back to 1861, the resultant brainchild of Captain Frederick Standish, one time VRC Chairman and former Chief Commissioner of Police in Victoria. As a former member of the Victoria Turf Club, he conceptually founded the great race with the club committed to offering modest prize-money and a hand-beaten gold watch. The conditions for the race would state "a sweepstakes of 20 sovereigns" (starters)", 10 sovereigns forfeit" (acceptance) "or 5 sovereigns if declared" (nominated)", with 200 sovereigns added money".Flemington Racetrack The prize was not, as some have suggested, the largest purse up to that time. A large crowd of 4,000 men and women watched the race, although it has been suggested this was less than expected because of news reaching Melbourne of the death of explorers Burke and Wills five days earlier on 2 November. Nevertheless, the attendance was the largest at Flemington on any day for the past two years, with the exception of the recently run Two Thousand Guinea Stakes.
The winner of this first Melbourne Cup race was a 16.3 hand bay stallion by the name of Archer in a time of 3.52.00, ridden by John Cutts, trained by Etienne de Mestre, and leased (and consequently raced in his own name) by de Mestre. As a lessee de Mestre owned and was fully responsible for Archer during the lease. Archer was leased from the "Exeter Farm" of Jembaicumbene near Braidwood, New South Wales. His owners were Thomas John "Tom" Roberts (a good school-friend of de Mestre's), Rowland H. Hassall (Roberts' brother-in-law), and Edmund Molyneux Royds and William Edward Royds (Roberts' nephews).
The inaugural Melbourne Cup of 1861 was an eventful affair when one horse bolted before the start, and three of the seventeen starters fell during the race, two of which died. Archer, a Sydney outsider who drew scant favour in the betting, spread-eagled the field and defeated the favourite, and Victorian champion, Mormon by six lengths. Dismissed by the bookies, Archer took a lot of money away from Melbourne, 'refuelling interstate rivalry' and adding to the excitement of the Cup.Australian Government – Culture and recreation – Melbourne Cup The next day, Archer was raced in and won another 2-mile long-distance race, the Melbourne Town Plate.