The Melbourne Cup is a Group 1 race held over a distance of 3200 metres at Flemington Racecourse and is Australia’s most prestigious race. It attracts runners from all over the world, with the biggest stables and trainers sending their horses to Australia for the prestigious event.
The 2022 Melbourne Cup will be run on Tuesday 1st November as part of the Melbourne Spring Carnival and is the feature event of the Melbourne Cup week.
Melbourne Cup History
First run in 1861, the Melbourne Cup has a long and celebrated history as Australia’s greatest staying handicap, and arguably its greatest race. There is even a public holiday in Melbourne for the day!
The first Melbourne Cup was won by Archer, who also won the second edition of the race in 1862. This places him as one of only five horses to even win the great race more than once, with the other four being Peter Pan, Rain Lover, Think Big, and the only horse to win three Cups, Makybe Diva.
Starting at the top of the famous Flemington Straight, the Melbourne Cup is run over a distance of 3200m or two miles. Held under handicap conditions, the race aims to equalise the high-quality field, resulting in great bet on racing opportunities and close finishes.
But the Melbourne Cup is not only the biggest betting race of the year, attracting a crowd of more than 100,000 to the course on race day and millions of viewers on television, the event is known as “the race that stops the nation”.
Since the year 2000, 18 horses have won the great race, with Makybe Diva (three in a row) the only horse to win more than once in that period.
Melbourne Cup Prizemoney
When Archer won the first Cup in 1861 connections pocketed 710 gold sovereigns and a gold watch. That prize was increased to 810 gold sovereigns (and another gold watch) the following year. There were no prizes for the placegetters.
How things have changed! Prize money has continually increased over the years as sponsorship, media exposure and wagering has increased. In 1985 the Melbourne Cup became Australia’s first $1M race with the John Meagher trained What A Nuisance taking out the prize.
The 2022 Melbourne Cup has an impressive prize pool of $7.75M plus a trophy worth $250,000. This amazing prize purse attracts some of the best horses from around the world including Japan, England, Ireland, Germany and New Zealand. Previous Melbourne Cup winners have included some of the greatest horses from Australia and around the globe.
Melbourne Cup Field
The Melbourne Cup field is set at a maximum of 24 runners each year, with the field filled to capacity and some hard luck stories from connections that narrowly miss the final field. Due to the maximum field size of 24, there are no emergencies in the race, meaning that any scratchings are not replaced after the final field is declared.
The field itself is released on the afternoon of Victoria Derby Day, the Saturday before the Melbourne Cup. The field is determined by the ballot order of nominated horses that have entered the race, with the highest rated 24 horses gaining entry.
The only exceptions to this are the winners of the Caulfield Cup, WS Cox Plate, Hotham Handicap, Andrew Ramsden Stakes and The Bart Cummings who all earn automatic entry into the Melbourne Cup field if they have nominated.
Melbourne Cup Tips & Previews
Palmerbet provide free horse racing tips and horse racing previews as well as updated betting markets, breaking news and information about the Melbourne Cup for 2022. They offer a variety of betting markets on the Melbourne Cup including exotics and you can bet either pre-post or on the day.
The Palmerbet Blog is a great source for free expert betting tips, betting previews and up to date Melbourne Cup betting odds as well as the all-important Spring Racing Carnival tips.
Palmerbet is your one stop for all you betting tips as well as racing and sports betting markets. Visit their website at Palmerbet.com.au or download the Palmerbet app via the app store.
