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Melbourne Cup: Date, venue, history & more

The Melbourne Cup is the biggest race in Australia and will attract a big field of runners from the United Kingdom and Ireland along with a strong domestic challenge.

The 165th running of "the race that stops the nation" is set to be yet another thrilling spectacle and we've run through all of the key information ahead of the prestigious Group 1 event.

Horse Racing

Melbourne Cup date

The next Melbourne Cup is scheduled to take place on Tuesday 4th November, 2025.

Melbourne Cup venue

The Melbourne Cup will take place at Flemington Racecourse, which has hosted horse racing since March 1840.

The course has a capacity of 120,000 and is integral to the race’s success. In fact the day of the Melbourne Cup has been a public holiday for much of the state of Victoria since 1876.

The venue also plays host to the Victoria Derby, VRC Oaks, Mackinnon Stakes, Newmarket Handicap, Australian Cup and Lightning Stakes and in 2006 was added to the Australian National Heritage List. 

Melbourne Cup history

The first running of the Melbourne Cup took place in 1861 with Archer winning, before following up the year after to start a select group of horses to win the race twice.

In 1876, 12-year-old Peter St Albans won the race aboard Briseis. In 1890 the race saw the highest weight ever carried to success when Carbine won carrying 10st 5lb.

In 1925 the race was broadcast on radio for the first time, while starting stalls were used for the first time in 1958. 

1978 saw the race broadcast live in Victoria for the first time while the first Northern Hemisphere winner came in 1993 when Dermot Weld tasted success with Vintage Crop.

Makybe Diva became the first horse to win three times, claiming the spoils in successive years from 2003-2005, while 10 years later in 2015, Michelle Payne became the first ever female jockey - still the only one - to win the race, on board Prince of Penzance.

Melbourne Cup most successful trainer

By far the most successful trainer in the history of the Melbourne Cup is Bart Cummings, a legendary Australian trainer who first took the race in 1965 with Light Fingers.

The trainer then landed the race in the next two editions before securing victory four more times in the 1970s.

After failing to win the event in the 1980s, Cummings bounced back in style in the 1990s, winning the race in 1990, 1991, 1996 and 1999.

He then rounded off his success in the race by taking it one last time with Viewed in 2008, giving him a record 12th Melbourne Cup success. The next nearest winning trainers are Etienne de Mestre and Lee Freedman, both on five each.

Cummings became known as the King of Cups as a result and was inducted into the Australian Racing Hall of Fame. He received a state funeral when he died in 2015 and features on Australian stamps. 

Melbourne Cup most successful jockey

Only two jockeys have ever won the Melbourne Cup more than three times - Bobbie Lewis and Harry White.

Lewis first tasted success in the race in 1902 aboard The Victory and went on to ride the winner in the 1915, 1919 and 1927 editions of the race.

White’s success was in a much smaller time period, winning the race four times in six editions, taking the spoils in 1974, 1975, 1978 and 1979.

His wins in 1974 and 1975 were both aboard Think Big for record winning trainer Bart Cummings.

Melbourne Cup famous winners

There have been some famous winners of the Melbourne Cup, no more so than Makybe Diva, the horse to win it three times in a row between 2003 and 2005.

Verry Elleegant managed to become the first horse ever to win from stall 18 when taking the title in 2021, and Media Puzzle’s win in 2002 was an emotional one after jockey Damien Oliver’s brother had passed away the week before.

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