18+ | Please play responsibly | What are you really gambling with? | Terms and Conditions apply | Commercial content

Melbourne Cup 2024:
Your Complete Guide

00
days
:
00
hours
:
00
minutes
:
00
seconds
Live

Stream the Melbourne Cup live and for free

2024 Melbourne Cup streaming sites

Find online Melbourne Cup betting sites

Melbourne Cup betting offers 2024

Get Melbourne Cup runners info for the full field

Melbourne Cup horses 2024

Welcome to our dedicated Melbourne Cup site – The Race that Stops a Nation

Here you’ll find everything you need to know about the Melbourne Cup. We’ll help you understand why the country’s attention centres on Flemington racecourse, and give you full details of the confirmed Melbourne Cup runners as you look for the best online Melbourne Cup betting site to back your favourite horses.

The Melbourne Cup Race

Melbourne Cup 2023 lived up to the expectations as the forecasted rain stayed away to give us another memorable race in the warm Victoria sunshine. Mark Zahra’s decision to ride Without A Fight was well and truly vindicated as he saw off his rivals to win by over two lengths. That made it back-to-back Melbourne Cups for Zahra, the first jockey to achieve the feat since Glen Boss did so in 2003, 2004 and 2005.

The race continues to grow in popularity and early Melbourne Cup 2024 odds are already available. Soulcombe, runner-up in 2023, is among the early favourites, alongside 2023 Melbourne Cup victor Without A Fight.

If you want to bet on Melbourne Cup 2024, to understand the hype and feel the excitement, read through our comprehensive Melbourne Cup betting guide for beginners or head straight to the latest Melbourne Cup odds if you already know which horses you’re betting on.

Melbourne Cup Key Facts and Stats

Melbourne Cup dateTuesday 5th November 2024
Melbourne Cup race time3pm Melbourne time
Melbourne Cup venueFlemington racecourse
Race distance3,200 metres
Total prize money$8 million
Type of raceHandicap
Level of raceGroup 1
Type of trackTurf
Track directionAnti-clockwise
Melbourne Cup runners24
2023 Melbourne Cup winnerWithout A Fight
2024 Melbourne Cup co-favouritesWithout A Fight & Soulcombe

What is the Melbourne Cup?

The Melbourne Cup is a horse race run over 3,200 metres, taking around 3 minutes 20 seconds to complete. Horses must be 3 years old to enter and, as the name suggests, the race takes place at Flemington racecourse in Melbourne, Australia, and has done since 1861. The Melbourne Cup field is capped at 24 horses, although this year’s race only saw 23 Melbourne Cup horses competing, following the late withdrawal of Cleveland. No matter which horses ultimately go to post, the Melbourne Cup winner will receive a very healthy A$4.4 million from the A$8 million prize pot.

The Melbourne Cup is arguably the biggest event on the Australian sporting calendar, with millions of people tuning in to watch and bet on the Melbourne Cup each year. The Melbourne Cup is run on the second Tuesday in November, and is known as the race that stops a nation because the state of Victoria gives its citizens a Melbourne Cup public holiday.

Melbourne Cup Carnival Dates 2024

The Melbourne Cup itself lasts under four minutes but the race is actually just one part of the Melbourne Cup Carnival, which sees a number of prestigious races run over the course of the week. As you can see, the build-up cranks up from September, as important announcements relating to the Melbourne Cup runners are made.

Key Melbourne Cup DatesMelbourne Cup Events
3rd SeptemberMelbourne Cup nominations made
10th SeptemberDeadline for Melbourne Cup late entries
1st OctoberMelbourne Cup 1st acceptances announced
15th OctoberMelbourne Cup 2nd acceptances announced
28th OctoberMelbourne Cup 3rd acceptances announced
2nd NovemberMelbourne Cup Carnival Victoria Derby Day
2nd NovemberMelbourne Cup barrier draw made
5th NovemberMelbourne Cup Day
7th NovemberMelbourne Cup Carnival Oaks Day
9th NovemberMelbourne Cup Champion Stakes Day

The Melbourne Cup Carnival 2024 will start on Saturday 2nd November with Victoria Derby Day whetting everyone’s appetites before the main course that is Melbourne Cup Day arrives on Tuesday 5th November. The racing continues on Thursday 7th November with Oaks Day, before Champion Stakes Day brings the Melbourne Cup Festival to a conclusion on Saturday 9th November.

Victoria Derby


Victoria Derby Day kicks us off on Saturday, 2nd November with this $2 million, 2.500-metre race for three-year-olds. Four Group 1’s are run in total on the opening day of the Melbourne Cup Carnival.

Kennedy Oaks


The fillies’ equivalent to the Victoria Derby, the Kennedy Oaks is run on Thursday 7th November, two days after the Melbourne Cup. A top-class card backs up the million-dollar event.

Mackinnon Stakes


Rounding off the Carnival on Saturday 9th November is Champions Stakes Day, formerly known as Mackinnon Stakes Day. Billed as a celebration of the week that’s just been, this is no afterthought. The main race is a $2m Group 1 race over a 2.000-metre trip.


Melbourne Cup tickets are very popular as the public of Victoria dress up and come out in their droves to celebrate the Festival and place their bets, so be sure to buy your tickets before they sell out.

Melbourne Cup History

An early member of the Victorian Turf Club, Frederick Standish, is credited with formulating the idea of the Melbourne Cup. The race was first run in 1861 and there have been plenty of memorable moments written into the Melbourne Cup history since then.

Back in 1861, the race was a ‘winner takes all’ affair with the victors receiving 710 gold sovereigns and a gold watch. The Melbourne Cup was moved to a Tuesday for the first time in 1875. After that, it moved to a four-day format and later into the Melbourne Cup Carnival we now know and love. The race’s popularity began to spiral from 1881 when Club secretary Robert Bagot decided to issue two ladies tickets to each member. The plot worked, and the race gained in popularity very quickly indeed. Since then, there have been over 160 runnings of the race that stops a nation. Crowds have grown to 90,000 at the track, with millions more watching on TV worldwide, while prize money has grown to some $8 million.

Archer was the inaugural winner, actually coming home first in successive years, and no Melbourne Cup horse was able to outdo that until Makybe Diva made it three wins in a row over a century later. The “Cups King” Bart Cummings is another name written into the storied history of the Melbourne Cup, having trained a remarkable 12 winners, while 2021 victor Verry Elleegant is one of the more recent additions to the record books after becoming the first horse to win from barrier 18 in 161 runnings.

How to bet on the Melbourne Cup

Once Melbourne Cup day comes around, you’ll want to find somewhere to place a bet and the process is pretty straightforward if you’re betting online.

  1. Decide which of the Melbourne Cup runners takes your fancy. You can either choose based on the odds, jockey colours, top trainers or horse name, study the form, past trends, or even look for Melbourne Cup tips to find some inspiration.
  2. Pick the betting site that is best for you. We’ve listed some of the very best options, ensuring you receive a good user experience alongside competitive odds and attractive betting offers.
  3. Click through and open an account with the bookmaker you’ve chosen.
  4. Find the Melbourne Cup betting market on the site and choose whether you want to back your horse to win or if you’d prefer something more ambitious like a trifecta – our Melbourne Cup betting guide explains the different types of bet you can pick from.
  5. Tap the Melbourne Cup odds you like the look of to open a betslip and enter you stake.
  6. Watch the race. Remember most betting sites will stream the Melbourne Cup Carnival for free, so you don’t even need a TV to follow the action nowadays.

How to Watch Melbourne Cup Live

Once you’re studied the Melbourne Cup field and placed your bets you’ll no doubt want to watch the race unfold. Assuming you haven’t got hold of Melbourne Cup tickets and are at Flemington racecourse itself, your next option would normally be a live TV broadcast. But, with considerable confusion over which channel was showing the race in 2022, and race coverage likely to change hands for 2024, your best bet is surely an online Melbourne Cup live stream.

There are a host of top betting sites to choose between, with bet365, Ladbrokes and Betfair amongst the best options, and the good news is their live Melbourne Cup streams are all free. Just sign up in advance, make sure your account has some money in it and stream the Melbourne Cup live.

Melbourne Cup Betting

Melbourne Cup 2024 weather

Predicting the Melbourne Cup weather is arguably just as difficult as picking the race winner because of the notoriously changeable climate in the area. The 2023 Melbourne Cup forecast suggested stormy weather could arrive ahead of the race, but it never materialised and so the Flemington Park remained ‘good’. Whether rain will affect the 2024 Melbourne Cup remains to be seen.

How to dress for the Melbourne Cup

Although the Melbourne Cup Carnival is first and foremost about top class racing on the track, it also offers a chance for the public of Victoria to dress to impress. If you’re lucky enough to have a ticket, check out Melbourne Cup what to wear guide to make sure you stand out from the crowd for all the right reasons.

Melbourne Cup winners and results

Whether you’re looking for inspiration in terms of which Melbourne Cup horse to back, or you simply want a reminder of how your previous bets got on, we’ve got all the recent Melbourne Cup results detailed here. See how Mark Zahra made it two in a row in the 2023 Melbourne Cup, re-live his first Melbourne Cup victory on Gold Trip from 2022.

Melbourne Cup 2024 Favourites

Curious which Melbourne Cup horses are the best ones to back in 2024? You can find all the early Melbourne Cup favourites below and we’ll have all the confirmed Melbourne Cup runners once they’ve been announced.

Odds correct at time of publishing and may be subject to change

FAVOURITE

#1

WITHOUT A FIGHT

Age: 7 / Weight: 55.5kg / Jockey: Mark Zahra / Trainer: Anthony & Sam Freedman

Found impressive form since switching to the Anthony & Sam Freedman yard in Australia, winning three of four races, two at Eagle Farm and the latest in the Caulfield Cup on 21st October. That performance boosted hopes he could run well in the 2023 Melbourne Cup, and the expectations were justified as he came home over two lengths clear to give Mark Zahra back-to-back victories in the famous race.

15.0

15.0

15.0

15.0

FAVOURITE

#2

SOULCOMBE

SOULCOMBE

Age: 5 / Weight: 53.5kg / Jockey: Joao Moreira / Trainer: Chris Waller

A Queen’s Cup at Flemington victory in 2022 showed he’s well suited to the track and he duly followed it up impressively when runner-up in the 2023 Melbourne Cup. Still young so may well return in 2024.

15.0

15.0

15.0

15.0

#3

isleofhopendreams

JUST FINE

Age: 5 / Weight: tbc / Jockey: tbc / Trainer: Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott

26.0

26.0

26.0

26.0

#4

KOVALICA

Age: 4 / Weight: tbc / Jockey: tbc / Trainer: Chris Waller

26.0

26.0

26.0

26.0

#5

ELEGANT ESCAPE

FIRST IMMORTAL

Age: 6 / Weight: tbc / Jockey: tbc / Trainer: Mark & Levi Kavanagh

26.0

26.0

26.0

26.0

Melbourne Cup 2024 FAQ

Find the answers to your burning questions about the 2024 Melbourne Cup.

The Melbourne Cup will be run on Tuesday 5th November and is due off at 3pm local time. That means it’s scheduled for 3pm in Victoria, New South Wales and Tasmania, 2:30pm in SA, 2pm in Queensland and 1.30pm in Northern Territory.

The Melbourne Cup is a horse race which is run at Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne, Victoria.

The Melbourne Cup has taken place on the first Tuesday in November since 1875, although it was run on a Thursday before that. In an attempt to create a festival atmosphere, and to set it apart from other sporting events which happen at the weekend, a Tuesday was chosen over a Saturday. The date has stuck and is now part of Australian tradition.

Yes, the day of the Melbourne Cup is a public holiday in most parts of the state of Victoria. Geelong is an exception as it chooses to mark the Geelong Cup with a holiday instead.

Lexus took over from Emirates as the sponsor of the Melbourne Cup in 2018 and will remain the principal partner of the race until at least 2024. The race is therefore officially known as the Lexus Melbourne Cup, although it is still colloquially referred to as just the Melbourne Cup.

Yes, the Melbourne Cup is expected to be available to watch on free-to-air TV. At the time of writing, the host broadcaster isn’t confirmed, with Channels Seven, Nine and Ten all rumoured to be in contention to secure the rights. It will also be possible to watch a live Melbourne Cup stream on the same betting sites that you can place your bets on.

Yes, the best way to stream the Melbourne Cup online is via a betting site. If you register with one of our recommended betting sites, and deposit ahead of the race, you’ll be able to watch the Melbourne Cup for free.

There are a number of fees associated with entering a horse in the Melbourne Cup, with the initial entry fee set at $600. Additional costs include a $960 first acceptance fee, $1,450 for second acceptance and $2,450 for third acceptance. A final acceptance fee of $45,375 is then paid on the Saturday before the race. Fortunately the prize money on offer makes these fees far more palatable, as the Melbourne Cup race winner receives $4.4 million with lower prizes available down to $160,000 for 12th place of the 24 Melbourne Cup runners.

The total Melbourne Cup prize money has risen steadily over the years to now sit at a healthy $8 million. The Melbourne Cup winner receives $4.4 million, with a further $1.1 million for the runner-up. Prizes filter all the way to 12th place who goes away with $160,000.

Although five horses have achieve the feat of winning more than one Melbourne Cup, only Makybe Diva has the honour of being first across the line on three occasions. Makybe Diva is also the only mare to win the Melbourne Cup, with her wins coming in 2003, 2004 and 2005.

Melbourne Cup News

Big Weekend to Come for Cup Contenders

Vauban to Have Second Go at Cup

Excelleration on Target for Melbourne

18+ | Please play responsibly | What are you really gambling with? | Terms and Conditions apply | Commercial content