The Race that Stops the Nation captures the imagination of much of Australia, as even those with no natural interest in horse racing become glued to the TV for a few minutes. You can add to the excitement by running a Melbourne Cup sweep with your friends, family or workmates. Downloading our free kit will make organising this year’s Melbourne Cup sweepstake as easy as possible.
When will the 2024 Melbourne Cup Sweep be available?
Our free-to-use 2024 Melbourne Cup sweep will be available to download shortly after the final field for the race has been confirmed. This year’s confirmed Melbourne Cup horses will be announced around 4.30pm on Saturday 2nd November, so check back afterwards for your free sweep kit.
Download our 2024 sweepstake kit
Whether you’re the sort of person who spends hours studying the form or entirely new to horse racing, taking part in a sweepstake is a simple way to boost your enjoyment of the big race.
Once you’ve got your horse, you can check out our horse-by-horse Melbourne Cup runners guide to find out how likely it is that you’ve got this year’s winner. You might even want to top up your potential winnings by backing your Melbourne Cup sweepstake pick with a bookmaker. You should take a look at our recommended Melbourne Cup betting offers and sites if you think your horse has a chance of winning the Cup.
How to use our Melbourne Cup sweep kit
Step 1 – Split the Prize Pot
Decide how much it costs to enter your Melbourne Cup sweepstake. This is completely up to you but asking for $5 per horse would give you a $120 pot in a 24 horse race. The winner could then receive $60, with the runner-up getting $35, and third place taking home $20, to leave $5 for whoever is unlucky enough to pick the final horse to finish the race.
Step 2 – Get People Involved
Find a group of friends, family or workmates that you’d like to join your Melbourne Cup sweepstake. Ideally there’ll be 24 of you, so each person can have one horse to cheer on, but just give people more than one horse if you haven’t got the right number to take part.
Step 3 – Put the Horses in a Hat
Print two copies and cut out the runners into individual pieces of paper. Fold them and put them into a hat or a similar container. Each person pulls one horse’s name out of the hat.
Step 4 – Write Down Who Gets Each Horse
Write each person’s name down beside the horse that they selected. You can even point them to our Melbourne Cup horses page so have an idea of whether their pick is likely to sink or swim.
Step 5 – Watch the race and pay out the winners
Once the race has taken place let everyone know who has won.
Melbourne Cup Sweep FAQ
Our step-by-step Melbourne Cup sweepstake guide will hopefully help you through the whole process of running a sweepstake, but you can also find some common questions below.
The field for the Melbourne Cup 2024 will be confirmed by the weekend before the race. We’ll add our free Melbourne Cup sweepstake kit shortly after this. You’ll have enough time to carry out your Melbourne Cup sweepstake before the race on Tuesday afternoon.
The basic process is very straightforward. Simply print off the horse names, cut them up and put them into a pot before asking your friends or colleague to pick their selections randomly. You can also refer to our step-by-step guide above for a helping hand.
Doing a virtual Melbourne Cup sweep is fairly similar to doing one in person. Rather than having your workmates or friends pick out their horses in person, you can either draw the horses from a hat on their behalf or use a random number generator. Just make sure they trust you to avoid any arguments!
Most bookmakers and betting sites will pay out on each way bets if your horse finishes in the top four places. Some may stretch to the top five places, but ultimately it’s up to you how to divide your Melbourne Cup sweepstake prize pot.
