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The famous Melbourne Cup race – held for the 164th time on Tuesday – has a rich and time-honoured history going back to 1861.

Here we dive into history of the Melbourne Cup and uncover some all-important Melbourne Cup statistics on the iconic two-mile handicap.

The Group 1 $8.56 million Lexus Melbourne Cup (3200m) runs on the first Tuesday of November each year and the 2024 Melbourne Cup field features 23 stayers from around the world after Monday’s withdrawal of Athabascan (2).

Before we crown the Melbourne Cup 2024 winner just after 3:00pm (AEDT) on Tuesday, let us look over the past training and Melbourne Cup jockey records in the most famous Australian race to help guide your Melbourne Cup tips and selections!

Melbourne Cup History & Statistics

Melbourne Cup Winners: 

• The Melbourne Cup ran for the first time in 1861 by the then Victorian Turf Club.
• Archer was the first Melbourne Cup winner beating the inaugural Melbourne Cup runner-up, Mormon, by an impressive six lengths!
• The first Melbourne Cup winner won 1420 pounds, a trophy and a gold watch. The 2024 Melbourne Cup winner will take out $4.4 million!
• Archer was back in 1862 for a successful Melbourne Cup title defence in 1862 becoming the first dual Melbourne Cup winner. Mormon ran second again, beaten even further by a massive eight length margin!
• Reigning champion Without A Fight (2023) is not in the 2024 Melbourne Cup field but the horses that ran in the race last year back for a second shot are: Interpretation (6th), Absurde (7th), Okita Soushi (11th), and Vauban (14th).
• Archer’s 1862 eight-length Melbourne Cup winning margin remains a record that he shares with the 1968 Melbourne Cup champion Rain Lover.
• The metric Melbourne Cup race record is held by Kingston Rule who won in 3 minutes 16.30 seconds in 1990.
• The oldest Melbourne Cup winners in history are eight-year-olds Toryboy (1865), Catalogue (1938), and Twilight Payment (2020).
• There are no eight-year-olds in this year’s Melbourne Cup field.
• The last three-year-old Melbourne Cup winner was Skipton (1941). Technically Cross Counter (2018) and Rekindling (2017) were three-year-olds but won as four-year-olds in the Southern Hemisphere.
• Makybe Diva (2003, 2004, 2005) is the only three-time Melbourne Cup winner in history.
• The longest-priced Melbourne Cup winners in history all starting at 100-1 are The Pearl (1871), Wotan (1936), Old Rowley (1940), and Prince Of Penzance (2015).
• The triple-figure roughies in 2024 Melbourne Cup betting at time of publish are No. 17 Fancy Man ($101), No. 20 Mostly Cloudy ($101), No. 21 Positivity ($101), and No. 24 Trust In You ($101).
• The shortest priced-priced Melbourne Cup winners in history were Archer 2-1 (1862), Tim Whiffler 5-2 (1867), Revenue 7-4 (1901), Phar Lap 8-11 (1930), Even Stevens 3-1 (1962), Let’s Elope 3-1 (1991), and Makybe Diva at 5-2 in 2004.
• The first Northern Hemisphere-trained Melbourne Cup winner was Vintage Crop (1993) trained in Ireland by Dermot Weld and ridden to victory by Mick Kinane.
• The internationally-trained horses in the 2024 Melbourne Cup field are No. 1 Vauban (Willie Mullins), No. 9 Absurde (Willie Mullins), No. 4 Warp Speed (Noboru Takagi), No. 13 Onesmoothoperator (Brian Ellison), and No. 15 Sea King (Harry Eustace).

Melbourne Cup Trainers: 

• The late Bart Cummings holds the Melbourne Cup training record with 12 victories: Light Fingers (1965), Think Big (1974, 1975), Gold And Black (1977), Hyperno (1979), Kingston Rule (1990), Let’s Elope (1991), Saintly (1996), Rogan Josh (1999), and Viewed (2008).
• Other trainers to prepare multiple Melbourne Cup winners include: Lee Freedman (5): Tawrrific (1989), Subzero (1992), Doriemus (1995), Makybe Diva (2004, 2005); John Tait (4): The Barb (1866), Glencoe (1868), The Pearl (1871), The Quack (1872); Richard Bradfield (4): Patron (1894), The Victory (1902), Night Watch (1918), Backwood (1924); James Scobie (4): Clean Sweep (1900), King Ingoda (1922), Bitalli (1923), Trivalve (1927); W S Hinkenbothem (4): Mentor (1888), Carbine (1890), Newhaven (1896), Blue Spec (1905).
• The previous Melbourne Cup winning trainers with runners in the 2024 field are: Ciaron Maher (Circle Of Fire, Okita Soushi, Interpretation, Saint George); Chris Waller (Buckaroo, Kovalica, Land Legend, Valiant King, Manzoice); Gai Waterhouse (Just Fine); Shelia Laxon (Knight’s Choice), and Graeme Rogerson (Sharp ‘N’ Sharp).

Melbourne Cup Jockeys: 

• Bobbie Lewis and Harry White are the most successful Melbourne Cup jockeys with four wins.
• Lewis had 33 rides in the Melbourne Cup and won aboard The Victory (1902), Patrobas (1915), Artilleryman (1919), and Trivalve in 1927. He also finished second on four occasions and ran third on the famous Phar Lap in 1929.
• White won aboard the Bart Cummings-trained Think Big back-to-back in 1974 and 1975 before his other victories on Arwon in 1978 and another Cummings’ runner Hyperno in 1979.
• Kerrin McEvoy chases his fourth Melbourne Cup winning ride aboard No. 9 Absurde for Irish trainer Willie Mullins in the 2024 Melbourne Cup.

• The other previous Melbourne Cup winning jockeys with a ride in 2024 are: Mark Zahra (Circle Of Fire), Jye McNeil (Just Fine), and Craig Williams (Onesmoothoperator).
• Jockey turned trainer Michelle Payne became the first female jockey to win a Melbourne Cup aboard 100/1 roughie Prince Of Penzance for trainer Darren Weir in 2015.
• Rachel King (The Map), Jamie Kah (Okita Soushi), and Winona Costin (Positivity) are out to become the second female Melbourne Cup winning rider in the 2024 Melbourne Cup.

Click here to place your Melbourne Cup 2024 bets at Ladbrokes.com.au!

*All 2024 Melbourne Cup odds quoted are correct at time of publication, provided by Ladbrokes.com.au, and subject to change. 

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