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Melbourne Cup Barrier Draw News
- All Melbourne Cup Horses In 2025 Field: Pros & Cons
- Will Half Yours Salute for the 2025 Melbourne Cup Punters and do the Double?
- Will French Raider Presage Nocturne be the 2025 Melbourne Cup Winner?
- Second Time Lucky for Buckaroo in 2025 Melbourne Cup?
- Can Al Riffa Hand Zahra Third Melbourne Cup Win in 2025?
The official Melbourne Cup barrier draw is only released a few days before the iconic handicap race takes place at Flemington Racecourse when final acceptances are taken on Victoria Derby Day. The capacity 24-starter Melbourne Cup field is announced on the Saturday before the race each year.
2025 Melbourne Cup Barrier Draw
The official Melbourne Cup 2025 barrier draw will be released live from Flemington Racecourse following the racing action on VRC Derby Day, Saturday November 1, 2025.
CLICK HERE FOR THE 2025 MELBOURNE CUP BARRIER DRAW STATISTICS
| 14. Half Yours (8) J: Jamie Melham53kg 15141T: Tony & Calvin McEvoy | ||
| 20. Goodie Two Shoes (20) J: W M Lordan51.5kg 1113xT: Joseph O'Brien | ||
| 7. Middle Earth (13) J: Ethan Brown54.5kg 50903T: Ciaron Maher | ||
| 21. River Of Stars (14) J: Beau Mertens51.5kg x7802T: Chris Waller | ||
| 23. Torranzino (18) J: Celine Gaudray51kg 80821T: Paul Preusker | ||
| 4. Vauban (2) J: Blake Shinn56.5kg x3650T: Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott | ||
| 1. Al Riffa (19) J: Mark Zahra59kg x4211T: Joseph O'Brien | ||
| 9. Absurde (4) J: Kerrin McEvoy53.5kg 2x3x7T: Willie Mullins | ||
| 13. Changingoftheguard (24) J: Tim Clark53kg 82106T: Kris Lees | ||
| 8. Meydaan (22) J: James McDonald54kg 05239T: Simon & Ed Crisford | ||
| 17. Furthur (7) J: Michael Dee52kg 52516T: Andrew Balding | ||
| 3. Arapaho (15) J: Rachel King56.5kg 36408T: Bjorn Baker | ||
| 10. Flatten The Curve (17) J: Thore Hammer-Hansen53.5kg 1411xT: Henk Grewe | ||
| 12. Smokin' Romans (11) J: Ben Melham53.5kg 72948T: Ciaron Maher | ||
| 22. Royal Supremacy (21) J: Robbie Dolan51kg 11215T: Ciaron Maher | ||
| 24. Valiant King (10) J: Jye McNeil51kg 3x013T: Chris Waller | ||
| 15. More Felons (23) J: Tommy Berry53kg x0944T: Chris Waller | ||
| 6. Presage Nocturne (9) J: Stephane Pasquier55.5kg 13x34T: Alessandro Botti | ||
| 18. Parchment Party (3) J: John R Velazquez52kg 2311xT: William I Mott | ||
| 19. Athabascan (1) J: Declan Bates51.5kg x0002T: John O'Shea & Tom Charlton | ||
| 11. Land Legend (16) J: Joao Moreira53.5kg 39500T: Chris Waller | ||
| 5. Chevalier Rose (5) J: Damian Lane55.5kg 70x0xT: Hisashi Shimizu | ||
| 2. Buckaroo (12) J: Craig Williams57kg x3232T: Chris Waller |
An exact value cannot be placed on drawing a good barrier, but some alleys are clearly better than others in regards to producing Melbourne Cup winners over the years.
Is the Melbourne Cup Barrier Draw Important?
Despite the many times the race has been run, there are still barriers that have never produced a winner as well as barriers that have only ever sent off a winner once.
When looking at the Melbourne Cup odds on a site like Ladbrokes.com.au, it pays to keep the effect of the Melbourne Cup barrier draw in mind. While the long distance of the race does reduce the importance of the starting barrier, it doesn’t hurt for your horse to start from one of the first 12 barriers.
Which Melbourne Cup Barriers are Best?
The most successful barriers leading up to the 2025 Melbourne Cup barrier draw are:
- Barrier 11 – 9 wins, last 2010
- Barrier 5 – 9 wins, last in 2024 (Knight’s Choice)
- Barrier 10 – 6 wins, last 2014
- Barrier 14 – 6 wins, last in 2005
- Barrier 8 – 5 wins, last in 2008
In the past decade barrier 5 has produced three Melbourne Cup winners with Green Moon (2012) and Fiorente (2013) going back-to-back from the gate before the upset 2024 success by Knight’s Choice in 2024.
From 2006 – 2016 barrier 10 has also produced two champions with Delta Blues (2006) and Protectionist (2014).
In 2019 Vow And Declare became the first Australian-bred Melbourne Cup winner since Shocking (2009) and won from barrier 21 of 24.
Knight’s Choice was the last Australian-bred champion from gate 5 in 2024.
The latest winning Melbourne Cup barrier was 5 (Knight’s Choice, 2024).
Which Melbourne Cup Barriers are Worst?
There have historically been a few awful Melbourne Cup barriers. The worst leading up to the 2025 Melbourne Cup barrier draw are:
- Barrier 18 – 1 win – Verry Elleegant became the first to win from the gate in 2021
- Barrier 7 – 2 wins, in 1924 and 2015
- Barrier 15 – 1 win, in 1973
Barrier 12 recorded a third win in 2020 with Twilight Payment, while Barriers 2 and 20 have 2 wins. Numbers beyond barrier 24 have not been included, as the number of starters is currently limited to 24 with no emergencies.
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