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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
Melbourne Cup 2025 Results
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1st
14. Half Yours (8)
J: Jamie Melham 53kg
T: Tony & Calvin McEvoy |
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2nd
20. Goodie Two Shoes (20)
J: W M Lordan 51.5kg
T: Joseph O'Brien |
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3rd
7. Middle Earth (13)
J: Ethan Brown 54.5kg
T: Ciaron Maher |
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4th
21. River Of Stars (14)
J: Beau Mertens 51.5kg
T: Chris Waller |
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5th
23. Torranzino (18)
J: Celine Gaudray 51kg
T: Paul Preusker |
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6th
4. Vauban (2)
J: Blake Shinn 56.5kg
T: Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott |
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7th
1. Al Riffa (19)
J: Mark Zahra 59kg
T: Joseph O'Brien |
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8th
9. Absurde (4)
J: Kerrin McEvoy 53.5kg
T: Willie Mullins |
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9th
13. Changingoftheguard (24)
J: Tim Clark 53kg
T: Kris Lees |
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10th
8. Meydaan (22)
J: James McDonald 54kg
T: Simon & Ed Crisford |
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11th
17. Furthur (7)
J: Michael Dee 52kg
T: Andrew Balding |
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12th
3. Arapaho (15)
J: Rachel King 56.5kg
T: Bjorn Baker |
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13th
10. Flatten The Curve (17)
J: Thore Hammer-Hansen 53.5kg
T: Henk Grewe |
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14th
12. Smokin' Romans (11)
J: Ben Melham 53.5kg
T: Ciaron Maher |
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15th
22. Royal Supremacy (21)
J: Robbie Dolan 51kg
T: Ciaron Maher |
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16th
24. Valiant King (10)
J: Jye McNeil 51kg
T: Chris Waller |
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18th
15. More Felons (23)
J: Tommy Berry 53kg
T: Chris Waller |
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19th
6. Presage Nocturne (9)
J: Stephane Pasquier 55.5kg
T: Alessandro Botti |
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20th
18. Parchment Party (3)
J: John R Velazquez 52kg
T: William I Mott |
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21st
19. Athabascan (1)
J: Declan Bates 51.5kg
T: John O'Shea & Tom Charlton |
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22nd
11. Land Legend (16)
J: Joao Moreira 53.5kg
T: Chris Waller |
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23rd
5. Chevalier Rose (5)
J: Damian Lane 55.5kg
T: Hisashi Shimizu |
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24th
2. Buckaroo (12)
J: Craig Williams 57kg
T: 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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