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.

2019 Melbourne Cup Barrier Draw

#	Form (Last 10)	Horse	Trainer	Jockey	Barrier	Weight
1	12x1x1x434	CROSS COUNTER (GB)	Charlie Appleby	William Buick	5	57.5kg
2	211x11x1x1	MER DE GLACE (JPN)	Hisashi Shimizu	Damian Lane	2	56kg
3	7250×14335	MASTER OF REALITY (IRE)	Joseph O’Brien	Frankie Dettori	1	55.5kg
4	2x0x1322x3	MIRAGE DANCER (GB)	Trent Busuttin & Natalie Young	Ben Melham	13	55.5kg
5	37×3264413	SOUTHERN FRANCE (IRE)	Ciaron Maher & David Eustace	Mark Zahra	14	55.5kg
6	3344465881	HUNTING HORN (IRE)	Aidan O’Brien	Seamie Heffernan	11	55kg
7	220×344216	LATROBE (IRE)	Joseph O’Brien	James McDonald	22	55kg
8	4x1x723516	MUSTAJEER (GB)	Kris Lees	Damien Oliver	6	55kg
9	251557×790	ROSTROPOVICH (IRE)	David & B Hayes & T Dabernig	Dwayne Dunn	12	55kg
10	423x2411x7	TWILIGHT PAYMENT (IRE)	Joseph O’Brien	Hugh Bowman	19	55kg
11	x1x34x5125	FINCHE (GB)	Chris Waller	Kerrin McEvoy	4	54kg
12	8x49x58321	PRINCE OF ARRAN (GB)	Charlie Fellowes	Michael Walker	8	54kg
13	1x6x237x4x	RAYMOND TUSK (IRE)	Richard Hannon	Jamie Spencer	3	54kg
14	x196112x31	DOWNDRAFT (IRE)	Joseph O’Brien	John Allen	15	53.5kg
15	2×53220224	MAGIC WAND (IRE)	Aidan O’Brien	Ryan Moore	24	53.5kg
16	2x30x80709	NEUFBOSC (FR)	David & B Hayes & T Dabernig	Luke Nolen	23	53.5kg
17	00x048x070	SOUND (GER)	Michael Moroney	James Winks	10	53.5kg
18	1514132×41	SURPRISE BABY (NZ)	Paul Preusker	Jordan Childs	20	53.5kg
19	531×212224	CONSTANTINOPLE (IRE)	David & B Hayes & T Dabernig	Joao Moreira	7	52.5kg
20	322×17135	IL PARADISO (USA)	Aidan O’Brien	Wayne Lordan	17	52.5kg
21	x11111x467	STEEL PRINCE (IRE)	Anthony Freedman	Brett Prebble	16	52.5kg
22	0141×59195	THE CHOSEN ONE (NZ)	Murray Baker & Andrew Forsman	Tim Clark	18	52kg
23	1x36621x42	VOW AND DECLARE	Danny O’Brien	Craig Williams	21	52kg
24	x059x87873	YOUNGSTAR	Chris Waller	Tommy Berry	9	52kg

Is the Melbourne Cup Barrier Draw Important?

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.

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 2019 Melbourne Cup barrier draw are:

• Barrier 5 – 8 wins, last in 2013
• Barrier 11 – 7 wins, last in 2010
• 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 two Melbourne Cup winners with Green Moon (2012) and Fiorente (2013) going back-to-back from the gate.

From 2006 – 2016 barrier 10 has also produced two champions with Delta Blues (2006) and Protectionist (2014).

Which Melbourne Cup Barriers are Worst?

There have historically been a few awful Melbourne Cup barriers. The worst leading up to the 2019 Melbourne Cup barrier draw are:

• Barrier 18 – 0 wins
• Barrier 7 – 2 wins, in 1924 and 2015
• Barrier 15 – 1 win, in 1973

Barriers 2, 12, and 20 all have 2 wins. Numbers beyond barrier 24 have not been included, as the number of starters is currently limited to 24 with no emergencies.