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.

With the 2018 Melbourne Cup scheduled for Tuesday November 6, 2018 this means the 2018 Melbourne Cup Barrier Draw will be available on November 3, 2018.

2018 Melbourne Cup Barrier Draw

No	Last 10	Horse	Trainer	Jockey	Barrier	Weight	Penalty	Hcp Rating
1	x3195x1111	BEST SOLUTION (IRE)	Saeed Bin Suroor	Pat Cosgrave	6	57.5kg		114
2	x512433x43	THE CLIFFSOFMOHER (IRE)	Aidan O’Brien	Ryan Moore	9	56.5kg		112
3	57x150x11x	MAGIC CIRCLE (IRE)	Ian Williams	Corey Brown	17	56kg		111
4	5x211250x0	CHESTNUT COAT (JPN)	Yoshito Yahagi	Yuga Kawada	4	55.5kg		110
5	1796x4341x	MUNTAHAA (IRE)	John Gosden	Jim Crowley	13	55.5kg		110
6	144x1132x0	SOUND CHECK (GER)	Michael Moroney	Jordan Childs	16	55.5kg		110
7	x6731x7694	WHO SHOT THEBARMAN (NZ)	Chris Waller	Ben Melham	18	55.5kg		110
8	5462×02410	ACE HIGH	David Payne	Tye Angland	22	55kg		110
9	1x69x2112x	MARMELO (GB)	Hughie Morrison	Hugh Bowman	10	55kg		109
10	3326×11114	AVILIUS (GB)	James Cummings	Glyn Schofield	11	54.5kg	1.5kg	109
11	2x436013x1	YUCATAN (IRE)	Aidan O’Brien	James McDonald	23	54.5kg	2.5kg	108
12	56164×5266	AUVRAY (FR)	Richard Freedman	Tommy Berry	1	54kg		107
13	13x655x1x3	FINCHE (GB)	Chris Waller	Zac Purton	15	54kg		107
0	x5x0x08030	RED CARDINAL (IRE)	Darren Weir	Damien Oliver (late alt)	5	54kg		102
15	21x05x4059	VENGEUR MASQUE (IRE)	Michael Moroney	Patrick Moloney	2	54kg		104
16	7829×79401	VENTURA STORM (IRE)	David & B Hayes & T Dabernig	Mark Zahra	7	54kg		105
17	2188632×31	A PRINCE OF ARRAN (GB)	Charlie Fellowes	Michael Walker	20	53kg		105
18	1x5x005770	NAKEETA (GB)	Iain Jardine	Regan Bayliss	3	53kg		105
19	4513×01473	SIR CHARLES ROAD	Lance O’Sullivan & Andrew Scott	Dwayne Dunn	14	53kg		102
20	58402×0080	ZACADA (NZ)	Murray Baker & Andrew Forsman	Damian Lane	24	53kg		100
21	231130×341	RUNAWAY	Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott	Stephen Baster	12	52kg	1.5kg	102
22	11113×6327	YOUNGSTAR	Chris Waller	Craig Williams	8	51.5kg		107
23	11x24112x	CROSS COUNTER (GB)	Charlie Appleby	Kerrin McEvoy	19	51kg		109
24	3×41922515	ROSTROPOVICH (IRE)	Aidan O’Brien	Wayne Lordan	21	51kg		109

READ THE FULL 2018 MELBOURNE CUP BARRIERS & FACTS. 

The latest winning Melbourne Cup barrier draw was 4 when the Joseph O’Brien-owned Rekindling won from the gate in the 2017 Melbourne Cup Results.

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 2018 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 2018 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.