WHO:
The best staying horses in the country
WHAT:
3200 metres
WHEN:
Tuesday 3rd November, 2026, 3:00 pm AEDT
WHERE:
Flemington Racecourse, Melbourne
WHY:
A$10.2 million
Who will win the Melbourne Cup?
It is the question everyone gets asked around when the spring carnival comes around.
Whether it be from your mother who has barely placed a bet in her life or that keen mate who wants to get your perspective on a winner.
Below we take a look at each of the top five leading chances in the early Melbourne Cup market.
The 2026 edition is wide open. Reigning champion Half Yours has been handed the 59kg topweight after last year’s Caulfield and Melbourne Cup double, and no topweight has won since Makybe Diva in 2005. He ran fifth in the Turnbull Stakes on 3 October, after which Mark Zahra replaced Jamie Melham as his rider for the Cup. First acceptances on 29 September left 71 horses, 13 of them internationals, and Joseph O’Brien’s Prix Kergorlay winner Defiantly heads the market at $9. Second acceptances close on Tuesday 13 October, the final field and barrier draw are on Saturday 31 October, and the race jumps at 3:00pm on Tuesday 3 November.
THE EARLY CONTENDERS
This horse is a lightly-raced stayer who won the Ascot Gold Cup for Aiden O’Brien in 2022.
Ryan Moore will surely jet over to take the ride on this four-year-old gelding should O’Brien opt to send him down here.
Will be intriguing to see what weight he is allotted with.
If he handles the travel and settles in well, he has the capacity to win this based on what he did at Ascot and how much upside.
Incentivise is a freak.
The only big query is whether or not he is the same horse after injury kept him out of the Autumn carnival.
He was the Melbourne Cup favourite of 2021 after winning the Caulfield Cup with a leg in the air.
Super talent and worthy of respect.
You do not let a Melbourne Cup go around without putting consideration into any horse which has the trainer surname ‘Cummings’ attached to it.
She was a sensational winner of the Australia Cup and the Tancred Stakes before being spelled after a heavy-track failure in the Queen Elizabeth.
She will want the track to be rated in the good zone to be at her best if she goes in a Melbourne Cup direction.
The likely Japanese raider for the spring carnival staying events.
Winner of the Dubai Gold Cup and it will be interesting to see who rides him should decide to fly over with connections.
Damian Lane would be the likely Australian jockey to hop his leg over the saddle given his strong relationship with Japanese racing.
Almost certain to get the ‘visitors’ weight after winning the Tenno Sho and the Takarazuka Kinen in impressive style.
He has proven his credentials at Group 1 level over 3200 metres, so gets a massive tick for that.
The firmer the track is the better and you know he will stay all day.
Interesting to see who they book to ride him if he does come here.
EARLY TIP – Stay Foolish each-way at $16 the win and $4.60
Stay Foolish looks the likely horse to come over from Japan and should miss out on the wrath of handicapper.
Praying the weather in the spring stays dry so we can see him at his best.
THE FAMOUS WINNERS
Every Melbourne Cup winner becomes famous given the stature and magnitude of the race not only in Australia but on a global level.
The most famous of them all would have to be Makybe Diva.
Known simply as ‘The Diva’ her incredible feat of three Melbourne Cup victories in a row spanning from 2003 to 2005 is still unrivalled and may never be matched.
Only Think Big (1974, 1975), Rain Lover (1968, 1969), Peter Pan (1932, 1934) and Archer (1861, 1862) are the horses to have won multiple Melbourne Cups.
From a trainer’s perspective, there is only one man who this race has revolved around even after his passing.
The Cup’s King; James Bartholomew Cummings or more colloquially known as ‘Bart.’
His incredible achievements in the Cup saw him win the event 12 times with Viewed (2008) being his final winner of the race prior to his death in 2015 at the ripe old age of 87.
The horse who put the race on the map for the ‘international raiders’ was Vintage Crop (1993) who won the race under the watchful eye of Irishman Dermot Weld.
He would go on to land the prize with Media Puzzle (2002), which, in itself, was famous for more reasons than just the horse and trainer winning the race.
Jockey Damien Oliver rode with the spirit of his brother Jason who tragically passed away a week prior to the running of the event and the tears flowed at Flemington that day.
The most recent chapter belongs to Half Yours. Trained by Tony and Calvin McEvoy, he won the 2025 Caulfield Cup and then the Melbourne Cup at $9, becoming the first horse since Without A Fight (2023) to complete the Cups double, and his rider Jamie Melham became the second woman to win the race, ten years after Michelle Payne made history on Prince Of Penzance (2015). Melham was also the first female jockey to win the Caulfield Cup.
Bobby Lewis and Harry White share the most amount of Cup wins as a jockey with four a-piece, while Glen Boss, Jim Johnson, Kerrin McEvoy, William McLachlan, Darby Munro and Damien Oliver all have three Cup winning rides.
Lloyd Williams is the most prolific owner of the race having won the event seven times.
RECENT WINNERS
| Year | Winner |
| 2025 | Half Yours |
| 2024 | Knight’s Choice |
| 2023 | Without A Fight |
| 2022 | Gold Trip |
| 2021 | Verry Elleegant |
| 2020 | Twilight Payment |
| 2019 | Vow And Declare |
| 2018 | Cross Counter |
| 2017 | Rekindling |
| 2016 | Almandin |
| 2015 | Prince Of Penzance |
| 2014 | Protectionist |
| 2013 | Fiorente |
| 2012 | Green Moon |
| 2011 | Dunaden |
How do I bet on the Melbourne Cup?
Punch in betnation.com.au on your internet browser or download and open the BetNation application on your smart phone.
Find the racing futures markets and click on the Melbourne Cup markets.
Futures betting is open now. Second acceptances close on Tuesday 13 October, third acceptances on Monday 26 October, and the final field of 24 and the barrier draw are released on Saturday 31 October, three days before the race.
Here are all the main horses you can back to win the Melbourne Cup.
