Melbourne Cup Facts And Statistics

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The Melbourne Cup is Australia’s most prestigious Thoroughbred horse race. Marketed as “the race that stops a nation”, it is a 3,200 metre race for three-year-olds and over. It is the richest “two-mile” handicap in the world, and one of the richest turf races. Conducted annually by the Victoria Racing Club on the Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne, Victoria, the event starts at 3pm (daylight saving time) on the first Tuesday in November.

The first race was held in 1861 over two miles (3.219 km) but was shortened to 3,200 metres (1.988 mi) in 1972 when Australia adopted the metric system. This reduced the distance by 18.688 metres (61.312 ft), and Rain Lover’s 1968 race record of 3:19.1 was accordingly adjusted to 3:17.9. The present record holder is the 1990 winner Kingston Rule with a time of 3:16.3.

Melbourne Cup – Did You Know?

  • The Melbourne Cup was first run on a Tuesday in 1875
  • There have been six grey Melbourne Cup winners over the years, most famously Subzero (1992)
  • Trivia Question – What Australian sporting event did Russia win in 1946? The Melbourne Cup! Russia was a horse
  • Fashions on the field was first held in 1962

Melbourne Cup Race Record

  • Kingston Rule (1993) won in a time of 3:16.30 which is the current Melbourne Cup time record

Slowest Winning Melbourne Cup Time

  • The inaugural winner Archer (1861) has the slowest winning time with 3:52

Multiple Melbourne Cup Winners

  • Archer (1861, 1862)
  • Peter Pan (1932, 1934)
  • Rain Lover (1968, 1969)
  • Think Big (1974, 1975)
  • Makybe Diva (2003, 2004, 2005)

Most Melbourne Cup Wins – Trainer

  • 12 – Bart Cummings (1965, 1966, 1967, 1974, 1975, 1977, 1979, 1990, 1991, 1996, 1999, 2008)

Most Melbourne Cup Wins – Owner

  • 4 – John Tait (1866, 1868, 1871, 1872)
  • 4 – Etienne de Mestre (1861*, 1862*, 1867*, 1878) *The winners of these years were leased
  • 4 – Dato Tan Chin Nam (1974, 1975, 1996, 2008)

Most Melbourne Cup Wins – Jockey

  • Co-held by Bobbie Lewis (The Victory 1902, Patrobas 1915, Artilleryman 1919 & Trivalve 1927) and Harry White (Think Big 1974 and 1975, Arwon 1978 and Hyperno 1979) with four wins each
  • White also rode two Melbourne Cup doubles

Melbourne Cup Jockey Facts

  • First Australian female jockey to ride in the Melbourne Cup was Claire Lindop who rode the unplaced Debben in 2003
  • But the first female to ride in the race was actually Maree Lyndon on Argonaut Style (1987)
  • The youngest jockey to win was Peter St. Albans on Briseis (1876) he was 12 years, 11 months and 23 days old at the time

Biggest Winning Melbourne Cup Margin

  • Archer (1862) and Rain Lover (1968) share the record with eight lengths

Tightest Melbourne Cup Finish

  • Dunaden’s 2011 Melbourne Cup win over Red Cadeaux – took officials over five minutes to decide on the result via photo

First Melbourne Cup Photo Finish

  • The first photo-finish was used in the 1948 Melbourne Cup when Rimfire beat home Dark Marne

Melbourne Cup Field Facts

  • Smallest Melbourne Cup field was 7 starters in 1963
  • Largest Melbourne Cup field was 39 starters in 1890

Melbourne Cup Barrier Statistics

  • Barrier 18 is the only gate never to produce a winner since barriers came in in 1924
  • The most successful barriers have been 9 – 12 with four victories in the past 11 years

Melbourne Cup Saddlecloth Statistics

Numbers 4 and 12 are the most successful boasting 11 wins.

  • No 4 and No 12 with 11 wins
  • No 1 with 10 wins
  • No 6 with 9 wins
  • No 5 and No 8 with 8 wins
  • No 2 and No 11 with 7 wins

Makybe Diva winning in 2005 wearing No.1. The last horse carrying no.1 prior to that was Rising Fast in 1954.

  • TAB numbers 4 and 6 have won four of the last fifteen Cups.
  • TAB numbers to win only one Cup are 26, 28 and 39.
  • TAB numbers to win only two Cups are 7, 16, 18, 21, 23 and 25

Melbourne Cup Winner Stats – Age

  • Four and five year old horses have the best record with 43 winners each
  • In the past 11 years however six-year-olds have won five times most recently Dunaden (2011)
  • Only two eight-year-olds have won the Melbourne Cup

Melbourne Cup Winner Stats – Sex

  • Makybe Diva is the most famous mare to win the Melbourne Cup (2003, 2004, 2005)
  • In the past 12 years five Melbourne Cup winners were mares
  • Stallions (Entires) hold the record with 65 wins
  • Entire 65
  • Gelding 50
  • Colts 21
  • Mares 13
  • Fillies 3

Melbourne Cup Weight Facts

  • In the past decade the average Melbourne Cup weight carried to victory is 54kg
  • Heaviest weight carried to victory was Carbinewith 10 stone 5 pounds (66.0kg) in 1890
  • Phar Lap  carried the highest weight with 10stone 10lg (68kg) but lost
  • Lowest Weight carried to victory was Banker with just 33.5kg in 1863

Melbourne Cup Winning Colours

  • 17 cup winning jockeys have worn black as their main colour, the last being George Podmore on Evening Peal in 1956.
  • Navy blue and royal blue with 14 wins

Melbourne Cup Day Attendance Facts

  • The first Melbourne Cup attracted just 4,000 spectators
  • The highest Melbourne Cup Day attendance to date was 122,736 in 2003
  • 2014 – 100,794
  • 2013 – 104,169
  • 2012 – 106,162
  • 2011 – 105,979
  • 2010 – 110,223
  • 2009 – 102,000
  • 2008 – 107,000
  • 2007 – 102,411
  • 2006 – 106,691
  • 2005 – 106,479
  • 2004 – 98,181
  • 2003 – 122,736 (record)

Melbourne Cup Betting Statistics

  • The record Melbourne Cup Trifecta dividend was a huge $61,867.90 paid out back in 1993
  • In 2009 punters across the country splurged on Tuesday’s Melbourne Cup with a record $95.6 million outlaid on the Victorian and New South Wales TABs
  • Average spend per punter on the Melbourne Cup odds is approximately $8.50, of which $7.30 is returned in dividends

Melbourne Cup Betting Favourites

  • Melbourne Cup betting favourites have won 32 times in 151 years
  • Fiorente (2013) was the last favourite to salute for the punters
  • Did you know – Makybe Diva won the 2003 Melbourne Cup but she didn’t start favourite, Mamool did and they finished last (23rd of 23rd)
  • Phar Lap was the shortest priced favourite to win when 8/11 in 1930, followed by Revenue (7/4 in 1901) and Archer (2/1 in 1962)
  • Only three triple figure roughies have won the Melbourne Cup with The Pearl (100-1 in 1871), Wotan (100-1 in 1936) and Old Rowley (100-1 in 1940)

Online Source

The Indian Telegraph Sydney Australia

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