2017 Melbourne Cup Field, Barriers & Odds
CUP HORSE
On the first Tuesday in November every year a crowd of thousands gathers at Flemington Race Course in Victoria as part of the Spring Racing Carnival to watch the nation’s most illustrious horse race, the Melbourne Cup. Melbourne Cup day is known for its spectator’s fashion, excitement and entertainment, and most famously its ability to attract champion competitors from all over the world. The lure of over $5 million in prize money and trophies, which makes the Melbourne Cup the richest handicap horse race in the world, means a succession of truly amazing horses are on the track every year.
Final 2017 Melbourne Cup Results
- 1st.Rekindling
- 2nd.Johannes Vermeer
- 3rd.Max Dynamite
- 4th.Big Duke
The 2017 Melbourne Cup will be held on Tuesday, November 7th at 3pm AEDT. Cup Horse
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These Melbourne Cup horses have become the biggest sensation of the race.
Here at Cup Horse we will provide information about these amazing Melbourne Cup participants and winners including short biographies on some of history’s most famous Melbourne Cup horses, the process of selecting the final field of Melbourne Cup horses, and look at what makes a successful Cup horse.
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FAMOUS MELBOURNE CUP HORSES
Below is a brief record of some of the most renowned and admired Melbourne Cup horses to ever run down the Flemington track.
ARCHER (1861 & 1862)
Winning the first two runs of the Melbourne Cup, Archer is also famous for taking victory at Flemington with the slowest record time, 3:52.00. He is one of only four horses to win two successive Melbourne Cup runs, and many thought he would have made it a third in 1863 if he had run. His nomination was rejected, however, causing an outburst of controversy after his trainer Etienne De Mestre had lodged the form in NSW not realising it was a public holiday in Melbourne the next day, and it was registered as having been received late and discarded, making him the first past winner to be denied a starting place in the race.
POSEIDON (1906)
Boasting one of the most successful records for any three-year-old in the history of Australian racing, in the year 1906-1907 Poseidon won 11 out of 14 races including the Caulfield – Melbourne Cups double (the first horse to do so), AJC and Victoria Derbies and VRC and AJC St Legers. Winning the Caulfield Cup the following year as well, he also became the first horse to win two successive Caulfield Cups. His victories saw him inducted into the Australian Racing Hall of Fame in 2004.
PHAR LAP (1930)
The most illustrious champion of them all, Phar Lap’s name is recognised and admired by everyone in Australian horse racing. Considered the greatest Australian racehorse, he also holds the record for starting as the shortest priced favourite with odds of 8/11. Remembered for not only his Melbourne Cup win, but for also triumphing in races on each of the four days of that year’s Flemington Cup Carnival, he was a truly consistent and celebrated runner who had a distinguished racing career winning 37 races from 51 starts. Phar Lap was inducted into both the Australian and the New Zealand Racing Halls of Fame, and will forever stand as a national icon.
RAIN LOVER (1968 & 1969)
The first horse to win two successive Melbourne Cup races since the original Archer (1861 & 1862), Rain Lover also ran the fastest time of 3:19.1 recorded in 111 years at Flemington. His Melbourne Cup win of 8 lengths in 1968 equalled Archer’s in 1862, and together they hold the record for the biggest winning margin. Rain Lover was named the Australian Horse of the Year in 1969.
KINGSTON RULE (1990)
When Kingston Rule set the Flemington track record in a time of 3:16.3, he also became the best bred horse to ever win the Melbourne Cup, and this track record still stands today. Kingston Rule is also the last horse to win the Moonee Valley – Melbourne Cups double.
MAKYBE DIVA (2003, 2004 & 2005)
This impressive mare is most remembered for being the first and only horse to win three successive Melbourne Cup runs, branding her as one of the finest staying mares in Australian racing history. In her last win in 2005 she carried a record weight for a mare to victory, and this winning Cup horse also secured her jockey Glen Boss in the record books as he rode her for each of the three wins. The Cup victories also ensured she was the highest stakes-earner in Australian horse racing history when she retired after her final Melbourne Cup win. Makybe Diva also received a string of awards in celebration of her successes and has been named the Australian Champion Racehorse of the Year (2004-05 and 2005-06 seasons), Australian Champion Stayer (2004-05 and 2005-06), Australian Champion Filly and Mare (2004-2005) and the Australian Champion Middle Distance Racehorse (2005-06).
SELECTING THE MELBOURNE CUP HORSES
Not every horse is eligible to run in the Melbourne Cup Horse Race, it is only a privileged selection of 24 runners chosen each year to battle it out on the turf for the trophy. After all interested parties send in their horses’ entries and applications to race in the Cup, a qualified panel of members from the VRC committee choose the final field according to a strict set of qualifying requirements and conditions. When selecting the horses they take into account their past performances in other Group 1 races, prize money accumulated by the runner and other career statistics. Races like the Caulfield Cup and Cox Plate are a good Melbourne Cup form guide.
WHAT MAKES A SUCCESSFUL MELBOURNE CUP HORSE?
There are a number of traits and factors that combine to create a successful Melbourne Cup horse. A good Cup horse is one who can last the distance of the 3200 metre track at Flemington on the day, and history shows that many Melbourne Cup winning horses are consistent stayers with enough speed to take the lead and stamina to maintain that lead until the end. The age of a Cup horse can go a way to determining how successful they will be, as runners aged four or five years have won the most Melbourne Cups compared to any other age group. But the determination of the jockey, trainer and owner, proven race consistency and placings in key lead-up races are all traits the majority of Melbourne Cup winners possessed. There have been a few outsiders who are exceptions to take victory in the Cup, but overall the favourites who display these traits are the ones to win and pay punters a dividend.
