If you are looking for the best Melbourne Cup bonuses and bookmaker offers then you are in the right spot, but before we get into that, let’s look at “The Race That Stops A Nation”
The Melbourne Cup is known worldwide for that one phrase above, and it certainly is an event that catches the nation’s attention, a little like The Breeders Cup in the US, The Grand National in the UK, and The Prix De L’Arc De Triomphe in France. All iconic races across the sport of horse racing.
The Melbourne Cup is a race for stayers and is run over a distance of two miles (3200 metres) and is run each year in early November at Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne, Victoria. The race has a very deep history and goes back to 1861, and in the first running, seventeen runners went to post.
Nowadays the field is limited to 24 starters, and horses from across the globe come to compete in the biggest handicap on the world racing stage.
Melbourne cup champions – It’S all in the name – Makybe DIVA
The most famous Melbourne Cup winner is the three-time champion Makybe Diva who won the race in 2003,2004 and 2005.
Australian race fans will probably know the story behind the name of the horse, but world racing fans may not, and it is a great story.
The owner of the horse Tony Santic decided to honour a number of his employees. Santic is a tuna fisherman and producer. Santic, originally born in Croatia moved to Australia when he was six years old and after building a successful business became a racehorse owner. His champion mare was named by taking the first two initials of the first name (Maureen, Kylie, Belinda, Diane, and Vanessa) of five of his employees.
The rest as they say is history.
Getting back to the 2022 Melbourne Cup, in this article, our expert Richard Smith will be giving a full analysis and rundown of the race. He’ll be doing his usual 10-year trends analysis as well as his form analysis for the big race.
So make sure to read the full article for his Melbourne Cup free tips.
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31/12/2023
Place a Win or Each Way single bet at odds of 4/1 or more on a bet365 Feature Race. If your first single bet on that race wins, place a bet up to the same stake (up to £50*) on the next bet365 Feature Race. If the bet loses we will refund your stake (up to £50*). If the bet also wins at odds of 4/1 or more, you qualify for a bet on the next bet365 Feature Race. *or currency equivalent Significant Terms and Conditions This offer is only available to new and eligible customers. This offer applies to the FIRST single bet placed by a customer on each bet365 Feature Race. This offer will not apply where a stake has been fully Cashed Out. Where a stake has been partially Cashed Out, any refund amount or subsequent qualifying bet amount will be equal to the remaining active stake. If a qualifying bet is edited using our Edit Bet feature, any refund amount will be equal to the new stake and not the original stake. Where a qualifying bet is changed using Edit Bet, no refund will be given and the offer will no longer apply. Where more than one selection in the same race is placed on the same bet slip, the first selection is deemed to be the one which is highest on the bet slip. Offer applies to bets placed on Win and Each Way Fixed Odds markets (including where a Bet Boost is applied) and Enhanced Place Terms markets only. All other markets, including adjusted place terms (Each Way Extra), Ante-Post bets and Tote/Pari-Mutuel/Colossus (bets and dividends), are excluded from this offer. This offer is available on selected races as specified in the table above. Bets must be placed in the usual way and can be paid for from either your Withdrawable Balance or Bet Credits. Bets placed from your Withdrawable Balance will be refunded to your Withdrawable Balance and bets placed using Bet Credits will be refunded as Bet Credits.
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Applies to UK, Irish and selected International horse racing only. Best Odds Guaranteed applies to bets placed after 08:00 on the day of the race. Best Odds Guaranteed will be applied on qualifying bets where the SP is bigger than the price taken when the bet was placed. Offer does not apply to Win and Each Way bets on Super Extra Place Races highlighted in the race book. Offer does not apply for Lucky 15s, 31s and 63s. Offer does not apply to Ante Post, Tote or Pari-Mutuel. In the event of a Rule 4 deduction, we will pay at the bigger odds after the Rule 4 deduction has been made to the price taken. Bets using existing free bet funds do not count. Bets placed on specials market or boosts will not count towards this offer. Best Odds will not be applied where non-runners result in the race reverting to SP only. Where the terms of the offer are breached or there is evidence of collusion by a customer, or group of customers, which seek to guarantee profit irrespective of the outcome, Betfred reserves the right to void the bonus element and settle the bets at the correct odds. Betfred reserve the right to exclude certain customers from this offer at our discretion due to internal risk policies and/or account staking restrictions. General Betfred.com rules apply, see website for details.
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UK Gambling Commission under account number 39544. Licensed by the Gibraltar Government and regulated by the Gibraltar Gambling Commissioner (RGL no. 036 & 038)
31/12/2023
Applies to singles and multiple bets. 3 Places. If there are fewer than 6 runners standard place terms will apply. 4 Places. If there are fewer than 12 runners standard place terms will apply. 5 Places. If there are fewer than 16 runners they will pay 4 Places (1/5 odds). 6 Places. If there are fewer than 20 runners they will pay 5 Places (1/5 odds). 7 Places. If there are fewer than 26 runners they will pay 6 Places (1/5 odds). Doesn’t apply to ante-post bets. Dead heat rules apply. Betfred reserve the right to exclude certain customers from this offer at our discretion due to internal risk policies and/or account staking restrictions. General Betfred.com rules apply, see website for details.
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Petfre (Gibraltar) Limited
1967
5/2 Waterport Place, Gibraltar,
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31/12/2023
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William Hill PLC
1934
William Hill Global PLC, Tagliaferro Business Centre, Level 7, High Street, Sliema SLM 1549, Malta
THE MELBOURNE CUP
This year’s Melbourne Cup will be the 162nd running of the race after first entering the history books in 1861.
Our aim in this section is to look at a list of recent winners and see if we can find any specific trends that may point us in the way of the winner. We look at a number of factors including previous track, going and race experience as well as the draw bias, age of previous winners, starting prices of previous winners, and a number of other factors.
The race requires a horse with both speed and stamina, and one that travels strongly in its races. Due to the size of the field, you want a horse that travels well and can take advantage of the gaps when they appear, there are always plenty of hard luck stories in the Melbourne Cup so make note of this.
Below you can see the last ten winners of the race.
| winning year | horse | horse age/sex | jockey | trainer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Verry Elleegant | 6 m | James McDonald | Chris Waller |
| 2020 | Twilight Payment | 8 g | Jye McNeil | Joseph O’Brien |
| 2019 | Vow And Declare | 4 g | Craig Williams | Danny O’Brien |
| 2018 | Cross Counter | 4 g | Kerrin McEvoy | Charlie Appleby |
| 2017 | Rekindling | 4 h | Corey Brown | Joseph O’Brien |
| 2016 | Almandin | 7 g | Kerrin McEvoy | Robert Hickmott |
| 2015 | Prince of Penzance | 6 g | Michelle Payne | Darren Weir |
| 2014 | Protectionist | 5 h | Ryan Moore | Andreas Wöhler [de] |
| 2013 | Fiorente | 6 h | Damien Oliver | Gai Waterhouse |
| 2012 | Green Moon[ | 6 h | Brett Prebble | Robert Hickmott |
10-YEAR RACE TRENDS
Trying to pick the winner of any big handicap is always tough for punters and The Melbourne Cup is one of the toughest of them all.
You have 24 runners to contend with and it is a very tight handicap. Throw in the fact that the Australian form is much of an unknown for UK punters, and it produces a jigsaw puzzle that is tough to solve.
However, our racing expert Richard Smith will hopefully be able to point you in the right direction as he has throughout the year at the other big meetings like the Cheltenham Festival, The Grand National, Royal Ascot, Glorious Goodwood, and the Qatar Prix De L’Arc de Triomphe as well as the upcoming Breeders Cup.
So let’s look at some of the trends from the past ten years that could help you to pick out the winner.
- Six of the last ten winners have been aged 6 years old or higher and if we extend that out to two decades then this stat becomes even stronger with twelve of the last twenty being in that age group.
- Owner Lloyd Williams has won the race four times in the last ten years with two of those being trained by Joseph O’Brien (watch out for this combination)
- Jockey Kerrin McEvoy has won two of the last ten runnings (3 in total)
- Just one of the last ten runnings has been won by the favourite
- Six-year-olds have a consistently good record in the race with four of the last ten winners fitting this stat.
RACE ANALYSIS & SELECTIONS
TRENDS PICK
From a trends perspective, there are no real standouts, but NUMERIAN 40/1 EW looks like decent value and he fits the age profile for the trends. His run in The Caulfield Cup last time was very promising following a long break and he could outrun his huge odds.
FORM GUIDE
Our final form picks will be announced here on Sunday 30th October.
Looking at this year’s field we wanted to cover some of the key trials for the Melbourne Cup and pick out five horses that look to have solid chances in the big race.
The Caulfield Cup is a huge trial for the Melbourne Cup and the 2022 edition was an incredibly exciting race with lots of potential pointers to who might win.
DURSTON trained by Chris Waller was the winner and he swopped late to just edge out GOLD TRIP who looked like the winner when taking over 200 metres out. Gold Trip could be seen travelling ominously well when posted out wide, but that could have been due to the slow early gallop, so the form of this may need to be treated with caution, as they are sure to go a much quicker pace.
KNIGHTS ORDER was the one to set the pace and he dictated after coming across from his high draw in stall 18. He led at an even tempo and tried to quicken off the front end entering the straight. He was soon joined by a number of rivals and looked like he would give way, but to his credit, he battled all the way to the line to finish third beaten just over a length. With a good draw, he may well try and go gate to wire and is not without a chance. He’ll surely be out of the way of any scrimmaging behind.
However, the one to take out of the race is the very fast-finishing MONTEFILIA trained by David Payne who was hampered twice at vital stages and this one hit the line full of running.
The Brits always target this race and DEAUVILLE LEGEND is the favourite on the early prices at around 9/2. He has grown in stature throughout this season and he won the Group 2 Great Voltigeur at York on his last run. His form ties in closely with the Derby runner-up HOO YA MAL who he just beat at Goodwood when both finished in behind New London in the Group 3 Gordon Stakes.
You have to go back to 1941 to find the last three-year-old winner of this race so even though they both hold decent form chances, will they really have the class against some proven class from Australia? The trends are certainly against them for sure.
FORM PICKS
The three-year-old Deauville Legend is the starting point here and trainer John Ferguson has taken no chances in booking leading rider Kerrin McEvoy for his charge. The three-year-old has continued to improve all season and looks sure to run a strong race. Trends are against three-year-olds in the race with Skipton the last one to win in 1941. Deauville Legend could well run into a place.
The major trial for this was the recent Caulfield Cup and it’s here where we find our main selection and that is MONTEFILIA 10/1 EW who finished fourth in that race but was hampered twice at very vital stages. The Caulfield Cup was run at a slow pace and this will be very different. It will allow the David Payne filly a chance to settle better and having run only three times in the last two years, you have the feeling this race has been a plan for some time.
Others that ran in the Caulfield Cup include Knights Order, Gold Trip and the winner Durston. Of those, then Knights Order who made the pace may well be the one as they are sure to go a much stronger pace here. It was to his credit that he battled gamely once the pace quickened in the home straight. He looked beaten but kept on well, and they will surely change tactics on Tuesday.
Other Major Race Meetings
As well as the Melbourne Cup, our expert Richard Smith covers all of the big race meetings from across the World and you can also read his thoughts on Cheltenham, The Grand National, Royal Ascot, Glorious Goodwood, The Prix De L’Arc de Triomphe, and The Breeders Cup.
