Cup Form Guide

Melbourne Cup Form Guide

The Melbourne Cup is Australia cultural symbol for sports, much like what the Grand National is to England, or what the Superbowl is to the United States. Dubbed around the world as the “race that stops a nation”, the Melbourne Cup is a race of elite thoroughbred horses at a distance of 3200 metres. Flemington Racecourse is packed with more than 120,000 spectators during the Melbourne Cup, and the race is watched by more than 700 million people around the world. Millions more bet on the Melbourne Cup through office and dorm room wagers, Melbourne Cup sweepstakes and online betting websites.

Final 2017 Melbourne Cup Results

• 1st.Rekindling
• 2nd.Johannes Vermeer
• 3rd.Max Dynamite
• 4th.Big Duke

Watch the 2017 Melbourne Cup on Tuesday, November 7th at 3:00PM AEDT. Cup Form Guide

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The Melbourne Cup is held every first Tuesday of November. As the richest “two-mile” race in the world, the Melbourne Cup is the highlight of a series of racing events in Australia called the Spring Racing Carnival. Other top races during the spring racing season are Victoria Racing Club Derby, Victoria Racing Club Stakes, Victoria Racing Club Oaks, Caulfield Cup, Cox Plates, and Caulfield Plates.

For many Australians, the Melbourne Cup is much more than a great race. The days surrounding the race attracts hundreds of thousands of people in Flemington for dining, picnics, fairs, and musical performances. The Melbourne Cup reminds city locals and Australians about their cultural heritage. The day of the Melbourne Cup is a declared public holiday in metropolitan Melbourne.

The best horse runners in Australia have competed and won in the Melbourne Cup. The list of great horses over the years includes Archer, Carbine, Phar Lap, Raising Fast, Briseis, and Makybe Diva.

Melbourne Cup Betting

The Melbourne Cup is the most watched thoroughbred horse race in Australia and one of the most wagered events in the world. An estimated 75% of the Australian adult population have a stake on the Melbourne Cup, either from placing a bet on local money pools, joining the Melbourne Cup sweepstakes, entering in fixed odds betting markets, or placing wagers on online sports betting websites. There is no shortage of opportunities to win a large sum of money in the Melbourne Cup.

Like all widely-covered horse races, the Melbourne Cup is a tricky race to wager on. A big factor in winning wagers on the Melbourne Cup is how weight handicaps affect the performance of a horse. A good knowledge on the form of the horse, ability to handle weights and the combined previous record from different races is important for punters to make a smart wager. Knowledge on other factors like how the draw affects race at Flemington Park, track conditions, workouts, and jockey talent can also affect the result of the race.

Here are some of the basic tips that you can use for successful Melbourne Cup Betting.

The Melbourne Cup is one of the few elite thoroughbred horse races where fillies have had great success over colts. A great example is Makybe Diva who won a record three straight times in the Melbourne Cup, becoming the only mare to win the Cup multiple times. Smart punters should not discount the ability of fillies with strong records to win the race, especially since weight handicap may favour fillies.

While international horses mainly from Europe and Japan have been making the journey to Australia in increasing numbers, the Melbourne Cup has always been dominated by local-bred horses. This does not mean that Australian horses are better. Instead, home court advantage and the fact that international horses have to endure quarantine and long travel to get to Australia can weigh against their performance. Winners of English and Irish classics often receive good media coverage coming into the Melbourne Cup, and as a result, they are backed heavily by casual punters. Before you bet on a foreign horse make sure that you account for these tangential factors.

Recent performances are good measures on how a horse will do in the Melbourne Cup. There are several races held just before and during the Spring Racing Carnival that are considered trial events for the Melbourne Cup. Most thoroughbreds competing in the Melbourne Cup usually join a couple of these races. The race which produced the most number of Melbourne Cup champions is the Caulfield Cup. Most horses that won the Caulfield Cup usually increase their fixed betting odds.

Recent Melbourne Cup winners are usually “weighted-out” of the race. This means that more weight is added to previous cup winners to level the playing field. This is the reason why it is rare for previous winners to win a second Melbourne Cup. Consider the additional weight handicap to previous champions before backing them.

In the whole history of the Melbourne Cup, only 25 horses won as odd-on favourites, for a win rate of less than 12.5%. Picking the favourite does not guarantee a win, even if the horse is heavily favoured based on odds. The record for a horse winning the Melbourne Cup with the shortest odds is Phar Lap with odds of 11/8 in 1931.

The age of the horse runner is not considered a heavy factor in Melbourne Cup betting. Punters should watch for horses that have consistently produced wins in the last two-three years of their career. Older horses are still better bets than young, speedy horses in Melbourne Cup betting.

Flemington is a well trimmed and excellently maintained racecourse. But years of data suggests that horses drawn on the inside of the left-handed course have a greater chance of winning compared to other positions in the draw.

Finally, consult a good Melbourne Cup form guide for all of the most pertinent information on each and every horse set to compete in the race. A good form guide will give you everything from past runs, days from last start, jockey and trainer information, wins over the distance, as well as odds on each competing horse.

Whether you are a casual punter, or dedicated fan of the sport, always remember that punting is much of a sport as the race that is being wagered on. If you do your best to back a horse without bias and with utmost objectivity, you will easily understand the fundamentals of horse race betting.

Melbourne Cup betting is one of the most exciting events in Australian horse betting. Picking a random horse is just as fun as doing all the research necessary to punt smartly. In the end, casual punter or not, we will all be cheering at the same time when the race starts.