By HRI Foreign Staff — The Melbourne Cup is the race that stops a nation. It is the most important horse race in Australia, and fans anticipate the event every year. Sports fans across Australia are already talking about the 2023 Melbourne Cup race. The event is still a few months away, but trainers are preparing their horses for the big event.
The race attracts the best and brightest in Australian racing each year. The top jockeys, trainers, and horses all make their way to Flemington Racecourse to get a piece of the multi-million-dollar prize purse.
It is never too early to research the Melbourne Cup. Fans can get to know the top Melbourne Cup trainers for 2023 to predict which one will ride to glory.
When is the 2023 Melbourne Cup race?
The 2023 edition of the Melbourne Cup will be held on Tuesday, 7 November 2023. Once again, the race will take place at Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne. Opened in 1840, the venue holds around 120,000 people. An assortment of major horse races is held at Flemington Racecourse throughout the year. It welcomes horses for jumps, flat, and steeplechase contests.
How much is the prize purse worth?
The 2023 Melbourne Cup will offer a prize purse worth $8 million. It is the world’s richest handicap race. Only Australia’s The Everest and Golden Eagle flat races are worth money on the continent. The race is called a “two-mile classic”, as horses race anti-clockwise around Flemington Racecourse. The surface of the track is grass turf, rather than dirt.
What are the lead-up races to the Melbourne Cup?
Horses will race several lead-up races to the Flemington Racecourse event. The Cox Plate and the Geelong Cup are the two key races horses will run in the build-up.
The Cox Plate is run over a distance of around 1.25 miles. The Geelong Cup takes in a distance of about 1.5 miles. Both races provide an indication of which horse could win the Melbourne Cup.
In 2005, Makybe Diva won the Cox Plate and the Melbourne Cup in the same year. It was the last horse to do the exclusive race double. The last Geelong Cup and Melbourne Cup double-winner was Dunaden in 2011. The French horse’s double win came just one year after Americain did the Geelong Cup-Melbourne Cup double.
Recent Melbourne Cup Winners
The Melbourne Cup welcomes three-year-old thoroughbred racehorses to Flemington Racecourse each year. Recent winners have come from abroad, as the “Race that Stops a Nation” has become more international. Here is a look at the last 10 cup winners:
• Gold Trip 2022
• Verry Elleegant 2021
• Twilight Payment 2020
• Vow and Declare 2019
• Cross Counter 2018
• Rekindling 2017
• Almadin 2016
• Prince of Penzance 2015
• Protectionist 2014
• Fiorent 2013
Makybe Diva is the most successful horse in Melbourne Cup history. It won three cups in consecutive years from 2003 to 2005. Jockeys Bobbie Lewis and Harry White are the most successful, with four wins apiece. Lewis won four times between 1902 and 1927. White’s wins came in a shorter timeframe between 1974 and 1979.
