Beginner’s Guide: Essential Tips for First-Time Melbourne Cup Bettors

In just a week, 24 horses and their jockeys will—no pun intended—jockey for the podium finish in the Melbourne Cup. With AUD$8 million (USD$5 million) at stake, they’ll no doubt push themselves to a podium finish. While the first twelve to finish are guaranteed to win cash prizes, only first place will go home millions richer.

But podium-finish horse racing teams aren’t the only ones going home richer. Australians spend thousands wagering on their favorite steed in hopes of making a profit, and the bettor population is more or less growing with each passing year. They love horse races so much that the Melbourne Cup is dubbed “the race that stops the nation.”

Don't be intimidated if this is your first time wagering on this race. Everyone betting in the Cup now was once a beginner at some point. On top of that, you now have the help of this beginner’s guide based on years of lessons learned. 

Favorites rarely win

In many horse racing discussions, you’ll hear people talking about favorites to finish first place in a race, and the Melbourne Cup’s no exception. Sadly, many bettors, both experienced and complete novices, fall for this trap too easily.

According to one estimate, throughout the Cup’s 162-year-old history, way fewer winning horses were favorites. As of this writing, the last favorite that won was the Irish-bred Fiorente in 2013. In terms of a podium finish, Incentivise finished second in 2021 after an upset by non-favorite Verry Elleegant.

That isn’t to say you should totally rule them out. For starters, as you’ll learn later, wagering for the first-place steed isn’t the only way bettors make a heck of a payout. Even if a horse doesn’t win the race, a place finish can still generate a win if the odds are huge enough.

The best way to increase your chances of winning is to stay regularly informed of Melbourne Cup updates and related news through trusted horse racing websites like racenet.com.au/melbourne-cup and similar sites. The weeks leading to the main race are chock-full of information about the horses vying to get into the final 24. 

Multiple ways to win big

A major advantage of horse race betting is that it guarantees you a win in various manners. Of course, sportsbooks still let bettors wager on who they think will take first place, called a win bet. But as the timeless adage goes: “Never put all your eggs in one basket.” Here are several other ways of betting on the horses in the Cup.

• Place bet

A place bet guarantees a payout if the horse secures a podium finish – meaning they came in first, second, or third. Making a place bet increases your chances of a payout, but the amount is typically about 20% of what you’d get in a win bet.

• Each-way bet

This bet combines win and place bets for a payout that’s larger than either bet alone. To do this, you make an equal wager on the horse winning and placing. This requires a larger bet, and a place finish only gets you the place bet.

• Exacta and trifecta bets

An exacta bet involves betting on horses to finish first and second in that order (hence the term “exacta”). This approach works when you notice a pattern among the first and second-place horses of the races prior to the Melbourne Cup. 

Meanwhile, a trifecta bet is similar but involves first, second, and third finishers. There’s also a first-four bet, which is self-explanatory at this point. 

• Quadrella bet

The Melbourne Cup consists of ten races, all happening on the same day. Making a quadrella bet, popularly called a quaddie, involves wagering on the winning horses of the last four Cup races. Although one of the most complicated, successful quaddies lead to a massive payout.

Double and treble bets work similarly but involve two and three races, respectively. Unlike a quaddie, these bets don’t need to be the last few races.

Other types of betting exist depending on the sportsbook. That said, consider starting with any of these bets to get the hang of things. Also, it pays to watch resource videos from trusted guides such as this channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Racenet_AU 

Mind the barrier

Days before the big event, the 24 contestants will draw for their barrier number in the Melbourne Cup. Taking barrier numbers into account may sound arbitrary, but they can give horses a major advantage or disadvantage in the race—in theory.

With a total length of 3.2 km (1.99 miles), the Melbourne Cup races will push the horse and their jockey’s endurance to the limit. They’d want to be savvy about their stamina to win or at least place, so they aim to run as close to the rails as possible. The smaller circumference means less ground to cover and less time subjected to attrition.

The barriers are arranged relative to the distance to the rails, with Barrier 1 being the closest and Barrier 24 being the farthest. Upon engaging on the main track, the horse on Barrier 1 can close in on the rails more easily than the rest. Horses still stuck on the outer track after entering face a longer race due to the larger circumference.

But while all this sounds great, race statistics beg to differ.

Throughout the Cup’s history, Barriers 5 and 11 produced the most winning horses. Also, remember Verry Elleegant? Besides the upset, the mare’s win made headlines for breaking the century-long winless curse on Barrier 18. Then, last year, two horses that placed in the top five started from Barriers 22 and 24, respectively.

Barrier betting isn’t unusual, but it shouldn’t be relied upon without knowing who’ll be inside. A nimble thoroughbred on Barrier 24 can still turn things around, especially if the one in Barrier 1 can’t outrun their peers fast enough. 

If you need to wager based on numbers, considering the horse’s biological features will improve your chances more reliably. As of 2022, four and five-year-olds have accounted for more than half of all Melbourne Cup wins. Geldings or castrated male horses have netted more victories than other horse genders.

Watch the lead-up races

Hundreds of horse racing teams vie to race in the prestigious Melbourne Cup, but only 24 will be chosen. The Racing Victoria event committee will select 17 horses based on their weight and age. The rest consist of the winners of seven lead-up races, namely:

• Roy Higgins Quality

• Andrew Ramsden Stakes

• Ebor Handicap (for non-Australian horses)

• The Bart Cummings

• Caulfield Cup

• W.S. Cox Plate

• Lexus Archer Stakes (a.k.a. Hotham Handicap)

Another race worth monitoring is the Geelong Cup. While not a ballot-exempt race like the ones on the list, the winner may earn a penalty that can qualify them for the Melbourne Cup. The penalties help level the playing field among thoroughbreds of various weights. Even the ballot-exempt winners aren’t exempted from them.

For the longest time, bettors have mostly focused on the Caulfield Cup and Cox Plate when making their bets. First-place finishes in these races are far from guaranteeing victory in the Melbourne Cup, but the winners here perform well enough in the latter to lead to a huge payout. 

Conclusion

With Australia’s most prominent horse race around the corner, first-time bettors will need every second of spare time they can get to prepare. Fortunately, the Internet has no shortage of details of race winners, their odds, and thoroughbred data. It pays to gather as much information as you can to make sounder bets. The experience can prove useful for next year’s race.