Melbourne Cup Trivia

The Melbourne Cup was first run on 7th November 1861 over a distance of two miles.

The winner, Archer (6/1), there was 17 in the field. First prize was a gold watch and £170. Previous Winners

His was the slowest winning time yet recorded for the race (3:52). The Cup was first presented to a winner in 1916. Since 1875 the race has been run on the first Tuesday in November.

This Melbourne Cup race attracted just 4000 people.  Over the next 20 years over 100,000 people would come to see the race.

The largest ever attendance was in 2000 when more than 120,000 people attended and saw Brew win the Melbourne Cup.

In 1972 the race was converted to the metric distance of 3200 metres which is 18.69 metres or 61.30 feet short of  two miles.

Find below other interesting Melbourne Cup trivia and facts about the great race.

MELBOURNE CUP RACE RECORD: 
Kingston Rule  1990 - 3 minutes 16.3 seconds

BIGGEST WINNING MARGINS:
8 lengths  -  Archer   1862  /  Rain Lover  1968

HIGHEST WINNING WEIGHT: 
10st 5 lb (65.5 kg)   Carbine
10st 2 lb (64.5 kg)   Archer
10st 0 lb  (63.5 kg)  Poitrel

LOWEST WINNING WEIGHT:
33.5kg, Banker 1863

HIGHEST WEIGHT CARRIED:
10st 10 lb (68 kg)   Phar Lap

Those most popular weight carried is 52.5kg with seven wins, followed by 53kgs and 49.5kgs with six wins each.

AGE OF WINNERS:                         
3 year old   -   23   (last 3yo - Skipton (1941)
4 year old   -   43
5 year old   -   42
6 year old   -   28
7 year old   -   10
8 year old   -   2

The last three-year-old to win the Cup was Skipton in 1941

SEX OF WINNER:
Entire 62
Gelding 49
Colts 19
Mares 13
Fillies 3

SHORTEST PRICED FAVOURITE:
8/11   Phar Lap   (1st  1930)

SHORTEST PRICED WINNING FAVOURITES
8/11   Phar Lap  (1st  1930)
7/4 Revnue (1908)
2/1 Archer (1862)

70 Cup favourites have finished in the first three placings.

The favourite has won 33 times.

LONGEST PRICED WINNERS
The Pearl 100/1 (1871)
Wotan 100/1 (1936)
Old Rowley  100/1 (1940)
Rimfire 80/1 (1948)

The longest priced winner in the last twenty years was Tawrrific in 1989 starting at 30/1.

ODDS:
10/1 - 14 Times
8/1 - 13 Times

DUAL WINNERS:
Archer   1861 - 62            
Peter Pan   1932 - 1934
Rain Lover    1968 - 69
Think Big   1974 - 75

TRIPLE WINNERS:
Makybe Diva 2003- 2005

SMALLEST FIELD:
7 starters 1863

LARGEST FIELD:
39 starters in 1890.

SUCCESSFUL JOCKEYS 4 WINS EACH:
Bobbie Lewis The Victory 1902, Patrobas 1915, Artilleryman 1919 & Trivalve 1927. Harry White Think Big 1974 and 1975, Arwon 1978 and Hyperno 1979

Harry White also holds a unique record of two Melbourne Cup doubles

Clare Lindop was the first Australian female to ride in the Cup when unplaced on Debben in 2003.

JOCKEYS COLOURS:
17 cup winning jockeys have worn black as their main colour. Last being George Podmore on Evening Peal in 1956.

Navy blue and royal blue with 14 wins

WINNERS OF THE CUP DOUBLES, MELBOURNE/CAULFIELD (11):
Poseidon 1906
The Trump 1937
Rivette 1939
Rising Fast 1954
Even Stevens 1962
Galilee 1966
Gurner's Lane 1982
Let's Elope1991
Doriemus 1995
Might and Power 1997
Ethereal 2001

WINNING BARRIERS:
Barrier 11.... 6 winners
Barriers 5, 6 and 19..... 5 winners

Since the barrier stalls were first used in the Cup in 1924, no horse has won the race from barrier 18. In that year (1924), the winner Backwood started from barrier 7. In the 77 years since, no other winner has started from it.

MOST WINNING NUMBER:
No 4 with 11 wins
No 12 with 10 wins
No. 1 with 11 wins
No. 8 with 8 wins
No. 11 with 7 wins

Makybe Diva winning in 2005 wearing no.1. The last horse carrying no.1 prior to that was Rising Fast in 1954.

The least successful number is 21 which hasn't been worn by a Cup winner since Bitalli in 1923.

TAB numbers 3, 6 and 8 have won nine of the last fifteen Cups.

TAB numbers to win only two Cups are 7, 16, 18, and 23.

Historically the best guides to the Melbourne Cup have been the Caulfield Cup and the Mackinnon Stakes.

TRAINER WITH MOST WINS:
Bart Cummings 11 wins

Jim Cummings trained one Cup winner, Comic Court in 1950. In 1965 his son Bart trained  his first Melbourne Cup winner, the four year old mare Light Fingers. He last won the race in 1999 with Rogan Josh.

Sheila Laxon was the first woman trainer to officially win the Melbourne Cup

PRIZE MONEY:
Melbourne Cup in 1861 was $1,420
Melbourne Cup in 2005 is $AU5.1 million

In 1985 the race reached $1 million dollars in prize money for the first time

MELBOURNE CUP TROPHY FACTS:
1861 - A trophy was not awarded
1865 - The first year a trophy was awarded. Silver bowl on a stand with a narrow neck with two ornate handles topped with a horse and rider
1867 - A silver trophy from England displays 'Alexander Taming the Horse
1876 - The first gold cup trophy manufactured in Victoria
1888 - Three silver horses on a silver plated base
1889 - The silver "tea and coffee service" reputed to have been unacceptable as a trophy
1922 - The Melbourne Cup trophy valued at 200 pounds
1953 - The Melbourne Cup trophy valued at 550 pounds
1960 - The Melbourne Cup trophy valued at 750 pounds
1973 - The Melbourne Cup trophy valued at $3000
1978 - The Melbourne Cup trophy valued at $9000
1984 - The Melbourne Cup trophy valued at $23 000
1987 - The Melbourne Cup trophy valued at $32 000
1999 - The Melbourne Cup trophy valued at $32 500
2000 - The Melbourne Cup trophy valued at $32 500
2001 - The Melbourne Cup trophy valued at $60 000
2006 - The Melbourne Cup trophy valued at $80 000

The Cup is made up of 34 pieces of hand-beaten eighteen carat gold and a lathe-produced base. Every year the Melbourne Cup trophy is awarded as a prize

TAB DIVIDENDS:
Record trifecta dividend on Melbourne Cup - $61,867.90 in 1993. NSW punters will bet more than $65 million on Cup day. Average spend per person is approximately $14, of which $12 is returned in dividends. The prize money for the first Cup in 1861 was 1,429 Pounds.