Melbourne Cup Trivia

The Melbourne Cup was first run on 7th November 1861 over a distance of two miles. FREE $200 Bet

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

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 Melbourne Cup.

The largest ever attendance was in 2003 when more than 122,737 people attended and saw Makybe Diva win her first of three Melbourne Cups.

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

MELBOURNE CUP ATTENDANCES
2010 - 110,223
2009 - 102,000
2008 - 107,000
2007 - 102,411
2006 - 106,691
2005 - 106,479
2004 - 98,181
2003 - 122,736 (record)

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 (66.0 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 10lb (68 kg) Phar Lap and lost
The most popular weight carried is 52.5kg and 53kg with eight wins each, followed by 47, 48, 51, and 56kgs each with seven wins.

AGE OF WINNERS:
3 year old - 23 (last 3yo - Skipton (1941)
4 year old - 44
5 year old - 43
6 year old - 30
7 year old - 10
8 year old - 2

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

SEX OF WINNERS:
Entire 64
Gelding 50
Colts 21
Mares 13
Fillies 3

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

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

FAVOURITES RECORD
34 of 150 favourites (23%) have won the Melbourne Cup.
71 Cup favourites have finished in the first three placings.

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

The longest priced winners in the last twenty years was Viewed at 40/1 in 2008 then Tawrrific in 1989 starting at 30/1.

ODDS:
10/1 - 15 Times
8/1 - 13 Times

DUAL WINNERS:
Archer 1861 - 1862
Peter Pan 1932 - 1934
Rain Lover 1968 - 1969
Think Big 1974 - 1975

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 CUP/CAULFIELD CUP(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:
Barriers 5, 10, 11 and 14....6 winners
Barriers 6, 8, and 19.....5 winners
Barriers 1, 4, 17 and 22....4 winners

Since the barrier stalls were first used in the Cup in 1924, no horse has won the race from barrier 18. Descarado winning in 2010, was given barrier 18 but due to scratchings jumped from barrier 15.

In the year 1924, the winner Backwood started from barrier 7. In the 85 years since, Makybe Diva is the only other winner starting from that barrier winning in 2004.

MOST WINNING NUMBER:
No 4 and No 12 with 11 wins
No 1 with 9 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.

TAB numbers 4 and 6 have won four of the last fifteen Cups.

TAB numbers to win only one Cup are 26, 28 and 39.

TAB numbers to win only two Cups are 7, 16, 18, 21, 23 and 25.

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

TRAINER WITH MOST WINS:
Bart Cummings 12 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 2008 with Viewed.

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 was $5.1 million
Melbourne Cup in 2009 is $5.65 million
Melbourne Cup in 2010 is $6 million plus trophies to celebrate th 150th running of the race.
Melbourne Cup in 2011 is $6.16 million plus trophies.

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

MELBOURNE CUP TROPHY FACTS:
1861 - The trophy took the form of a "hand beaten" gold watch
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.
1868 - 1875 No mention of trophy presented.
1876 - The first gold cup trophy manufactured in Victoria.
1877 - 1886 No trophy presented.
1887 - Dunlop A golden horse-shoe mounted on a plush stand and valued at 100 sovereigns .
1888 - Three silver horses on a silver plated base.
1889 - The silver "tea and coffee service" reputed to have been unacceptable as a trophy.
1890 - A silver ewer, salver and tazzas are representative of this magnificent trophy.
1891 - A trophy measuring two feet in length and fifteen inches high of a draped figure of Victory, standing on a pedestal. holding out an olive wreath to a jockey upon his horse.
1893 - Multi-piece trophy of silver tankard, punch bowl and beakers.
1894 - 1898 Trophies were not presented as the economic depression engulfed the nation.
1900 - A tea and coffee service was presented.
1908 - Three feet long plaque of an embossed silver galloping horse resembling a greyhound. Much ridiculed.
1909 - Two handled silver cups.
1913 - Silver epergne.
1914 - This was the last year the Melbourne Cup Trophy was made in England.
1915 - A large rose bowl that was made in Australia.
1916 - The first gold cup is presented.
1918 - Two handled gold cup trophy.
1919 - James Steeth's three handled "loving cup" first introduced.
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 $80 000. The Cup moves from 9ct to 18ct gold. Valued at $80,000.
2005 - The breeder of the Cup winner will be presented with a Melbourne Cup ½ sized Cup.
2006 - The Melbourne Cup trophy valued at $100 000.
2008 - The Melbourne Cup trophy valued at $125 000.
2010 - The Cup has been remodelled on the trophy won by Phar Lap in 1930 and is valued at $150,000.

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 trifectas dividend on the Melbourne Cup - $61,867.90 in 1993.
2009 punters across the country splurged on Tuesday's Melbourne Cup with a record $95.6 million outlaid on the Victorian and New South Wales TABs. Average spend per person is approximately $8.50, of which $7.30 is returned in dividends. The prize money for the first Cup in 1861 was 1,420 Pounds.