Today one of 22 horses is going to write their name in the history books, as the winner of the 162nd edition of the Melbourne Cup.
The nature of the Cup has changed over the years.
The 2022 renewal of the big race is different once again, but look deeper and the same patterns from recent years are still there.
So how did runners in the final field get to earn their crack at the most famous prize in Australian racing?
How to get in
There are only 24 spots available in the Melbourne Cup every year — and as you can imagine, there are a hell of a lot more than 24 trainers and connections who want to get their horses in.
So to come up with the final field, the Victoria Racing Club maintain a running Order of Entry — a process that includes a final ballot, giving an advantage to horses that produce certain types of race performances.
These include a range of results including:
- Coming in the top three in a Group race over a distance of at least 2,300m;
- Coming fourth or fifth in a Group One race of the same distance;
- Winning a Listed Race of similar distance;
- Coming sixth, seventh or eighth in the Caulfield Cup;
- Coming second or third in the Cox Plate;
- Winning the Turnbull Stakes;
- Coming second or third in the Melbourne Cup two years back;
- Winning the Caulfield Cup two years back.
These performances do not guarantee a place in the field, but the closer to the bottom of the aforementioned list you go, the more advantage the horse gets in the ballot.
The other element is the weight each horse is asked to carry by the chief handicapper. Every nominated horse gets a weight allocated, and then horses receive weight penalties for winning key races. The more weight allocated, the higher up the order of entry they go.
The big five
There are five races during the year where the winner is exempt from the ballot — i.e. an automatic qualifier for the Melbourne Cup field.
- Winner of Listed Race The Bart Cummings, Flemington, 2,500m
- Winner of Listed Race The Andrew Ramsden Stakes, Flemington, 2,800m
- Winner of the G3 Archer Stakes, Flemington, 2,500m
- Winner of the G1 Cox Plate, Moonee Valley, 2040m
- Winner of the G1 Caulfield Cup, Caulfield, 2400m
Horses who are set for the Melbourne Cup by trainers and connections will often target these races, in the hope of getting a guaranteed start.
This doesn't mean, however, that the winners of all five races will run in the Cup. For example, this year the Cox Plate was won by the Godolphin horse Anamoe, who is not a stayer (a runner in distance races) and was not entered in the Cup.
In the end, none of the winners will take their place.
Durston won the Caulfield Cup and was in the Cup field, but he was ruled out on vet's advice last Thursday. Surefire won the Archer Stakes, but was not entered in the Cup.
Point Nepean took out The Andrew Ramsden Stakes, and made the final field on Saturday — but the Lloyd Williams-owned horse was withdrawn on Sunday.
Then this morning Lunar Flare, the winner of the Bart Cummings, was also withdrawn after failing a vet exam, leaving just 22 to go around in the Cup.
The Internationals
The whole tenor of the Melbourne Cup changed in 1993.
There had been overseas-bred winners of the Cup prior to then, including American horses Beldale Ball (1980) and At Talaq (1986) for South Australian trainer Colin Hayes.
There were also dozens of New Zealand-bred winners of the Cup, from the mighty Phar Lap (1930) to Rising Fast (1954) and the Bart Cummings-trained trio of Light Fingers (1965), Galilee (1966) and Red Handed (1967).
But in 1993, Ireland's Dermot Weld became the first trainer from outside Australia and New Zealand to bring a horse to the Melbourne Cup and win, with Vintage Crop.
Since then, there have been eight more international winners — Media Puzzle (Ireland, 2002); Delta Blues (Japan, 2006); Americain (France, 2010); Dunaden (France, 2011); Protectionist (Germany, 2014); Rekindling (Ireland, 2017); Cross Counter (England, 2018) and Twilight Payment (Ireland, 2020).
This rush of overseas horses has made the Werribee International Horse Centre — the quarantine station for horse arrivals — a familiar location to racing fans.
The internationalisation of the Cup brought a few overseas staying races into play as lead-up events — the Prix Kergorlay in France (3,000m), the Irish St Leger (2,816m) and Curragh Cup (2,800m) in Ireland, the Ebor Handicap (2,787m) and Goodwood Cup (3,200m) in England.
At peak, the Cup field had 11 out of 24 internationals (in 2018). However, after a number of deaths of international horses breaking down in the Cup — capped by Anthony Van Dyck's death after the 2020 race — authorities introduced new regulations requiring horses to undergo standing CT scans before leaving for Australia and before the race.
This year there are only two true International raiders in the field — favourite Deauville Legend and fellow English horse Without A Fight.
German horse Loft arrived in Australia and was in the field but, like Durston, was ruled out on vet's advice.
Both Deauville Legend and Without A Fight are going into the Cup without a race in Australia.
Deauville Legend won the Group Two Great Voltigeur Stakes (2,385m) in August, and Without A Fight won the Group Three Silver Cup (2,787m) in July.
If you can't beat them ... the International 'converts'
With the flood of international winners in the last few decades, however, local trainers and owners have decided to get in on the act, buying horses from overseas and bringing them to Australia to aim at the Cup.
This year Gold Trip — fourth in the 2020 Prix De L'Arc De Triomphe and third in last year's Prix St Cloud (both over 2,400m) will race in the Cup for Ciaron Maher and David Eustace. English horse Grand Promenade will race for the same trainers, as will Irish horse Interpretation.
English horse Hoo Ya Mal, who ran second in this year's Epsom Derby (2,400m) among other races prior to coming to Australia, and Irish horse Knights Order — winner of the Sydney Cup (2022) and Brisbane Cup (2021) over 3,200m and 19th in last year's Melbourne Cup after arrival — will both run for Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott.
Irish horse Numerian will run for British trainer Annabel Neasham, who moved to Australia six years ago.
Ben and JD Hayes, the grandsons of dual Melbourne Cup-winning trainer Colin Hayes and sons of 1994 Melbourne Cup-winning trainer David Hayes, will have the Irish horse Camorra, which won the Curragh Cup earlier this year
Camorra and Hoo Ya Mal are the other two horses to travel to Australia at Cup time this year along with Deauville Legend and Without A Fight.
English-bred horse Emissary has come to New Zealand trainer Mike Moroney, who is based at Flemington.
Irish horse Serpentine, winner of the Epsom Derby in 2020, has joined master owner Lloyd Williams — who has won the Melbourne Cup a record seven times — and will run for trainer Robert Hickmott, even if their other horse, Point Nepean, will not run.
French horse Arapaho will take on the Cup for Sydney-based trainer Bjorn Baker.
The locals
Then there are the locally-bred (including New Zealand) and trained horses that have been here from the start.
Duais is trained by Ed Cummings, grandson of the "Cups King", 12-times winner Bart Cummings. Montefilia is trained by South African native David Payne.
Both these horses are hoping to emulate Verry Elleegant, who last year became the first mare to win the race since Makybe Diva in 2005.
Vow And Declare is back hoping to add to his 2019 Melbourne Cup win — he is trained by Danny O'Brien, who also has charge of the NZ-bred horse Young Werther.
Sydney trainer Joe Pride has the NZ-bred horse Stockman in the big race, while Symon Wilde has the NZ-bred horse Tralee Rose, who finished 9th in last year's Melbourne Cup.
And Philip Stokes has the NZ-bred Daqiansweet Junior, the winner of the Adelaide Cup and 3rd in the Sydney Cup.
Key Australian races
Australian lead-up races have changed over time for the Melbourne Cup.
In the past, large numbers of horses would race their final lead-up on Derby Day three days out from the Melbourne Cup, in the Hotham Handicap (now the Archer Stakes) or in the Mackinnon Stakes. The Mackinnon is now raced the four days after the Cup, so is irrelevant to Cup preparation.
No horse — Australian or international — has won the race that stops the nation after running on Derby Day since Shocking won the Hotham Handicap / Archer Stakes before backing up for victory in the Cup in 2009.
The Geelong Cup (2,400m), 13 days out from the big race was a direct qualifier for a while, with winners Media Puzzle, Americain and Dunaden going on to win the Melbourne Cup.
Emissary had met one criteria by winning the Listed Race Pakenham Cup over 2,500m last year. When he won this year's Geelong Cup he received a 0.5kg weight penalty to take him to 51.5kg, which ended up being enough weight to make the final field.
Even those who don't win the automatic qualifying races still run in them to prepare.
Of this year's Caulfield Cup, the horses who finished second to eighth — Gold Trip, Knights Order, Montefilia, fifth placed Numerian, 2019 winner Vow and Declare, Smokin' Romans and Duais — as well as the 13th across the line, Tralee Rose, will all run in the Cup.
Gold Trip went on to run ninth in the Cox Plate as his final lead-up to the Cup, one ahead of Young Werther.
Other lead-up races included the Turnbull Stakes (2,000m) at Flemington, the Herbert Power Stakes (2,400m) and the Caulfield Cup (2,400m) at Caulfield, and the Moonee Valley Cup (2,500m).
In Sydney, horses like Realm of Flowers (3rd), Stockman (4th) and Arapaho (8th) ran in the Group 1 Metropolitan Handicap at Randwick over 2,400m.
The last horse to earn a qualification into the field was Serpentine, whose second place in the Archer Stakes allowed him to pass the "ballot clause" by placing in a Group Two over 2,500m.
Realm of Flowers and Interpretation pulled out of the Archer, with trainers and connections taking the chance they had already made the Cup field. They went on to make the race through the ballot.
Of course, once you make the race, it doesn't matter if you are a "hit-and-run" raider like Deauville Legend, Camorra, Without A Fight and Hoo Ya Mal, or a horse that is going for his 15th run without a spell (major break) since April like Arapaho.
They may have travelled hardly any distance at all, or halfway round the world.
All that remains now is their "grand final": a three-minute staying test in the race that stops a nation.
How the field got here
- 1 GOLD TRIP (FR) 57.5kg - 2nd G1 Caulfield Cup, 2400m. Latest 8th G1 Cox Plate (WFA), 2,040m, Moonee Valley
- 2 DUAIS 55.5kg - Won G1 Tancred Stakes, 2,400m (WFA) Newcastle. Latest 8th G1 Caulfield Cup, 2400m, Caulfield
- 3 KNIGHTS ORDER (IRE) 55.5kg - Won G1 Sydney Cup, 3200m Randwick 2022. Latest 3rd G1 Caulfield Cup, 2400m, Caulfield
- 4 MONTEFILIA 55.5kg Won G1 The Metropolitan, 2,400m, Randwick (2021) Latest 4th, G1 Caulfield Cup, 2400m, Caulfield
- 5 NUMERIAN (IRE) 55.5kg 5th G1 Caulfield Cup 2400m, Caulfield
- 6 WITHOUT A FIGHT (IRE) 55.5kg Won G3 Silver Cup, 2787m, York, England. Latest 2nd, Listed Race, 2414m, Newmarket, England
- 7 CAMORRA (IRE) 55kg $23 Won G2 Curragh Cup, 2800m The Curragh, Ireland
- 8 DEAUVILLE LEGEND (IRE) 55kg $6 Won Great Voltigeur Stakes, 2,385m, York, England
- 9 STOCKMAN (NZ) 54kg $34 2nd G1 Tancred Stakes, 2400m, Newcastle (WFA)
- 10 VOW AND DECLARE 54kg 6th G1 Caulfield Cup 2400m Caulfield
- 11 YOUNG WERTHER (NZ) 54kg 2nd G1 ATC Derby 2400m Randwick (2021). Latest 10th G1 Cox Plate (WFA), 2,040m Moonee Valley
- 12 HOO YA MAL (GB) 53.5kg 2nd G1 Epsom Derby 2400m Epsom, England Latest 8th G1 English St Leger, Doncaster, England
- 13 SERPENTINE (IRE) 53.5kg 2nd G3 Archer Stakes 2500m, Flemington
- 14 DAQIANSWEET JUNIOR (NZ) 53kg 3rd G1 Sydney Cup 3200m Randwick Latest 2nd St Leger, Randwick, 2600m
- 15 GRAND PROMENADE (GB) 53kg Won G3 Bart Cummings, 2500m, Flemington 2021 Latest 4th G2 Moonee Valley Cup, 2500m, Moonee Valley
- 16 ARAPAHO (FR) 52.5kg Won Listed Race Grafton Cup 2350m Grafton 2022 Latest 2nd St Leger, 2600m, Randwick
- 17 EMISSARY (GB) 51.5kg Won G3 Geelong Cup 2400m, Geelong
- 18 LUNAR FLARE SCRATCHED
- 19 SMOKIN' ROMANS (NZ) 51.5kg Won Listed Race Pakenham Cup, 2500m, Pakenham 2021. Latest 7th G1 Caulfield Cup, 2400m, Caulfield
- 20 TRALEE ROSE (NZ) 51.5kg Won G3 Geelong Cup, 2400, Geelong 2021. Latest 13th G1 Caulfield Cup, 2400m, Caulfield
- 21 POINT NEPEAN (IRE) SCRATCHED
- 22 HIGH EMOCEAN 50kg Latest Won G3 Bendigo Cup, 2400m, Bendigo
- 23 INTERPRETATION (IRE) 50kg Won Listed Race Vinnie Roe Stakes 2800m Ireland 2021 Latest 6th G3 Geelong Cup, 2400m, Geelong
- 24 REALM OF FLOWERS 50kg Won Andrew Ramsden Stakes 2800m Flemington 2021 Latest 3rd G1 Metropolitan Handicap, 2400m, Randwick
