Melbourne Cup 2026 Preview

Melbourne Cup 2026 Preview

Track: Flemington.

Distance/type: 3200m. Handicap.

Date: Tuesday, 3 November.

Total prize money: $10,200,000.

First prize: $4,500,000.

Race and Time: Race 7 (3.00 pm).

Melbourne Cup 2026 – First Declarations

Melbourne Cup – Entries

The 2026 Melbourne Cup entries are down to 71 horses after First Declarations were declared on 29 September. There were no surprises in the horses that didn’t pay up to stay in the field.

Weights were announced on 17 September. The weights were raised 1.5kg to meet the requirement that there must be a top weight of 59kg. The top-weighted horse is Half Yours (59kg), who won last year’s Cup with 53kg.

Melbourne Cup – Key Dates

The following are the important dates to come for the 2026 Melbourne Cup:Second Declarations: 13 October

Third Declarations: 26 October

Final Declarations: The VRC committee will meet to select the 24-horse field after the final declarations close at 4.30 pm, Saturday, 31 October (Derby Day).

Barrier draw: The owners or their representatives will hold the all-important “draw of barriers” in the Flemington racecourse mounting yard at around 6.30 pm.

Melbourne Cup 2026 – Latest News

International Horses Heading for the Cup

Irish trainer Joseph O’Brien has an incredible nine horses heading to Australia who are in the Cup entries. 

Already in quarantine at Werribee are Small Fry, Starford, Omni Man and Kizlyar. The four will need to win a qualifying race to make the Cup field. 

Also heading to Melbourne are O’Brien’s big guns, Defiantly, James J Braddock, Goodie Two Shoes, Trustyourinstincts and Sons And Lovers, who are guaranteed a Cup start.

English stayer Hopewell Rock is already at Werribee, and Wine Dark Sea will be in the next shipment. From Japan comes Stinger Glass.

Melbourne Cup – The Trainers

Of course, no trainer has come close to the legendary Bart Cummings’s 12 Melbourne Cups. 

The nearest are the recently retired Lee Freedman and the pioneer trainer of Archer, Etienne de Mestre, with five Cups.

Past winning Melbourne Cup trainers with entries in the 2026 Melbourne Cup include young Irishman Joseph O’Brien (9 entries), who won with Rekindling in 2017 and Twilight Payment in 2020. 

O’Brien’s entries include the current favourite Defiantly, English Derby placegetter James J Braddock and last year's Cup runner-up, Goodie Two Shoes.

Chris Waller (9) and Ciaron Maher (14) have been the dominant trainers in the past decades, especially with stayers. They each have a win. 

Maher won with Gold Trip in 2023 (when in partnership with David Eustace), and Waller’s came in 2021 with Verry Elleegant. 

Maher has last year’s placegetter Middle Earth as his top entry, along with Bart Cummings winner Mr Monaco, rising star Zahrann and the mare Shockletz. Waller hopes his star mare Aeliana can win him a second Melbourne Cup.

Gai Waterhouse’s only Cup win was with Fiorente in 2013. She now trains in partnership with Adrian Bott. Their entries include the imported galloper The Euphrates.

Last year’s Cup was won by father-son combination Tony and Calvin McEvoy with Half Yours, who will carry topweight of 59kg.

In 2024, the partnership of Sheila Laxon and John Symons shocked the world when Knight’s Choice won at triple-figure odds. Laxon also won in 2001 with Ethereal. Knight’s Choice is back for another tilt at the great race.

Danny O’Brien rarely is without a good stayer in his stable. He won in 2019 with Vow And Declare. He is heading to the 2026 Cup with Litzdeel.

Melbourne Cup – The Jockeys

Australia’s champion jockey James McDonald won his only Melbourne Cup on Verry Elleegant in 2021. As usual, he’s expected to get the pick of the horses from the Chris Waller stable, including the early Melbourne Cup favourite, Aeliana.

Kerrin McEvoy will be attempting history in becoming only the third jockey to win four Melbourne Cups, joining greats Bobby Lewis and Harry White. McEvoy has won on Brew (2000), Almandin (2016) and Cross Counter (2018). 

Another multiple Melbourne Cup-winning jockey is Mark Zahra, who won on Gold Trip (2022) and Without A Fight (2023). He has picked up the Cup ride on last year’s winner Half Yours, who was ridden by Jamie Melham.

Craig Williams produced a peach of a ride to win on Vow And Declare in 2019. He will be in demand because he rides so light.

Blake Shinn was only a kid when he won on Viewed in 2008. He has returned from injury and will be looking for a Cup mount. 

The 2024 winning rider (on Knights Choice), the singing jockey Robbie Dolan, will be hoping for another lightweight ride.

Other Cup-winning jockeys who are likely to be in Melbourne are Englishman Ryan Moore (won on Protectionist in 2013) and Jye McNeil (Twilight Payment).

Frenchman Christophe Lemaire, who has been riding in Japan with great success, has been booked to ride Japanese runner Stinger Glass. Lemaire won the Cup on Dunaden in 2011.

Melbourne Cup – The Lead-up Races

The winners of the following races run in 2026 are exempt from the ballot and are guaranteed a start in the 2026 Melbourne Cup:

The Roy Higgins – won by Whisky On The Hill

The Andrew Ramsden – won by Zakouma

USA Belmont Gold Cup – won by Tawny Port

Archer Stakes – Shockletz

The Bart Cummings – Mr Monaco

Caulfield Cup – 17 October

Geelong – 21 October

Moonee Valley Cup – 23 October

Cox Plate – 24 October

Melbourne Cup – The Horses To Follow

Half Yours: He won the Caulfield Cup-Melbourne Cup double last season with Jamie Melham in the saddle. He hasn’t won since, but spring in Melbourne is his time. Aiming to be only the sixth horse to win more than one Melbourne Cup. Jockey Jamie Melham has been replaced by Mark Zahra.

Defiantly: Trained by Joseph O’Brien. He is a fast-running stayer who won the Prix Kergolay at Deauville in France. It’s a race that Cup winners Americain, Dunaden and Protectionist used as a lead-up to winning the Melbourne Cup.

Aeliana: Trainer Chris Waller has set her for a Cox Plate and a Melbourne Cup. He will be training her to stay the 3200m. She’s too talented to ignore.

Hopewell Rock: Trained in England by George Boughey. This gelding ran a terrific second in The Ebor – England’s most important handicap – and he has the profile of a Melbourne Cup winner.

Goodie Two Shoes: Almost gave trainer Joseph O’Brien his third Melbourne Cup last year when second behind Half Yours. The most recent horse to win the Cup after a placing was Fiorente in 2012.

Trustyourinstinct: Another trainer by Joseph O’Brien. He won the Curragh Cup, and he’s a genuine stayer.

Small Fry: A lightweight in the Joseph O’Brien stable. There has been solid early money for this horse, who may need to win a Geelong Cup to get into the Cup field.

Zakouma: He is guaranteed a Cup start after winning the Ramsden in May. Genuine stayer who will have a lightweight on his back.

Middle Earth: Trainer Ciaron Maher says last year’s third-place getter is his best chance of winning the 2026 Melbourne Cup.

Ohope Wins: The NZ and Australian Oaks winner in the Waller stable. She has the class.

Green Spaces: Phar Lap (1930) is the most recent Australian Derby winner to win the Melbourne Cup as a four-year-old, so he faces a daunting task. However, he’s very good.

Stinger Glass: The sole Japanese entry. He has a similar profile to Japanese horses who have run well in the Cup.

Melbourne Cup – The Early Tips

1 Defiantly (Joseph O’Brien)

2 Aeliana (Chris Waller)

3 Trustyourinstinct (Joseph O’Brien)

The roughies: Small Fry, Zakouma, Hopewell Rock.