Compare and contrast the 2018 Melbourne Cup odds from the top bookies below. Australia’s most famous horse race is run on the first Tuesday of November. Check out our betting comparison table & claim your free bets from the bookmakers.
Melbourne Cup Betting Odds 2018
Tuesday 6th November, 2018, 3pm local (4am GMT); 2m, Flemington; Click best odds bold; Place: 1/4 odds 1,2,3,4.
Recent Melbourne Cup betting odds history
Melbourne Cup betting takes hold of all Australians on the first Tuesday of every November. There is a national holiday for the ‘race that stops a nation’ and if you are an Aussie and have not had a bet, well the odds are you are a bit crook cobber.
The big race is the culmination of a four day racing carnival that takes place at Flemington racecourse. It is the world’s richest two-mile handicap, run on turf over two miles and is open to horses that are three-year-olds and older of either gender. The prize fund for the winner is circa $5million with serious money down to tenth place.
There is also a large cash bonus on offer for any horse that wins both the Melbourne Cup and the Irish St Leger at the Curragh in the same year.
The first running of the Cup was in 1861 in front of a 4000-strong crowd. Nowadays Flemington is packed with 150,000 as Australia comes to a standstill.
With millions of dollars up for grabs and air transport of horses an everyday occurrence, foreign raiders are increasingly targeting the contest, fuelling betting interest worldwide. Raiders from Ireland, France and Japan have won the race in recent history. While British-trained horses have filled the runner-up spot, they have yet to win it.
The Irish trainer, Dermot Weld, has been the most successful foreign ‘raider’, twice scooping the spoils. His first victory was with Vintage Crop ridden by Mick Kinane in 1993. His bid to retain the title the next year was unsuccessful but Vintage Crop did manage a creditable third place in his swansong run as an eight-year-old in 1995. He finished behind the five-year-old Doriemus and the three-year-old Nothin’ Leica Dane.
Another foreign raider in 1995 had a wasted trip. Mark Johnston’s Double Trigger, the pride of small-time owner/breeder Ron Huggins, started the 7/2 favourite in the Melbourne Cup betting odds but finished a dismal last.
In 2002 Weld sent his duo of Vinnie Roe and Media Puzzle. Vinnie Roe started the 9-2 favourite while Media Puzzle went off the second favourite at 11-2. The punters weren’t far wrong. Media Puzzle beat local 40-1 shot, Mr Prudent, by two lengths to win the race. Vinnie Roe finished fourth. This time Mick Kinane partnered Sir Michael Stoute’s 30-1 shot, Daliapour, who finished back in 16th place of the 23-runner field. Two years later Vinnie Roe started at 5-1 in the 2004 renewal and finished second to the 13-5 favourite, Makybe Diva. That mare won the Cup three years in a row from 2003 to 2005 for trainer Glen Boss.
It is not just the Irish who have robbed the Australians of their most prestigious prize. In 2006 the English and Irish contingents were well beaten by Japanese trainer, Katsuhiko Sumii. The talents of Sumii’s two runners didn’t go unnoticed by the locals in the Melbourne Cup betting. Pop Rock started joint favourite at 5-1 while Delta Blues went off at 17-1. Delta Blues, ridden by Yasunari Iwata, beat Pop Rock, ridden by Damien Oliver, by a short head.
If it had not been for the Japanese horses, English trainer, Jamie Poulton’s 200-1 shot, Land’n Stars, would have been third rather than fifth. Aidan O’Brien’s horse, Yeats, finished two places behind him in seventh at 11-2. Luca Cumani’s Glistening (80-1) finished tenth with Jamie Osborne’s Geordieland (15-1) back in eighteenth, having broken a blood vessel.
The 2010 Melbourne Cup, run in rain-softened ground, went the way of Europe for only the third time to that point. It was a first win for France when trainer Alain De Royer-Dupre won with his Americain, who had also won the Geelong Cup as a prep race. There was an Australian connection via the two owners. Americain was 12/1 in the betting. The local favourite was So You Think who was stepping up in trip to two miles for the first time and looked a likely winner at 2/1 a furlong out. However he got run down and finished a creditable third for legendary Aussie trainer Bart Cummings, who was seeking an amazing 13th win in the race.
In 2011, the Australians were put in their place again when Europeans dominated the finish. France once again provided the winner when Dunaden, trained by Mikel Delzangles, beat England’s Red Cadeaux. The runner-up was trained by Ed Dunlop and went down by the narrowest margin possible – a nose. In fact there was just one Aussie-trained horse in the first seven home. Red Cadeaux returned in 2013 to fill the same spot.
The 2012 result was welcomed by all the locals as Aussie-trained runners filled the first two places. Green Moon (19/1) won for trainer Robert Hickmott while Gai Waterhouse was responsible for the runner-up Fiorente (30/1). It mattered little to the locals that both horses were formerly trained in Newmarket, England. The winner had been with Harry Dunlop and the second used to be with Michael Stoute. The first British handled horse came third in the form of unconsidered 80-1 outsider Jakkalberry, representing Marco Botti.
Post race the sickest man on the track was trainer Luca Cumani whose well-fancied Mount Athos, representing the annoying UK-based owner Dr Marwan Koukash (who was farcically over-bullish in pre-race interviews), looked desperately unlucky in fifth. He absolutely flew in the final furlong passing ten horses and finishing best. However jockey Ryan Moore had ridden a rare bad race, holding his mount up off a funereal pace and coming wide and far too late. It was more reminiscent of a Jamie Spencer style of ride.
The 2011 winner Dunaden came a moderate 14th in this field of staying handicappers while Red Cadeaux, beaten that nose the previous year, came 8th for Ed Dunlop.
2013 saw some of the same protagonists fight out the finish. This time Fiorente improved one place to land the race for his top female Aussie trainer and also justify 6/1 favouritism. Seven-year-old Red Cadeaux put in another mighty display to fill runner-up spot at a massive 60/1, while Luca Cumani’s Mount Athos (12/1) ran a blinder again to come third. The result confirmed what should already be apparent – it is a race for the course and distance specialists.
Places two through to five were all filled by European-trained visitors. It was probably just as well Fiorente won as otherwise there may have been a riot by disgruntled local trainers.
Simenon, the only Irish-trained raider, ran a gallant fourth while a mention also needs to go to Brown Panther, owned and bred by former England international footballer Michael Owen. His reasonable eighth-placed finish will surely encourage more forays from the yard of trainer Tom Dascombe.
The latter had to overcome the number 22 draw, so it was all the more meritorious. His owner the aforemention Marwan Koukash had been typically over-confident beforehand, despite the mountain the horse had to climb from his stall, stating the draw allowed them to slot in wherever they liked. Afterwards Koukash changed his tune and blamed the wide berth. He is nothing if not consistently inconsistent.
So after the running in 2013, while Ireland and France have historic victories to their credit, a British-trained runner has yet to land the race, despite some heroic performances in defeat.
It is unsurpising that this richly-endowered race now attracts the attention of the top trainers across the world, so adding a new dimension for punters. You obviously don’t have to be local to win it and overseas entrants are being encouraged, albeit there have been some major whinges by certain local trainers. Whichever challenger takes your eye this year, an online bookmaker will be offering odds on the horse in their Melbourne Cup betting.
What do you think?