Our tips for the 2024 Melbourne Cup.

Who our Back A Winner tipsters picked:

View our Flemington tips for the other races on Melbourne Cup Day.

Visit our Racing Tips page for full Melbourne Cup Day tips at other racetracks around the country.

See our runner by runner analysis of the 2024 Melbourne Cup field.

2024 Melbourne Cup Preview:

Track: Good   Weather: Fine

A full field of 24, including three mares, will line up for Australia’s most famous race –  the $8,560,000 2024 Lexus Melbourne Cup. Six of them had their last start in the Moonee Valley Gold Cup, six in the Caulfield Cup, three in the Geelong Cup, two in the Bendigo Cup and two in the St Leger. Two had their last start overseas. Others runners came via the Cox Plate, The Bart Cummings and the Empire Rose. Chris Waller has five runners, Ciaron Maher has four and Willie Mullins has two.

The favourite in the early betting is  Vauban. He is one of two runners for Irish trainer Willie Mullins that has won on the flat and over hurdles carrying big weights and finished 14th in the Cup last year. Second favourite is Buckaroo who was runner-up in the Caulfield Cup last start. Third favourite is  Onesmoothoperator who won the Geelong Cup in dominant style at his only Australian start.

Absurde is Willie Mullins’s second runner who ran 7th in the 2023 Melbourne Cup. Sea King is a UK raider who debuted in Australia with an eye-catching 3.8 length win in the Group 3 Bendigo Cup last Wednesday. Okita Soushi is an Irish bred horse who ran 11th in the 2023 Melbourne Cup, while Zardozi is a mare from the James Cummings stable on a 3 day back-up. All other runners are currently $18 or longer.

As always there are many hopes in the Cup and a long price has never stopped a horse from winning.