Statistics for Various Melbourne Cup Winners

Leading Melbourne Cup Trainers

Trainer	# Winners	Winners
Bart Cummings	12 winners	Light Fingers (1965), Galilee (1966), Red Handed (1967), Think Big (1974), Think Big (1975), Gold And Black (1977), Hyperno (1979), Kingston Rule (1990), Let's Elope (1991), Saintly (1996), Rogan Josh (1999) & Viewed (2008)
Etienne de Mestre	5 winners	Archer (1861), Archer (1862), Tim Whiffler (1867), Chester (1877) and Calamia (1878)
Lee Freedman	5 winners	Tawriffic (1989), Subzero (1992), Doriemus (1995), Makybe Diva (2004), Makybe Diva (2005)
John Tait	4 winners	The Barb (1866), Glencoe (1868), The Pearl (1871), The Quack (1872)
Walter Hickenbotham	4 winners	Mentor (1888), Carbine (1890), Newhaven (1896), Blue Spec (1905)
Richard Bradfield	4 winners	Patron (1894), The Victory (1902), Night Watch (1918), Backwood (1924)
Jim Scobie	4 winners	Clean Sweep (1900), King Ingoda (1922), Bitalli (1923), Trivalve (1927)
George Hanlon	3 winners	Piping Lane (1972), Arwon (1978), Black Knight (1984)
Frank McGrath	3 winners	Prince Foote (1909), Peter Pan (1934), Peter Pan (1932)

Note: The most successful overseas trainers have been Irishman. Dermot Weld had 2 winners with Vintage Crop (1993) and Media Puzzle (2002) and two placings Vintage Crop (1995) and Vinnie Roe (2004). Joseph O'Brien has had 2 winners as well – Rekindling (2017) and Twilight Payment (2020).

Leading Melbourne Cup Riders

Rider	# Winners	Winners
Bobbie Lewis	4 winners	The Victory (1902), Patrobas (1915), Artilleryman (1919), Trivalve (1927)
Harry White	4 winners	Think Big (1974), Think Big (1975), Arwon (1978), Hyperno (1979)
William McLachlan	3 winners	Prince Foote (1909), Comedy King (1910), Westcourt (1917)
Darby Munro	3 winners	Peter Pan (1934), Sirius (1944), Russia (1946)
Jack Purtell	3 winners	Hiraji (1947), Wodalla (1953), Rising Fast (1954)
Jimmy Johnson	3 winners	Gatum Gatum (1963), Rain Lover (1968), Rain Lover (1969)
Glen Boss	3 winners	Makybe Diva (2003, 2004, 2005)
Damien Oliver	3 winners	Doriemus (1995), Media Puzzle (2002), Fiorente (2013)
Kerrin McEvoy	3 winners	Brew (2000), Almandin (2016), Cross Counter (2018)

Female Melbourne Cup Winners

Year	Horse (Jockey/Trainer)	Age&Sex	Wgt
1876	Briseis (P St Albans/James Wilson)	3YOF	40.0kgs
1895	Auraria (J Stevenson/J.H.Hill)	3YOF	46.5kgs
1904	Acrasia (T.Clayton/A.E.Wills)	7YOM	47.0kgs
1921	Sister Olive (E.O'Sullivan/J.Williams)	3YOF	44.0kgs
1939	Rivette (E.Preston/H.Bamber)	6YOM	48.5kgs
1945	Rainbird (W.Cook/S.Evans)	4YOM	47.5kgs
1956	Evening Peal (G.Podmore/E.D.Lawson)	4YOM	51.0kgs
1960	Hi Jinx (W.A.Smith/T.H.Knowles)	5YOM	49.0kgs
1965	Light Fingers (R.Higgins/J.B.Cummings)	4YOM	52.5kgs
1988	Empire Rose (T.K.Allan/L.K.Laxon)	6YOM	53.5kgs
1991	Let's Elope (S.R.King/J.B.Cummings)	4YOM	51.0kgs
1998	Jezabeel (C.Munce/B.Jenkins)	6YOM	51.0kgs
2001	Ethereal (S.Seamer/S.Laxon)	4YOM	52.0kgs
2003	Makybe Diva (G.Boss/D.Hall)	5YOM	51.0kgs
2004	Makybe Diva (G.Boss/D.L.Freedman)	6YOM	55.5kgs
2005	Makybe Diva (G.Boss/D.L.Freedman)	7YOM	58.0kgs
2021	Verry Elleegant (J.McDonald/C.J.Waller)	6YOM	57.0kgs

Record - 17 female wins in 163 Melbourne Cup runnings.

Ten Shortest-Priced Melbourne Cup Favourites

Year	Horse	Odds/Div	FP
1930	Phar Lap	8/11 ($1.70)	Won
1929	Phar Lap	1/1 ($2.00)	3rd
1912	Duke Foote	6/4 ($2.50)	14th
1901	Revenue	7/4 ($2.80)	Won
1917	Lanius	7/4 ($2.80)	6th
1925	Manfred	7/4 ($2.80)	2nd
1940	Beau Vite	7/4 ($2.80)	4th
1948	Howe	7/4 ($2.80)	4th
1956	Redcraze	7/4 ($2.80)	2nd
1971	Gay Icarus	7/4 ($2.80)	9th

Five Longest-Priced Melbourne Cup Winners

Year	Horse	Odds/Div
1871	The Pearl	100/1 ($101.00)
1936	Wotan	100/1 ($101.00)
1940	Old Rowley	100/1 ($101.00)
2015	Prince Of Penzance	100/1 ($101.00)
1948	Rimfire	80/1 ($81.00)
1892	Glenloth	50/1 ($51.00)

Biggest Winning Margins in Melbourne Cup

Year	Horse	Margin
1862	Archer	8 lengths
1968	Rain Lover	8 lengths
1942	Colonus	7 lengths
1861	Archer	6 lengths
1896	Newhaven	6 lengths
1919	Artilleryman	6 lengths
1946	Russia	6 lengths

Heaviest Winning Weights in Melbourne Cup

Year	Horse	Weight
1890	Carbine	65.5kgs (10 stone 5 pounds)
1862	Archer	64.5kgs (10 stone 2 pounds)
1920	Poitrel	63.5kgs (10 stone)

Note: Heaviest weight ever carried in a Melbourne Cup was by Phar Lap in 1931. He lumped 68kgs (10 stone 10 pounds) into eighth place.

Mares to Carry Top weight in a Melbourne Cup

Year	Horse	Weight
1903	Wakeful	63.5kgs (10 stone)
1918	Desert Gold	60.0kgs (9 stone 6 pounds)
1916	Carlita	59.5kgs (9 stone 5 pounds)
1917	Thana	59.0kgs (9 stone 4 pounds)
1942	Tranquil Star	58.5kgs (9 stone 3 pounds)
2005	Makybe Diva	58.0kgs (9 stone 2 pounds)
1924	Wynette	56.0kgs (8 stone 11 pounds)
1872	Barbelle	54.0kgs (8 stone 7 pounds)
1885	Blink Bonny	53.0kgs (8 stone 5 pounds)

Most Runs in a Melbourne Cup

Horse	Runs	Dates - FP
Shadow King	6 Runs	(1929 - 6th, 1930 - 3rd, 1931 - 2nd, 1932 - 3rd, 1933 - 2nd, 1935 - 4th)
Toryboy	5 Runs	(1861 - 5th, 1862 - 6th, 1865 - Won, 1866 - 4th, 1867 - unp)
Barwon	5 runs	(1864 - unp, 1865 - 4th, 1866 - unp, 1867 - unp, 1868 - unp)
Musidora	5 runs	(1862- unp, 1863 - 2nd, 1864 - unp, 1865 - unp, 1866 - unp)
Skybeau	5 runs	(1996 - 3rd, 1997 - 7th, 1998 - 8th, 1999 - 16th, 2000 - 9th)
Red Cadeaux	5 runs	(2011 - 2nd, 2012 - 8th, 2013 - 2nd, 2014 – 2nd, 2015 – FTF)
Doriemus	4 runs	(1995 - Won, 1996 - 6th, 1997 - 2nd, 1998 - 19th)
Strop	4 Runs	(1867 - unp, 1868 - 2nd, 1869 - unp, 1870 - unp)
Who Shot Thebarman	4 Runs	(2014 - 3rd, 2015 - 11th, 2016 - 5th,  2018 - 17th) (was scratched in 2017)

Female Milestones for Melbourne Cup

First female to own a Melbourne Cup winner was Mrs E A Widdis successful with Patrobas (1915)

First Female jockey to ride in a Melbourne Cup was Maree Lyndon (Argonaut Style - 20th in 1987)

First Female jockey to win a Melbourne Cup was Michelle Payne (Prince Of Penzance 2015)

First Female to train a Melbourne Cup winner (officially) was Sheila Laxon (Ethereal - 2001) before Gai Waterhouse did it in 2013 with Fiorente.

Melbourne Cup Field Size

Largest Melbourne Cup field was 39 runners in 1890 - Winner Carbine

Smallest Melbourne Cup field was 7 runners in 1863 - Winner Banker

Melbourne Cup - Fastest Race Time

The distance of the Melbourne Cup was two miles until the introduction of metrics in 1972 when the Cup was run over 3200m for the first time. The 3200m distance was 18.7m shorter in distance than two miles.

Rain Lover (1968) held the race record of 3 minutes 19.1 seconds for the two miles but a pacesetter record was established converting Rain Lover's imperial time to a metric equivalent of 3:17.9.

Since 1972 three horses have clocked faster times than the Rain Lover metric converted time.

Tawrrific ran 3:17.1 in 1989. Current race record-holder Kingston Rule posted 3:16.3 winning in 1990 and the Irish horse Media Puzzle ran 3:16.9 in 2002.