UPDATE: No. 18 Lunar Flare (12) has been scratched from the Melbourne Cup field. 

UPDATE: No. 21 Point Nepean (20) has been scratched from the Melbourne Cup field.

The Melbourne Cup race – run for the 162nd time on Tuesday – has a long and time-honoured history dating right back to 1861.

2022 Melbourne Cup winner Verry Elleegant. Photo: Steve Hart.

Here we have a look at the Melbourne Cup history and discover some of the key Melbourne Cup statistics on the famous two-mile handicap.

The Group 1 $7.75 million Lexus Melbourne Cup (3200m) takes place on the first Tuesday of November annually and the 2022 Melbourne Cup field features 24 of the world’s best stayers.

But before we crown the Melbourne Cup 2022 winner just after 3:00pm (AEDT) on Tuesday, let us look over the past records in this great race and discover the event’s most successful trainers and jockeys.

Melbourne Cup History & Statistics 

• The Melbourne Cup was first contested in 1861 by the then Victorian Turf Club and Archer was the inaugural Melbourne Cup winner. He beat the first Melbourne Cup runner-up, Mormon, by a big six lengths to secure the first prize of 1420 pounds, a trophy and a gold watch. The 2022 Melbourne Cup winner will take out $4.4 million!
• Archer returned to successfully defend his title in the 1862 Melbourne Cup becoming the first dual winner in the race’s history. Mormon ran second again, beaten even further by a massive eight length margin.
• Archer’s 1862 eight-length winning margin remains a record that he shares with the 1968 Melbourne Cup winner Rain Lover.
• Trainer Bart Cummings holds the Melbourne Cup training record with 12 victories: Light Fingers (1965), Think Big (1974, 1975), Gold And Black (1977), Hyperno (1979), Kingston Rule (1990), Let’s Elope (1991), Saintly (1996), Rogan Josh (1999) and Viewed (2008).
• Other trainers to have multiple Melbourne Cup wins include: 5 – Lee Freedman: Tawrrific (1989), Subzero (1992), Doriemus (1995), Makybe Diva (2004, 2005); 4 – John Tait: The Barb (1866), Glencoe (1868), The Pearl (1871), The Quack (1872); Richard Bradfield: Patron (1894), The Victory (1902), Night Watch (1918), Backwood (1924); James Scobie: Clean Sweep (1900), King Ingoda (1922), Bitalli (1923), Trivalve (1927); W S Hinkenbothem: Mentor (1888), Carbine (1890), Newhaven (1896), Blue Spec (1905).
• Kingston Rule holds the metric Melbourne Cup race record having won in 3 minutes 16.30 seconds in 1990.
• The oldest Melbourne Cup winners in history are eight-year-olds Toryboy (1865), Catalogue (1938) and Twilight Payment (2020).
  

  Knights Order is looking to become the equal oldest Melbourne Cup winner as an eight-year-old. Photo: Steve Hart.

• Knights Order is the sole eight-year-old in the 2022 Melbourne Cup field.
• The last three-year-old Melbourne Cup winner was Skipton (1941). Technically Cross Counter (2018) and Rekindling (2017) were three-year-olds but won as four-year-olds in the Southern Hemisphere.
• Deauville Legend is a Northern Hemisphere three-year-old racing as a four-year-old down under in 2022
• Bobbie Lewis and Harry White are the most successful Melbourne Cup jockeys with four wins.
• Lewis had 33 rides in the Melbourne Cup and won aboard The Victory (1902), Patrobas (1915), Artilleryman (1919) and Trivalve in 1927. He was also runner-up four times and finished third on Phar Lap in 1929.
• White won aboard the Bart Cummings-trained Think Big back-to-back in 1974 and 1975 before his other victories on Arwon in 1978 and another Cummings’ runner Hyperno in 1979.
• Kerrin McEvoy chases his fourth Melbourne Cup winning ride aboard the favourite Deauville Legend in the 2022 Melbourne Cup.
• Makybe Diva (2003, 2004, 2005) is the only three-time Melbourne Cup winner in history.
• The longest-priced Melbourne Cup winners in history all starting at 100-1 are The Pearl (1871), Wotan (1936), Old Rowley (1940) and Prince Of Penzance (2015).
  

  Tralee Rose is the $101 outsider in 2022 Melbourne Cup betting. Photo: Ultimate Racing Photos.

• Tralee Rose is the $101 roughie in 2022 Melbourne Cup betting.
• The shortest priced-priced Melbourne Cup winners in history are Archer 2-1 (1862), Tim Whiffler 5-2 (1867), Revenue 7-4 (1901), Phar Lap 8-11 (1930), Even Stevens 3-1 (1962), Let’s Elope 3-1 (1991) and Makybe Diva at 5-2 in 2004.
• The first Northern Hemisphere-trained Melbourne Cup winner was Vintage Crop (1993) trained in Ireland by Dermot Weld and ridden to victory by Mick Kinane.
• The internationally-trained horses in the 2022 Melbourne Cup field are Deauville Legend and Without A Fight.
• Michelle Payne became the first female jockey to win a Melbourne Cup aboard 100/1 roughie Prince Of Penzance for trainer Darren Weir in 2015.
• Rachel King (Arapaho) and Jamie Kah (Smokin’ Romans) are out to become the second female Melbourne Cup winning rider in the 2022 Melbourne Cup.

Click here to place your Melbourne Cup 2022 bets at Ladbrokes.com.au!