Get the best price on your Melbourne Cup First Four tips online at Ladbrokes!

Correctly picking the Melbourne Cup First Four is a tough ask of punters on the two-mile classic, but successful Melbourne Cup First Four bets pay-out in a major way.

The First Four bet on the $8.56 million Group 1 Melbourne Cup (3200m) requires you to correctly pick, in exact order, the first four finishers in the ‘race that stops a nation’. Many punters opt to place a box First Four bet instead of single First Four bets in order to reduce the difficulty of picking up a win.

So not only do you have to pick the Melbourne Cup winner, but you also have to select the next three horses over the line in the famous Flemington feature on Tuesday, November 5, 2024 in the correct order to clean up on your Melbourne Cup first four bet.

The 2024 Melbourne Cup finishing order including the Melbourne Cup First Four will be known when the race is run and won at 3:00pm (AEDT) on Tuesday, November 5, 2024.

Place your 2024 Melbourne Cup First Four bets today! 

Note that the exact order is necessary to win.

Melbourne Cup first four betting opens as soon as the Melbourne Cup field is announced on the Saturday before Melbourne Cup Day.

Of course, before that there are many other Melbourne Cup Betting options open at bookies including Ladbrokes.com.au open all year round starting with the pre-nominations futures markets.

How to Pick the Melbourne Cup First Four Bet

It is incredibly difficult to just pick the first four finishers, let alone the exact order they finish in. This is why most serious bettors making a Melbourne Cup First Four bet will make it a box bet.

If you decide to go with a box bet, your first step to winning is to narrow down your picks. The Melbourne Cup field is large, with a capacity 24 starters, making it even tougher for the punters doing the Melbourne Cup Tips.

For a Melbourne Cup First Four box, you really just need to decide where you will stop with picks. Take into account the weights the horses are carrying, ages, spring carnival performance, and previous Melbourne Cup results.

You are looking for the horses that stand a chance of finishing in the first four, not just those with a chance to win. A Melbourne Cup First Four box bet will usually need to cover a large portion of the field to be successful.

Don’t forget to check out the full 2024 Melbourne Cup Form Guide for more tips on the Melbourne Cup exotic bet types.

Where to Place Your Melbourne Cup First Four Bet

If you want an easy and convenient betting experience, go with online betting sites when placing a Melbourne Cup First Four bet. We recommend you choose the excellent service and unbeatable Melbourne Cup odds at Ladbrokes.com.au.

Beginners who have never placed a First Four bet before are advised to start with Ladbrokes.com.au as it has the easiest betting interface and the best prices!

Placing a Melbourne Cup Box First Four Bet

Once you have made your picks for your Melbourne Cup First Four box bet, you will want to calculate how much it costs.

The formula for working out the cost of a First Four bet is (number of horses selected) X (number of horses selected – 1) X (number of horses selected – 2) X (number of horses selected – 3) X base bet amount.

For example, if you have a First Four box bet on the Melbourne Cup with 6 selections at a $1 base bet, you would have a bet of (6)X(6-1)X(6-2)X(6-3)X$1 to equal $360.