Australia’s greatest race was first run in 1861, with Archer famously winning the first two editions. Australia’s most famous horse, Phar Lap, won the race in 1930, and to this day is the shortest price favourite to ever take out the race that stops a nation. The race has had a capacity 24 horse field since the late 1960’s – 1960 was the last time the Melbourne Cup had more than 30 runners in a race, with the largest ever field of 39 in 1890, a race won by the great Carbine.

As we all know, Bart Cummings was the “Cups King”, training the winner of the Melbourne Cup a record 12 times. His first was Light Fingers in 1965, which sparked three in a row for the great man, and seven Cup wins in a 15 year bracket. Makybe Diva is the only horse to win the Melbourne Cup three times, which she achieved in 2003-05, a feat that will almost certainly never be equalled.

The Cup went international in 1993, when Irish raider Vintage Crop took the trophy home for Dermot Weld. Since then, another eight Melbourne Cup winners have been trained by overseas raiders.