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Melbourne Cup Day Betting at Flemington Racecourse

Each November every person with even the slightest connection to the sport of thoroughbred horse racing cannot wait for Melbourne Cup Day and the betting action at Flemington racecourse.

Recognised as one of the great value races of the season, the highlight of Melbourne Cup Day attracts attention around the country and beyond - the massive pool providing ample opportunity to profit with extra value now available with Betfair.

How best to approach the race? Answer: study the Flemington racecourse history books and analyse Melbourne Cup stats.

Melbourne Cup stats show that Roughies have taken out the last two runnings of the race - Efficient and Delta Blues both sent out at 16-1. Two horses prepared for the big two miler in vastly different ways.

Efficient was having his fifth run in from a spell and that seems to be about the average number of runs required to have a horse hard fit for a big run according to Melbourne Cup stats,

Most contestants follow similar lead ups on their way to Flemington Racecourse - tackling such races as the Feehan Stakes, the Caulfield Stakes, the Caulfield Cup and the Mackinnon Stakes.

You want your Cup selection to have run well in those races but always be prepared to forgive one seemingly ordinary performance.

When Irish raider Vintage Crop won on Melbourne Cup Day in 1993, many claimed that the days of the Australian or New Zealand bred winning the race were over.

But they were doomsayers - since then Media Puzzle and Delta Blues are the only visiting winners amongst a mixture of Aussie and Kiwis.

And one honourary Australian, the UK born Makybe Diva earned a unique piece of history by winning the race on three consecutive occassions. Melbourne Cup stats reveal too many horses had even won two.

Form at Flemington Racecourse is worth looking at but being such a big track most handle it pretty well.

Only one barrier - number 18 - has never been successful and in this time of drought there are not too many wet tracks.

More relevant is how the barrier relates to the racing style of the horse - barrier one for a backmaker can be a disaster if they are shuffled back without clear running.

Similarly barrier 20 makes it tough for an on-pacer, although the slowish early pace of a staying race can make it easier for those horses to get across than they would in a shorter event.

There are few quality 3200m races run here so form at the distance is not all that relevant.

Melbourne Cup Day provides a betting bonanza and it can pay to bet on outsiders in the big race, as the odds of recent winners shows - Makybe Diva was 7-1 for her first Cup, Ethereal 9-1, Brew 14-1, Rogan Josh 5-1, Jezabeel 6-1, Doriemus 13-2 and Jeune 16-1.

Don't forget to find a few roughies at Flemington racecourse - longshots often fill a placing on Melbourne Cup Day and exotic bets such as trifectas and first fours can pay extremely well.