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The Melbourne Cup is the most prestigious race on the Australian calendar – but just what does the winner take home, aside from the trophy itself?
More 2017 Melbourne Cup
» Race report: Rekindling wins
» Who came last
» Complete finishing order
» Watch video highlights replay
» Re-live the race with our live blog
» Regal Monarch’s horror fall
» Winning trifecta and quinella
» Winning exact and first four
The race as a total has a prize purse of $6.2 million, more than half of which goes to the winnner.
First place attracts a prize of $3.6 million, while the second-placed runner picks up $900,000 and third rounds out the podium with $450,000.
Fourth is awarded $250,000, fifth $175,000, and then all runners from sixth to tenth are awarded $125,000.
So you don’t have to win it in order to pick up a little pocket money – finish in the top ten and you won’t go home empty-handed.
The other races on Melbourne Cup day have relatively small prize pools by comparison.
The next biggest is The Hong Kong Jockey Club Stakes where there is $200,000 on the line, with the rest having either $120,000 or $150,000 on offer.
Nothing to sneeze at, certainly – but far cry from what is on offer in race No.7.
Of course the prize money has increased dramatically in the Melbourne Cup’s 157-year history.
When it was first run in 1861, the prize on offer for the winner was a few hundred pounds and gold watch.
| Race | Prize money |
| Emirates 100th A380 Stakes | $150,000 |
| Tab.com.au Trophy | $120,000 |
| Lavazza Short Black | $120,000 |
| Ronald Mcdonald House Charities Plate | $120,000 |
| Schweppes Flemington Fling | $120,000 |
| Lexus Hybrid Plate | $150,000 |
| Melbourne Cup | $6,000,000 |
| James Boag’s Premium Stakes | $150,000 |
| MSS Security Sprint | $150,000 |
| The Hong Kong Jockey Club Stakes | $200,000 |
| Place | Prize Money |
| First | $3,600,000 |
| Second | $900,000 |
| Third | $450,000 |
| Fourth | $250,000 |
| Fifth | $175,000 |
| Sixth | $125,000 |
| Seventh | $125,000 |
| Eighth | $125,000 |
| Ninth | $125,000 |
| Tenth | $125,000 |
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