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Cross Counter has won the 2018 Melbourne Cup. (Photo: Brett Holburt/Racing Photos via Getty Images)
Melbourne Cup Day will be held held on the first Tuesday in November, which, in 2019, will be November 5.
As always, the headline event of the day will be the Melbourne Cup itself, however, there are ten races typically scheduled across the course of the day, with a handful of them being Group 1 events.
The Melbourne Cup is the richest two-mile handicap race in the world and the biggest event on Australia’s racing calendar. A total prize money pool of $7.3 million goes on the line in the big race.
While the Melbourne Cup schedule for 2019 is yet to be officially released, it’s expected the day’s proceedings should start with the first race at around 11am (AEDT).
Races will then continue throughout the day at roughly 40-minute intervals, with a longer break before the Melbourne Cup, which is normally Race 7, to allow for the introduction of the 24 jockeys and horses who will compete for the Cup.
The 2019 Melbourne Cup schedule, when it’s officially released, will be found below. Keep checking back to this page to see when it becomes officially released.
As the overall structure of the day doesn’t change too much year on year, in the meantime, you can check back to the 2018 schedule below.
2018 Melbourne Cup start time, race schedule
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Race No.
Time (AEDT)
Race
Distance
Prize money
1
10:50am
Bumble Stakes
1000m
$150,000
2
11:30am
Tab App Trophy
1700m
$120,000
3
12:05pm
Grinders Coffee Roasters Trophy
1400m
$120,000
4
12:40pm
Ronald McDonald House Charities Plate
2800m
$120,000
5
1:15pm
Schweppes Flemington Fling
1000m
$120,000
6
1:50pm
Jim Beam Black Stakes
1400m
$150,000
7
3:00pm
Melbourne Cup
3200m
$7,300,000
8
4:05pm
Furphy Plate
1800m
$150,000
9
4:45pm
MSS Security Sprint
1200m
$150,000
10
5:20pm
The Hong Kong Jockey Club Stakes
1400m
$200,000
The Roar makes every attempt to ensure that our information is accurate and up-to-date. However, we do advise that you check the official copy of the schedule closer to the day to make sure you don’t miss out on anything.
