In the UK, we have the Cheltenham Gold Cup and the Grand National. In the USA, it’s the Kentucky Derby and Breeders’ Cup.
But in Australia, the race that captures the attention more than any other is the Melbourne Cup, with a TV audience of around two million – approximately 7% of Australia’s entire population, an attendance in excess of 90,000 and around £105 million wagered.
No wonder the Melbourne Cup is known as the ‘race that stops the nation.’
And in 2025, the prestigious renewal more than lived up to its billing, with huge bets, bookmakers ‘wetting their pants’ and one punter that turned an 87p wager into a life-changing £152,000 payout.
Oh, and there’s the race itself, in which Jamie Melham became only the second woman in history to ride home the Melbourne Cup winner… overtaking her husband Ben in the process.
Here’s a recap of the Melbourne Cup madness…
Big Race Build Up
One of the highlights of the pre-race hospitality for the Melbourne Cup is the Call of the Card event.
Held at the Crown Casino in the city, there’s lunch, entertainment, live Q&As with jockeys, trainers and owners plus a chance to place live bets with bookmakers on stage.
And it was one such wager that made headline news around the world after the bookmaker that, eventually, accepted it admitted to metaphorically ‘wetting his pants’ at the size of the bet.
Chris Lester, a famous Aussie bookmaker, was left stunned when one punter asked for $500,000 AUD (£249,000) on the 7/1 chance, Al Riffa.
“I had heard rumours there was going to be a big request for Al Riffa, but when it came out I nearly wet my pants,” Lester confirmed.
“That is probably the biggest bet we’ve ever had at Call of the Card. I think the biggest bet last year was to win $1 million [AUD], but there were a lot of those this year.”
If Al Riffa won, Lester would have to fork out $3.5 million, or around £1.7 million.
The Other Half
With other big bets on Al Riffa coming in, Aiden O’Brien’s horse was the pick of the market as the Irishman eyed a third Melbourne Cup victory in the last eight years.
Booked for the ride was Mark Zahra, who himself had won two previous editions of the Flemington showpiece in 2022 and 2023… becoming only the ninth jockey in history to win the Melbourne Cup in successive years.
The downside for punters following in the big gamble? Al Riffa was to carry a 59kg handicap, which would have been the heaviest weight carried by a Melbourne Cup winner in more than five decades.
No wonder Lester was ‘happy to take him on’, with Australian-bred hopeful – Half Yours – also well backed by patriotic Aussies.
Half Yours had won the Caulfield Cup in October, banking a cool £1.5 million for connections, so was a red-hot chance with Jamie Melham in the saddle.
She had guided the horse to his Caulfield Cup triumph, and settled in at the rear of the field in the Melbourne Cup on Tuesday.
But as the race opened up, Melham took Half Yours through the gears, passing husband Ben – who was aboard Smokin’ Romans – on the outside.
Half Yours continued to cut through the field and was ascendant in the home straight, where he found opposition from Joseph O’Brien’s Goodie Two Shoes.
But he had no answer to Melham’s perfectly timed burst on Half Yours, who crossed the line to win by three lengths.
Melham became only the second woman in history to win the Melbourne Cup, a decade after Michelle Payne had piloted 100/1 chance Prince of Penzance to glory in 2015.
Agony and Ecstasy
Al Riffa, meanwhile, finished in seventh… saving Chris Lester and other bookies from an almighty headache.
But one punter did win big on Melbourne Cup day. The anonymous Kiwi predicted the exact finishing order of the first four horses home – Half Yours, Goodie Two Shoes, Middle Earth and River of Stars – to turn the equivalent of an 87p bet into a payout of £152,940!
However, there was heartache elsewhere. Another New Zealander had placed a 12-fold accumulator, watched the first eleven legs of their coupon land, before sinking to their knees as Buckaroo, their Melbourne Cup selection, finished dead last.
If he had placed in the top three, the punter would have landed a £317,000 payday from their £3.20 bet.