Melbourne Cup 2025 Purse Cements Status as World’s Richest Handicap

Record A$10 million prize pool pays all 24 runners in “the race that stops the nation”

On Tuesday afternoon at Flemington, when Australia pauses for its most famous two miles, the Melbourne Cup will again be about history, heartbreak, and staying power. In 2025, it is also very clearly about money. A record A$10 million purse has elevated the 165th running of the Cup into the richest handicap on the planet, a financial statement that matches its cultural weight.

Run over 3,200 meters at 3 p.m. AEDT on Tuesday, Nov. 4, the Lexus Melbourne Cup remains a handicap in the old-fashioned sense: weights are allotted to level the playing field between star stayers and up-and-comers. What has changed, significantly, is how richly that playing field is rewarded.

A A$10 million pot, sliced 24 ways

Racing Victoria and the Victoria Racing Club have lifted the purse from A$8.56 million in 2024 to A$10 million this year, continuing a steady upward trend that has seen Cup prize money rise from A$7.3 million in 2018.

The 2025 prize pool is distributed as follows, with all figures in Australian dollars:

• First: $4,500,000
• Second: $1,100,000
• Third: $560,000
• Fourth: $360,000
• Fifth: $240,000
• Sixth to 12th: $160,000 each
• 13th to 24th: $100,000 each

Crucially, this is the first year that every runner in the 24-horse field is guaranteed a six-figure return, a move that officials have framed as recognition of the rising costs of sourcing, training, and campaigning Cup contenders, particularly for international stables.

In percentage terms, nearly half the purse flows to the winner, with $4.5 million on the line for being first past the post. For overseas readers, that translates to roughly €5.68 million or £4.99 million at current conversions quoted by European bookmakers.

Owners, trainers, jockeys… and a strapper named for Phar Lap’s groom

The Cup’s traditional 85–10–5 split between owner, trainer, and jockey still applies at the top of the ladder.

If their horse wins on Tuesday:

• Owners receive 85 percent of the winner’s share: $3,825,000
• The trainer earns 10 percent: $450,000
• The jockey takes 5 percent: $225,000, on top of standard riding fees and any private arrangements

The money is only part of the spoils. The winning connections also receive an 18-carat solid gold Melbourne Cup trophy, this year valued at around $250,000, plus a suite of smaller trophies that push the total silverware value beyond $900,000.

The strapper or groom attached to the winning horse receives the Tommy Woodcock Trophy, worth $15,000 and named in honor of Phar Lap’s legendary handler. The winning breeder collects a $10,000 trophy of their own, a nod to the bloodlines that underpin staying races at this level.

Richest handicap in a new era of mega-purses

In an age when global prize money headlines are dominated by the US$20 million Saudi Cup and the AU$20 million Everest sprint in Sydney, the Melbourne Cup no longer sets the absolute bar for total purse.

What it does retain, and now strengthen, is its niche:

• The world’s richest handicap race, regardless of distance
• The world’s richest “two-mile” handicap on turf

That status is consistently highlighted by Australian bookmakers, racing authorities, and media coverage in the lead-up to Tuesday’s race.

For comparison, the Kentucky Derby’s purse this year stands at US$5 million, with the winner earning about US$3.1 million, roughly equivalent to half of what is on offer to the Melbourne Cup winner at Flemington.

Economic engine for a national ritual

The money matters far beyond the winning yard. The Cup underpins the broader Melbourne Cup Carnival and the Victorian Spring Racing Carnival, events that routinely draw tens of thousands to Flemington and generate well over A$100 million in tourism and wagering-related economic activity.

Since 1877, Cup Day has been a public holiday in Melbourne, and the race’s nickname, “the race that stops the nation,” still fits. Offices hold sweeps, pubs fill for the 3 p.m. jump, and even casual fans who do not know the difference between a stayer and a sprinter can tell you that the Cup is run on the first Tuesday in November.

In 2025, that familiar ritual is layered with something new: a guarantee that every owner who has navigated the long qualifying path, paid the nomination and declaration fees, and made it into the 24-horse field will go home with at least $100,000. For trainers and jockeys, a deeper prize pool also spreads financial security further down the order of finish.

The weight of history, the pull of a payday

On Tuesday at Flemington, 24 horses will file into the barriers carrying not just weight, but expectation. The Cup has always promised a kind of immortality, a place on an honor roll that stretches from Archer and Phar Lap to Makybe Diva.

Now, it promises something else as well: a share in the richest handicap purse in the sport, a financial windfall that reaches all the way back to last place. For owners, trainers, jockeys, and the grooms who walk their horses through the mounting yard, the stakes on that first Tuesday in November have never been higher.