Lexus Melbourne Cup to bring Australia to a standstill for 164th time

Run every year since 1861, it is known as the race that stops a nation®, captivating and enthralling Australians unlike any other event - both on and off the track.

This year looms as a celebration of female participation with a record four women vying to join Michelle Payne OAM as a Lexus Melbourne Cup-winning jockey: Jamie Kah on Okita Soushi, Rachel King aboard The Map, Winona Costin with Positivity and Hollie Doyle riding Sea King.

The two female trainers who have won the Lexus Melbourne Cup, Sheila Laxon and Gai Waterhouse AM, both return with runners. Laxon, who won with Ethereal in 2001, saddles up Knight’s Choice with co-trainer John Symons while Waterhouse, now in a training partnership with Adrian Bott, hopes that Just Fine can join her 2013 winner Fiorente.

They are among six female trainers who will be represented in this year’s Lexus Melbourne Cup: Annabel Neasham with Fancy Man, Natalie Young with Mostly Cloudy, Deborah Rogerson with Sharp ’n’ Smart and Oopy MacGillivray with The Map.

While it is very much Australia’s race, trainers and jockeys from around the world have arrived in Melbourne trying to take our biggest prize. Irish trainer Willie Mullins returns for his eighth attempt at winning the Lexus Melbourne Cup with Vauban and Absurde, Japanese horseman Noboru Takagi sends out his first Cup runner Warp Speed while jockeys Joao Moreira (Brazil), Karis Teetan (Mauritius), Hollie Doyle (Great Britain), William Buick (Norway) and Akira Sugawara (Japan) have flown in from around the world to try and claim the famous trophy.

The traditional pre-Lexus Melbourne Cup proceedings and entertainment will captivate racegoers from 2:23pm with the Welcome to Country ceremony to be delivered by Uncle Colin Hunter Junior.

Leading into the arrival of the Lexus Melbourne Cup trophy, the crowd’s excitement will be amplified with a special performance by Irish superstar Ronan Keating. Ronan will take to the Mounting Yard to sing When You Say Nothing At All, before being joined by Australian pop sensation Ricki-Lee to perform his smash hit Lovin’ Each Day.

Clerks of the Course Peter and Shane Patterson will then make an emotional tribute to their father, the late John “Patto” Patterson OAM, bringing the Cup along the avenue named in his honour on horseback, before passing the iconic trophy to multiple Olympic gold medalist and Melbourne Cup Carnival Ambassador Ariarne Titmus OAM and dual Paralympic gold medallist Alexa Leary. Three-time Olympic medallist, equestrian Shane Rose, and Olympian Shenae Lowings, who represented Australia at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games alongside Shane as part of the Australian equestrian team on retired racehorse Bold Venture, will then carry the $750,000 trophy to VRC Chairman Neil Wilson before the Australian National Anthem is sung by Greta Bradman, the eldest grandchild of another Australian sporting hero, Sir Donald Bradman.

It won’t just be the connections of Cup runners cheering the horses home. There will also be representatives from each of the 24 rural and regional Lexus Melbourne Cup Tour destinations trackside at Flemington to cheer on their Lexus Melbourne Cup Tour National Sweep allocated horse, with the town which has the Lexus Melbourne Cup-winning horse to be presented with $50,000 to put towards a charity supporting a local community initiative. See below for the final field. 

As always the world-famous Birdcage Enclosure will play host to a who’s who of entertainment, sport, business and media including Victoria Racing Club (VRC) special guest Elizabeth Hurley and her son Damian Hurley, Nicky Hilton Rothschild and Rebecca Vallance-Gasan will attend as guests of Lexus, AFL player Josh Daicos, model Annalise Dalins and influencers Mia Fevola and Sam Guggenheimer for Penfolds, ultra-marathon athlete Nedd Brockmann, AFL player Rory Lobb and partner Lexi Mary for G.H Mumm, Irish singer-songwriter Sir Bob Geldof and UFC featherweight Alex Volkanovski for Crown, and Today Show co-host Sarah Abo and Nine Entertainment’s presenter Richard Wilkins for Nine.

Melbourne Cup Carnival ambassador Michelle Payne OAM will also be celebrating the day on course, nine years after her historic win as the first female jockey to win Australia’s greatest race.

The Park is Flemington’s ultimate general admission playground and a must-visit destination for fashionistas, music lovers and foodies. The delicious food offerings include the first ever Australian pop-up from wildly popular Bali burger shop BO$$MAN Burgers, while comedy trio Sooshi Mango are bringing their signature Lygon Street outfit, Johnny, Vince & Sam's, to Flemington.

The ever-popular Pony Bar returns for 2024 alongside a host of VRC partner activations, including the TAB Green for lawn bowls, the Furphy Pub and Smirnoff pop-up bar.

The Melbourne Cup Carnival Fashions on the Field continues for 2024 in The Park with the Best Dressed and Best Suited categories open to all racegoers from 9.30am, with registrations to close at 10:25am.

In the competition’s 62nd year, every entrant will have the opportunity to showcase their outfit along an elevated catwalk in the Fashion Garden before the Daily Finals take place.

The design and creative-led categories of the time-honoured competition continue on Lexus Melbourne Cup Day with the judging of the Lillian Frank AM MBE Millinery Award Final from 12:30pm, with the winner announced at 1:05pm.

Melbourne Cup Carnival Fashions on the Field judges will include Victoria Racing Club ambassador Crystal Kimber-Peters, actor Tim Kano, model Demi Brereton, media personality Jackie Frank and designers Dom Bagnato and Edin Zecevic from Calibre. 

Immediately after the Lexus Melbourne Cup, The Park Live Stage will host British icon Sophie Ellis-Bextor while the post-race party will continue with an unforgettable DJ set from hit electronic act Empire Of The Sun.

Among the other features on the track is one of the week’s most popular contests, the MSS Security Subzero Handicap (1400m) purely for grey horses. Other key races include the Group 3 Darley Maribyrnong Plate (1000m) for two-year-olds and the Group 3 Hong Kong Jockey Club Stakes (1400m) for mares as well as a trio of Listed events, while the card will also include the first running of the Australian Heritage Cup (2800m) strictly for Australian and New Zealand-trained stayers.

The VRC’s Pin & Win campaign has raised more than $9 million for charities over almost 30 years and this year will see pins sold across the course for charity partner, Ronald McDonald House Charities Victoria & Tasmania.

The commemorative pins cost $10 for the Cup pin and $15 for the diamante horseshoe, with all purchasers eligible to enter the draw to win over $188,000 worth of prizes including a brand new 2023 Lexus RZ 450e Sports Luxury car. Pin & Win Ambassadors Olivia Molly Rogers and Brodie Young will be on track to promote the campaign.

Lexus Melbourne Cup Day is sold out for all corporate and general admission tickets. The only remaining tickets for Lexus Melbourne Cup Day are the premium ticket for the members enclosure with access to the birdcage, and limited grandstand seating.