The Melbourne Cup is here and we have some top tips for the big race in which the winner will receive millions of pounds. Have a look at our betting tips, as well as some of the best sign up offers currently available from UK betting sites.
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Melbourne Cup Betting Tips
The $4.5m Melbourne Cup is due off in the early hours of Tuesday morning at Flemington, and our betting expert has given their verdict.
The race features a hugely competitive field of 24 going to post for Group 1 over 2m, six of them trained in Britain and Ireland, including likely favourite, Al Riffa.
Al Riffa can overcome wide draw
There has been a wave of support for Al Riffa in the days leading up to the big race, one particular bet of £250,000 reportedly taken on Joseph O’Brien’s top-weight during the annual Call Of The Card event, which is held at Melbourne’s Crown Casino.
Another six-figure wager on the five-year-old looks likely to ensure he goes off favourite and that’s no bad thing for his backers with 34 of the previous 150 market leaders proving successful (23 per cent).
He’s in the form of his life at present and has outstanding credentials, having chased home globetrotting superstar Rebel’s Romance in the Group 2 Hardwicke Stakes at Royal Ascot prior to winning in that grade at The Curragh and bagging the Group 1 Irish St Leger by a wide margin from Ralph Beckett’s Amiloc.
That was his third win at the highest level, supplementing his victories in the National Stakes at The Curragh as a juvenile and the Grosser Preis von Berlin at Hoppegarten in the summer of last year.
It can be hard to weigh up the Europeans against the Southern Hemisphere horses, but O’Brien has won this race twice in recent years with Rekindling (2017) and Twilight Payment (2020) and Charlie Appleby was also successful with Cross Counter (2018).
He’s drawn in stall 19, which at first glance looks difficult, but seven of the last ten winners have come from 12 or higher, five of those 16 and above, including Vow And Declare, who overcame 21.
- Melbourne Cup Betting Tip – Selection: Al Riffa @ 6/1
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French raider may be the danger
Alessandro Botti’s Presage Nocturne ran a lovely prep race in the Group 1 Caulfield Cup over 1m4f last month, the five-year-old keeping on strongly under Stephane Pasquier to finish fourth of the 18 runners.
Beaten a total of a length-and-a-half in behind the reopposing Half Yours, River Of Stars and Valiant King, he finished ahead of a number of today’s rivals, including Royal Supremacy and Willie Mullins’ Absurde, and he looks sure to relish this step up to 2m, having won in Listed and Group 3 company over 1m7f in his native France.
- Melbourne Cup Betting Tip – Next Best: Presage Nocturne @ 7/1
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McEvoy a good booking for Absurde
Willie Mullins provided arguably one of the biggest upsets in Breeders’ Cup history when sending out Ethical Diamond to beat Rebel’s Romance in the Grade 1 Turf at Del Mar on Saturday, the Ebor winner taking a massive step up on all known form.
Absurde runs here for the same connections and, while it would be pushing it to expect the seven-year-old to hit the same heights as his stablemate did in the States, he’s unlikely to be far away with Kerrin McEvoy – a three-time winner of the race – aboard.
He was beaten three-and-a-half lengths in the Caulfield Cup, but was staying on at the finish and could easily have his effort upgraded, having twice been switched for a run in the straight and run out of room over a furlong out.
- Melbourne Cup Betting Tip – Longshot – Absurde @ 12/1
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