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Melbourne Cup Form Guide

The Melbourne Cup form guide is a useful tool for punters wanting to make informed bets on the big race at Flemington Racecourse.

However, novice punters who only bet on the Melbourne Cup may find it harder to understand the form guide and its various indicators.

The Melbourne Cup's the highlight of the Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival and probably the biggest horse race of the entire year. So it's not surprising many people want to have a bet on the race, even if they might be once a year punters.

The form guide though is for everyone and provides every punter with important information about the strengths and weaknesses of each Melbourne Cup horse 

It also includes details like the weight allocated to it for the race, the horse's trainer and previous performance data. 

Your 2023 Melbourne Cup Form Guide will help you learn more about each runner and choose your best Melbourne Cup betting options.

Melbourne Cup 2023 Form Guide - Punters.com.au
Melbourne Cup 2022 winner Gold Trip in action. (Photo: Getty Images)

Melbourne Cup 2023 Form Guide

The Melbourne Cup 2023 Form Guide will be be available at the end of the Victoria Derby Day meeting after the field has been finalised.

When it's available, click on the button below for your full Melbourne Cup 2023 Form Guide. 

Online Melbourne Cup Form Guide

Punters.com.au offers Australia's most comprehensive racing form guide that's famous for being simple to use. With exclusive form and punting tools you won't get anywhere else, this is your #1 stop for the Melbourne Cup form.

The full Melbourne Cup 2023 form guide - including all the punting tools like speed maps and predictor - is available now.

Maximise your bet with these Punters betting tools when available on Melbourne Cup day:


To make the most from each betting tool, see how to use them in our Betting Tools FAQs.

And, don't forget to get the most out of these brilliant Punters tools on Melbourne Cup Day, upgrade to Punters+


Download your Melbourne Cup Form Guide

You can get online, printable, and spreadsheet, Melbourne Cup 2023 form guide here when available. 

When this is ready to go, you can access and download the Melbourne Cup form guide with the links below.

Pick your preferred form guide:



Melbourne Cup Race Schedule

The Melbourne Cup 2023 race day schedule is below.

If you click on the race name, it will take you to a form guide for each race.

We'll have the schedule for the next edition's race day in the week before the race when it is released.

Race 1 - 10:45AM G3 Darley Maribyrnong Plate (1000 METRES)

Race 2 - 11:20AM LR Furphy Plate (1800 METRES)

Race 3 - 12:00PM LR TAB Trophy (1800 METRES)

Race 4 - 12:40PM The Schweppervescence Plate (1000 METRES)

Race 5 - 1:20PM The Macca's Run (2800 METRES)

Race 6 - 1:55PM MSS Security Subzero Handicap (1400 METRES)

Race 7 - 3:00PM Lexus Melbourne Cup (3200 METRES)

Race 8 - 3:50PM LR Howden Desirable Stakes (1400 METRES)

Race 9 - 4:35PM G3 The Hong Kong Jockey Club Stakes (1400 METRES)

Race 10 - 5:15PM Paramount+ Trophy (1400 METRES)

When will the 2023 Melbourne Cup Form Guide be available?

The 2023 Melbourne Cup Form Guide will be available, at the conclusion of the Derby Day meeting, which is the first of the four meetings that comprise the Melbourne Cup Carnival.

The all-important barrier draw is done at the conclusion of this meeting.

If you're not already a Punters member join Here to ensure you receive a notification as soon as the Melbourne Cup Form Guide lands.




How do I read a Melbourne Cup form guide?

Racing form guides vary, but generally the Melbourne Cup form guide can be split into the following areas: Short Form, Long Form, Form Predictor & Speed. If you are not a regular punter on horse racing, it can be daunting trying to read a form guide, but this guide makes reading a form guide easier than when you started.


Melbourne Cup Short Form

Below is a screenshot that shows the first 10 runners from the Melbourne Cup 2022:

Melbourne Cup 2022 Form Guide - Punters.com.au

How do you read the Melbourne Cup Short Form?

This is how you read each column in the form guide:

  • Horse Number: This is the official number of the horse in the race. It's the number that appears on side of the horse on the saddle cloth. This has nothing do to with form.
  • Horse Details: This shows a number of things; the colour the jockey will be wearing on the horse, the horse name, the jockey name and followed by the horse trainer. The letters in brackets after the horse's name shows the country of origin for the horse (e.g. GB means Great Britain).
  • Last 10: This shows the result from the last 10 races. The most recent race is listed to the right. A "0" means the horse came 10th or worse, an "s" means the horse was scratched.
  • Rtg (Rating): A handicap rating is assigned to a horse by a Handicapper based on the merits of its previous racing performances. Ratings are crucial in helping the Handicapper determine what weight to allocate a horse in a given race.
  • W% (Win Percentage): Shows the % of races the horse has come first in a previous race.
  • P% (Place Percentage): Shows the % of races the horse has placed in a previous race.
  • Avg $ (Average Prize Money): This one is easy, it's the average prize money the horse has won in it's racing history.
  • Wgt (Weight): This shows how much weight the horse is carrying. This is determined by the handicapper based on the ratings. Weights are used to try and make horses equal.
  • Bar (Barrier): This is the barrier number that the horse will "jump" from the barriers from. The lower the number, the closer the horse is to the inside rail. The importance of the barrier number differs depending on the track. The barrier does have an impact in the Melbourne Cup, with the horse drawing barrier 24 the worst placed runner.

As you can see from the above, there are many factors that can influence your choice when picking a Melbourne Cup runner. But that is just the start.

Melbourne Cup Long Form

The form shows above is the "short form", which is a summary of the form guide.

What is the Melbourne Cup Long Form?

You might wish to go into more depth on each runner. For example, below is an extract from one horse in what is called "long form".

Melbourne Cup 2022 Form Guide - Punters.com.au

The top section shows a range of form data for that horse. For example:

In this instance, this suggests that the horse has run in 55 races, come first 11 times, 2nd 7 times and has placed third on four occasions over its career. The same form history is shown for such stats as track condition, past form over the distance that the horse will be racing in this race, performance over the last 12 months, etc. 

Under the horse summary, is the previous form for the horse in the previous individual race results. So, for example, Who Shot Thebarman most recently raced at Moonee Valley and came 4th from a field of 15. It shows who the winner of the race was and usually displays a short summary of that horse's performance. In this case, Who Shot Thebarman ran into traffic at the 400m position and finished 2.4 lengths back from the winning horse.

An understanding of long form is hard and takes years of experience. If this is not for you, read on dear reader, you are in for a treat.


Melbourne Cup Punters Edge

A new tool that not only helps you find Melbourne Cup winners but also some betting value as well. Punters have developed a tool that converts form data into ratings and then ratings into a pricing system - one that highlights the overs and unders in every race in Australia.

Accessing 160 different data points on Melbourne Cup runners, our algorithm crunches the numbers and processes the form of every Melbourne Cup horse, weighting each factor according to its importance based on years of historical results.

Form data is critical but so are changing variables like track conditions and betting fluctuations. For that reason, the Punters Price is dynamic and updates to reflect these changes right up until raceday.

The Punters Price is compared with the best available odds to determine where the value edge lies.

In one glance you can see the unders and overs on every race in the country.

How to use Punters Edge?

Visit the Melbourne Cup Form Guide page and click on the Punters Edge section at the header that runs along the top of the page.

Once there you’ll see the Punters Rating for each runner (expressed as a winning percentage) as well as three key columns: Punters Price, Best Odds and Punters Edge.

The Punters Price is our quote for each horse based on the rating assigned by our algorithm.

The Best Odds are the live top odds available from Australia's leading bookmakers.

The Punters Edge is basically betting value expressed as a percentage based on the Punters Price compared with the Best Odds.

Melbourne Cup 2022 Form Guide - Punters.com.au

You will need to upgrade to Punters+ to use Punters Edge.




Melbourne Cup Form Predictor

Are you thinking right now that you just want some system to crunch all the numbers and spit you out a winner? Thankfully, there is the Melbourne Cup Form Predictor. The predictor takes a large number of statistical factors and produces a prediction of the race using form data. The default predictor uses a range of factors that have been honed over the years and is applied to all races.

It is possible for the Predictor to be customised for the form elements that are important to you. For example, the default setting shows previous wins as being 50% important, but this can be edited to 100% if you wish. It is recommended that you edit the settings and watch the results change so you can learn how different form elements impact the predicted Melbourne Cup result.



Melbourne Cup Speed Maps & Form

Speed maps chart where each horse is likely to settle in the run based on where they have typically been positioned throughout their career. Greater emphasis is placed on recent runs. The Melbourne Cup Speed Map is an essential punting tool as they gauge the anticipated speed (tempo) of a race, which is crucial in determining which pattern of racing will be suited in each event. 

The "POS" means the projected position of the horse which uses the following meanings: BM = Backmarker OM = Off Midfield, M = Midfield, OP = Off Pace, P = Pace, L = Leader

For example, a horse with "L" suggest from their previous form that they will settle as a leader when the horse leaves the barrier. It's important to note that the horse leading at the first term is not always likely to be the horse leading the race at the end. However, a horse nominated as a leader would generally be in a better position as they enter the straight and not be blocked by other horses. However, some horse do best when coming from behind, so you need to consider that too.

Melbourne Cup 2023 Form Guide - Punters.com.au

Melbourne Cup Form Guide and Sectional Times 

You wouldn't have a form guide for motorsports without looking at previous speed and horse racing should be no exception.

Our Melbourne Cup Sectional Times show how fast the horse has run over the last 1000m of a race broken up into 200m sections.

This allows you to consider how the horse will travel in the dramatic finish down the straight. It also shows you the average speed of the horse over the course of the entire race in KM/H. This is a pretty handy tool for doing form for the Melbourne Cup.

The Sectional Times tool in the Form Guide is also customisable according to how many runs you want to examine, the tracks where the horse has raced at and you can sort it by different factors like average speed.

Melbourne Cup 2023 Form Guide - Punters.com.au


So, based on this information, you should be able to do the form for this year's Melbourne Cup. Too hard? In that case, our experts have done the form for you, you might want to use one of their Melbourne Cup tips when they become available this year.

DOWNLOAD YOUR FREE MELBOURNE CUP SWEEP 2023 PDF

Melbourne Cup 2023 Form Guide, Best Odds, and Predictor

The Melbourne Cup 2023 Full Form Guide, Final Field and Barrier Draw will be available at the conclusion on racing on November 4 2023.

Get online, printable, and spreadsheet, Melbourne Cup form guide and Race Predictor when it is available.

Punters.com.au offers Australia's most comprehensive racing form guide that's famous for being simple to use. With exclusive form and punting tools you won't get anywhere else, this is your #1 stop for The Melbourne Cup form. 

Other key bits of Melbourne Cup punting intel you won't find in the form guide pages are the track conditions at Flemington on Melbourne Cup day, which will be here closer to the race:

Melbourne Cup Gear Changes

Please check here closer to the race for these.

You will be able to download your 2023 Melbourne Cup Form Guide right here.

We produce a printable PDF Melbourne Cup form guide, as well as offering our interactive online Melbourne Cup form guide, complete with a Cup predictor, speed map, odds comparison and comprehensive career form that will allow you to crunch all the key numbers and hopefully identify the eventual winner

Melbourne Cup Form Guide FAQs

When will the 2023 Melbourne Cup Form Guide be available?

The 2023 Melbourne Cup Form Guide will be available to punters on Saturday 4 November, at the conclusion of the Derby Day meeting, which is the first of the four meetings that comprise the Melbourne Cup Carnival. If you're not already a Punters member join Here to ensure you receive a notification as soon as the Melbourne Cup Form Guide lands.

How do I read a Melbourne Cup form guide?

Racing form guides vary, but generally the Melbourne Cup form guide can be split into the following areas: Short Form, Long Form, Form Predictor & Speed. If you are not a regular punter on horse racing, it can be daunting trying to read a form guide, but this guide makes reading a form guide easier than when you started. 

How do you read each column in Melbourne Cup short form guide?

Horse Number: This is the official number of the horse in the race. It's the number that appears on side of the horse on the saddle cloth. This has nothing do to with form.
Horse Details: This shows a number of things; the colour the jockey will be wearing on the horse, the horse name, the jockey name and followed by the horse trainer. The letters in brackets after the horse's name shows the country of origin for the horse (e.g. GB means Great Britain).
Last 10: This shows the result from the last 10 races. The most recent race is listed to the right. A "0" means the horse came 10th or worse, an "s" means the horse was scratched.
Rtg (Rating): A handicap rating is assigned to a horse by a Handicapper based on the merits of its previous racing performances. Ratings are crucial in helping the Handicapper determine what weight to allocate a horse in a given race.
W% (Win Percentage): Shows the % of races the horse has come first in a previous race.
P% (Place Percentage): Shows the % of races the horse has placed in a previous race.
Avg $ (Average Prize Money): This one is easy, it's the average prize money the horse has won in it's racing history.
Wgt (Weight): This shows how much weight the horse is carrying. This is determined by the handicapper based on the ratings. Weights are used to try and make horses equal.
Bar (Barrier): This is the barrier number that the horse will "jump" from the barriers from. The lower the number, the closer the horse is to the inside rail. The importance of the barrier number differs depending on the track. The barrier does have an impact in the Melbourne Cup, with the horse drawing barrier 24 the worst placed runner.

What is Melbourne Cup Form Predictor?

Are you thinking right now that you just want some system to crunch all the numbers and spit you out a winner? Thankfully, there is the Predictor. The predictor takes a large number of statistical factors and produces a prediction of the race using form data. The default predictor uses a range of factors that have been honed by our editorial staff and track analysts and uses these to deliver you a potential winner. You can also adjust the Predictor settings as well, for the factors you believe are most important when it comes to picking a winner.

What are Melbourne Cup Speed Maps?

Speed maps chart where each horse is likely to settle in the run based on where they have typically been positioned throughout their career. Greater emphasis is placed on recent runs. Speed maps are an essential punting tool as they gauge the anticipated speed (tempo) of a race, which is crucial in determining the start and of the race and how well a runner might be going over the last 200m when it really counts.

READ MORE on the Melbourne Cup 2024:


Melbourne Cup 2024 Field
Melbourne Cup Day
Melbourne Cup 2024 Favourites
Melbourne Cup 2024 Barrier Draw
Melbourne Cup 2024 Jockeys
Melbourne Cup 2024 Trainers
Melbourne Cup 2024 International Horses
Melbourne Cup 2024 Scratchings
Melbourne Cup 2024 News
Melbourne Cup 2024 Nominations
Melbourne Cup 2024 Lead Up Races
Melbourne Cup 2024 Exemption Races
Melbourne Cup 2024 Prize Money
Melbourne Cup 2024 Weather
Melbourne Cup Radio Stations
Melbourne Cup Fashion
Melbourne Cup Replays
Melbourne Cup Past Winners
Melbourne Cup Statistics
Melbourne Cup History

Melbourne Cup Results

Melbourne Cup Milestones

NominationsTue, 3rd September
1st AcceptancesTue, 1st October
2nd AcceptancesTue, 15th October
3rd AcceptancesMon, 28th October
Form GuideSat, 2nd November
Race DayTue, 5th November
Punters Paradise Pty Ltd is not affiliated with and does not have the endorsement or approval of, Victorian Racing Club which conducts the Melbourne Cup.