Inside Run - Early Look: Melbourne Cup Contenders

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With fewer than 100 days remaining, anticipation builds as the countdown to the 2025 Lexus Melbourne Cup intensifies.

Soon, the nation will pause, the world will look on, and Flemington will erupt as the field bursts from the gates to the roar of the crowd. Although pivotal golden ticket contests and major lead-up races are still to come, the framework for Australia’s greatest racing spectacle is swiftly coming into focus.

Last year, history was made when Knight's Choice claimed the Cup, the first Queensland-trained horse to do so. It was a rare local triumph in a race that has grown increasingly international since Vintage Crop’s ground-breaking victory in 1993.

In the past two decades, seven winners have been prepared offshore, while Northern Hemisphere breeding has dominated, producing 16 of the last 25 Cup champions.

Now in its 165th edition, the Lexus Melbourne Cup has expanded its golden ticket lineup with two new ballot-exempt races: the Group 3 Geelong Cup (2400m) and the Group 2 Moonee Valley Gold Cup (2500m).

They join an already diverse set of qualifiers that includes England’s Ebor Handicap (2816m) and the Grade 2 Belmont Gold Cup (3219m) in New York complimenting the Australian qualifiers—the Listed Lexus Roy Higgins (2600m), the Listed Lexus Andrew Ramsden (2800m), the Group 3 Lexus Bart Cummings (2500m), the Group 3 Lexus Archer Stakes (2500m), the Group 1 Caulfield Cup (2400m), and the Group 1 Cox Plate (2040m).

Across the globe, Cup hopefuls are emerging. European stables are deep into their campaigns. Japanese contenders are assembling. And from New Zealand—a country with deep ties to the Cup—the best stayers are preparing to make their move. An American challenger could even be in the mix.

With the countdown on, we take a look at some of the early contenders shaping up for the 2025 Lexus Melbourne Cup.