Al Riffa remains the Melbourne Cup favourite after a flood of money came in on Monday, including a $500,000 bet at the Call of the Card function. The Irish raider sits at $7, ahead of Half Yours at $7.50, French hope Presage Nocturne ($8.50) and Chris Waller-trained pair Valiant King ($9) and Buckaroo ($10).
Half Yours will carry the weight of a nation as the only Australian-bred galloper in the $10 million race. Star jockey Jamie Melham is chasing a slice of history on the five-year-old, aiming to become just the second female jockey to salute.
Pre-race favourite Sir Delius (R) was ruled out of the Melbourne Cup after scans. Image: Getty
The Melbourne Cup will have a full field of 24 horses for the first time in six years after Racing Victoria announced on Monday night that all runners had passed their pre-race scans and checks. All runners passed their mandatory checks for the $10 million race, which marks the first time since 2019 that there hasn’t been a late scratching.
Starting in 2019, there had been at least one horse scratched on the Monday night or Tuesday morning of the great race in every previous edition. But not in 2025, with every horse cleared to race by vets and stewards.
It follows a move in 2021 to implement stricter screening and checks for horses set to compete in the Melbourne Cup, which has made the race much safer. The new measures resulted in a number of high-profile horses being ruled out in the weeks and days that preceded the Cup.
Owners ‘devastated’ after pre-race favourite ruled out
Sir Delius was installed as the early favourite for both the Cox Plate and Melbourne Cup last month, but wasn’t allowed to race in either. A panel of vets ruled that the five-year-old risked injury by running, after compulsory scans were conducted.
The Gai Waterhouse-trained horse was scratched from both races after vets said the “CT scan results for Sir Delius indicated that the horse is currently at heightened risk of injury”. Go Bloodstock racing manager Steve O’Connor said: “We’re devastated, because the horse has been flying. We will talk to our vets in the next couple of days before making decisions about the future.”
Deakin, Grand Pierro and Scandanavia also failed their pre-race scans, while Ethical Diamond was barred due to a previous injury. Scans showed changes in Deakin’s fetlocks, which made the stayer at a heightened risk of injury.
Jamie Melham is chasing Melbourne Cup history aboard Half Yours. (Photo by Reg Ryan/Racing Photos via Getty Images)
Grand Pierro was ruled out after stewards determined he wouldn’t be in a suitable condition to accept for the race. Because he needed sedation for a follow-up scan, stewards determined there wasn’t enough time for recovery.
Scandanavia was another horse deemed unfit by Racing Victoria. “He didn’t pass the scans,” said trainer Aidan O’Brien. “That’s the long and short of it. He is a three-year-old and obviously three-year-olds do have different bone structures than four-year-olds or five-year-olds.
“They are maturing all the time. Their bones are filling in and that’s the way it is. Everyone else thought that his scans were perfect, but when he went down in front of the Australian vets they weren’t happy about it, so that’s fine.
“When you go to Rome, you play by the Pope’s rules. That’s the way it is in Australia. When you’re in Australia, you play by the Australian rules. Hopefully we’ll have horses that will go and try again sometime.”
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The strict new testing was introduced after Anthony Van Dyck’s death in 2020, which was the seventh time a horse died on Cup day in eight years. The Irish horse joined Cliffsofmoher (2018), Regal Monarch (2016), Red Cadeaux (2015), Admire Rakti (2014), Araldo (2014) and Verema (2013) as recent casualties of the Melbourne Cup. Since the new measures were introduced, there hasn’t been any major incidents of note.
What time is the Melbourne Cup?
The first race on Cup day at Flemington was at 10.45am (AEDT). The race that stops the nation is scheduled for 3pm, while the final race of the day is at 5.15pm.
with AAP