{"id":947243,"date":"2026-10-31T05:54:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-31T05:54:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/947243\/"},"modified":"2026-10-31T05:54:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T05:54:11","slug":"melbourne-cup-2026-final-field-horses-order-of-entry-weights-jockeys-trainers-numbers-barriers-favourite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/947243\/","title":{"rendered":"Melbourne Cup 2026 final field, horses, order of entry, weights, jockeys, trainers, numbers, barriers, favourite"},"content":{"rendered":"

The field for the 2026 Melbourne Cup is close to being finalised.<\/p>\n

The 24 horses set to battle it out for more than $10 million in prizemoney will be confirmed after 4.30pm AEDT, before the all-important barrier draw <\/a>is held ahead of Tuesday\u2019s race.<\/p>\n

More than 100 horses initially nominated for the 166th running of the Cup at Flemington Racecourse, including 21 internationals, but the final line-up now appears set unless there are any further enforced withdrawals after some top hopes were ruled out in recent days<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Joseph O\u2019Brien-trained hope Defiantly became the latest casualty after failing a veterinary check on Saturday morning.<\/p>\n

But, in a twist of fate, it means another of Irish trainer O\u2019Brien\u2019s horses, Kizlyar, will instead get a start in the race.<\/p>\n

BARRIER DRAW: Full results and who fared best \u2014 and worst<\/a><\/p>\n

MELBOURNE CUP ULTIMATE GUIDE: Everything you need to know<\/a><\/p>\n

ORDER OF ENTRY: Latest in the race for Cup spots<\/a><\/p>\n

DERBY DAY FORM GUIDE: Tips for big Flemington card<\/a><\/p>\n

GOLDEN EAGLE FORM GUIDE: Tips for big Randwick card<\/a><\/p>\n

Geelong Cup winner set for Melbourne Cup | 00:26<\/p>\n

LIKELY 2026 MELBOURNE CUP FIELD<\/p>\n

Number – Name – Weight – Trainer – Jockey<\/p>\n

1 Sons And Lovers (GB) 57.5kg Joseph O\u2019Brien Ryan Moore<\/p>\n

2 Trustyourinstinct (IRE) 57kg Joseph O\u2019Brien James McDonald<\/p>\n

3 Middle Earth (GB) 56.5kg Ciaron Maher Mark Zahra<\/p>\n

4 Vauban (FR) 56.5kg Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott TBC<\/p>\n

5 Knight\u2019s Choice 56.5kg John Symons & Sheila Laxon Robbie Dolan<\/p>\n

6 Royal Supremacy (IRE) 56kg Ciaron Maher TBC<\/p>\n

7 Enfjaar (IRE) 56kg Roger Varian Ray Dawson (unconfirmed)<\/p>\n

8 Wine Dark Sea (GB) 56kg Harry Charlton TBC<\/p>\n

9 Juja Kibo (IRE) 55kg Ciaron Maher Sam Clipperton<\/p>\n

10 Asterix (NZ) 55kg Chris Waller TBC<\/p>\n

11 Goodie Two Shoes (IRE) 55kg Joseph O\u2019Brien Wayne Lordan<\/p>\n

12 Soul Of Spain (IRE) 54.5kg Chris Waller Tommy Berry<\/p>\n

13 Onesmoothoperator (USA) 54.5kg Tim Fitzsimmons Declan Bates<\/p>\n

14 Zahrann (IRE) 54.5kg Ciaron Maher Ben Melham<\/p>\n

15 Hopewell Rock (IRE) 54.5kg George Boughey Zac Lloyd<\/p>\n

16 So You Are 54kg Bjorn Baker Rachel King<\/p>\n

17 Future History (GB) Gregory Hickman 53.5kg<\/p>\n

18 James J Braddock (IRE) 53.5kg Joseph O\u2019Brien Craig Williams<\/p>\n

19 Kizlyar (IRE) Joseph O\u2019Brien 53.5kg TBC<\/p>\n

20 Point Of Law (GB) 53kg Ciaron Maher Ethan Brown<\/p>\n

21 Strictly Business 53kg Thomas Carberry TBC<\/p>\n

22 Mr Monaco (GB) 52.5kg Ciaron Maher Jabez Johnstone (a)<\/p>\n

23 Zakouma 52kg Grahame Begg William Pike<\/p>\n

24 Shockletz (NZ) 51kg Ciaron Maher Harry Coffey<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The field for the 2026 Melbourne Cup is close to being finalised. The 24 horses set to battle…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":947244,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[64,63,85],"class_list":["post-947243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/947243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=947243"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/947243\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/947244"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=947243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=947243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=947243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}