{"id":646839,"date":"2026-10-31T11:36:08","date_gmt":"2026-10-31T11:36:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/646839\/"},"modified":"2026-10-31T11:36:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T11:36:08","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\/nz\/646839\/","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 has been finalised.<\/p>\n

The 24 horses set to battle it out for more than $10 million in prizemoney have been confirmed 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 is set 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, instead got a start in the race. See below the confirmed numbers and jockey for every runner.<\/p>\n

TREVOR MARSHALLSEA\u2019S FORM GUIDE: Verdict on every runner and predicted first 4<\/a><\/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

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

2026 MELBOURNE CUP FIELD<\/p>\n

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

1 Sons And Lovers (GB) 57.5kg Joseph O\u2019Brien Dylan Browne McMonagle (3)<\/p>\n

2 Trustyourinstinct (IRE) 57kg Joseph O\u2019Brien James McDonald (18)<\/p>\n

3 Knight\u2019s Choice 56.5kg John Symons & Sheila Laxon Robbie Dolan (2)<\/p>\n

4 Middle Earth (GB) 56.5kg Ciaron Maher Mark Zahra (1)<\/p>\n

5 Vauban (FR) 56.5kg Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott Jordan Childs (22)<\/p>\n

6 Enfjaar (IRE) 56kg Roger Varian Ray Dawson (8)<\/p>\n

7 Royal Supremacy (IRE) 56kg Ciaron Maher Ben Allen (21)<\/p>\n

8 Wine Dark Sea (GB) 56kg Harry Charlton Damian Lane (23)<\/p>\n

9 Asterix (NZ) 55kg Chris Waller Jye McNeil (6)<\/p>\n

10 Goodie Two Shoes (IRE) 55kg Joseph O\u2019Brien Wayne Lordan (19)<\/p>\n

11 Juja Kibo (IRE) 55kg Ciaron Maher Sam Clipperton (14)<\/p>\n

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

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

14 Soul Of Spain (IRE) 54.5kg Chris Waller Tommy Berry (5)<\/p>\n

15 Zahrann (IRE) 54.5kg Ciaron Maher Ben Melham (11)<\/p>\n

16 So You Are 54kg Bjorn Baker Rachel King (7)<\/p>\n

17 Future History (GB) 53.5kg Gregory Hickman Jamie Melham (12)<\/p>\n

18 James J Braddock (IRE) 53.5kg Joseph O\u2019Brien Craig Williams (24)<\/p>\n

19 Kizlyar (IRE) 53.5kg Joseph O\u2019Brien Beau Mertens (20)<\/p>\n

20 Point Of Law (GB) 53kg Ciaron Maher Ethan Brown (9)<\/p>\n

21 Strictly Business 53kg Thomas Carberry Dean Yendall (4)<\/p>\n

22 Mr Monaco (GB) 52.5kg Ciaron Maher Jabez Johnstone (16)<\/p>\n

23 Zakouma 52kg Grahame Begg William Pike (10)<\/p>\n

24 Shockletz (NZ) 51kg Ciaron Maher Harry Coffey (17)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The field for the 2026 Melbourne Cup has been finalised. The 24 horses set to battle it out…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":646840,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[111,139,69,213],"class_list":["post-646839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=646839"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646839\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/646840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=646839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=646839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=646839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}