Quick look at the 2025 Lexus Melbourne Cup contenders

He’s a French-bred stayer with strong local ties, being by Australia and named after our second Prime Minister and a key figure in the formation of the Federation, Alfred Deakin, as well as being owned by Terry Henderson’s OTI Racing.

The Phillip Stokes-trained stayer showed a lot of staying promise last summer with successive wins in the Torney Cup (2500m) at The Valley and then securing the Lexus Melbourne Cup golden ticket by winning the Lexus Roy Higgins (2600m) in March.

His recent sixth in the TAB Turnbull Stakes (2000m) indicates he is tracking well for the Cup.

There’s no more intriguing runner in the Lexus Melbourne Cup than the first United States-trained galloper, Parchment Party, who earned his spot in the race when the grey gelding outstayed his rivals to win the Grade 3 Belmont Gold Cup (2816m) comfortably, after the race was moved to the dirt following a Saratoga deluge. 

He came from sixth at the 1000 metres to effortlessly account for his rivals by 8.5 lengths. He returned to the Saratoga track in early August and won the Listed Birdstone Stakes over the same distance.

He’s trained by Bill Mott, who has been the USA’s most outstanding trainer four times. Earlier this year, he trained Sovereignty to victory in the Kentucky Derby, his second win in that race. He also trained the legendary Cigar in the mid-1990s.

There’s no shortage of information on how to win a Lexus Melbourne Cup through this progressive stayer’s connections.

Revelare is trained by Robert Hickmott, who secured the 2016 Melbourne Cup for Lloyd Williams with Almandin when he worked for him. He’s also partly owned by Kevin and Colleen Bamford, who experienced what it’s like to win the Melbourne Cup with Americain in 2010.

Revelare’s sire, So You Think, finished third in that Melbourne Cup. The gelding has been a revelation with his carefully planned career, which has resulted in eight wins from 12 starts for the five-year-old gelding. He secured his place by winning a golden ticket into the Lexus Melbourne Cup with his impressive victory in the Lexus Archer Stakes (2500m).

Valiant King assured his spot in a second consecutive Lexus Melbourne Cup with an outstanding effort to win The Lexus Bart Cummings (2500m) and claim a golden ticket.

He enjoyed the fast tempo and demonstrated his staying ability by out-sprinting his rivals to win comfortably by two and three-quarter lengths.

He finished 13th in last year’s Lexus Melbourne Cup, but it was a better run than it appeared, as he was trapped wide and was not suited by the slow-paced tempo, so being beaten by five and a half lengths was a run with some merit.

His trainer, Chris Waller, has tasted success once in the Cup with Verry Elleegant and is eager to achieve a second victory.

Irish trainer Joseph O’Brien knows what it takes to win the Lexus Melbourne Cup, having achieved it twice already with Rekindling and Twilight Payment.

Al Riffa was made favourite for the Lexus Melbourne Cup after his four-length victory in the Group 1 Irish St Leger (2816m) at his last start.

O’Brien said after the win that Al Riffa’s challenge is different because he will have to contend with a hefty weight of 59kg, as he’s a multiple Group 1 winner. He highlighted that Al Riffa is a high-class horse and deserves the weight. 

Al Riffa’s other Group 1 victories include the National Stakes (1408m) as a two-year-old at The Curragh and last year’s Grosser Preis von Berlin (2414m) at Hoppegarten Racecourse in Germany.

The six-year-old entire will need to carry 59kg to win. The last horse to carry a similar weight and win a Melbourne Cup was Think Big in 1975, who carried 58.5kg.

The allure of winning a Lexus Melbourne Cup still burns for legendary Irish trainer Willie Mullins, who has trained a second, third, and fourth-place finisher in Australia’s most famous race.

Over the past two years, he has brought out Vauban and Absurde to compete in the Lexus Melbourne Cup. Both are returning, but Vauban now resides in Australia and has a new trainer. 

In 2023, Absurde finished seventh in the Lexus Melbourne Cup; last year, he was fifth, both times running well. Mullins combines jumps and flat racing with his stayers, and that’s what he has done with Absurde this year.

Four starts ago, he won a hurdle race at Plumpton, then finished third at the Cheltenham Festival over hurdles. He then came second at York two starts later, and his last run saw him finish third in the Group 3 Irish St Leger Trial (2816m) at the Curragh behind Leinster.

This year, Absurde will have a lead-up run in the Caulfield Cup (2400m) en route to a third tilt at the Lexus Melbourne Cup.

The Japanese factor always needs to be respected in staying races worldwide. In 2006, they claimed the Melbourne Cup when Delta Blues defeated stablemate, Pop Rock.

They nearly secured a second victory last year when Warp Speed narrowly missed defeating Knight’s Choice.

Chevalier Rose, is an eight-year-old son of the legendary racehorse and champion stallion Deep Impact.

Last year, he demonstrated his staying ability with a win in the Group 2 Stayers Stakes over 3600 metres at Nakayama. Although he hasn’t performed well in four runs this year, he was close at Group 3 level over 2500m in the Nikkei Sho, finishing 12th and beaten by 3.1 lengths.

He then finished seventh in the Group 1 Tenno Sho (Spring) (2500m) at Kyoto, where he was seventh and beaten by 10.3 lengths. Damian Lane has chosen him as his ride, which is a vote of confidence. 

His trainer, Hishashi Shimizu, won the 2019 Caulfield Cup with Mer De Glace, who then finished sixth in the Melbourne Cup.

Son of Frankel, Sir Delius, has achieved a great deal this spring. Gai Waterhouse has won one Melbourne Cup and is eager to secure another with the import. 

When Sir Delius claimed victory in the Group 1 Underwood Stakes (1800m), Gai’s first comment was that she aimed to win one spring race with Sir Delius – the Lexus Melbourne Cup – and that anything else would be a bonus.

Sir Delius then won the TAB Turnbull Stakes (2000m) and once again Waterhouse mentioned the Lexus Melbourne Cup.

Sir Delius was purchased for $2.7 million after finishing eighth in last year’s Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp. Waterhouse and Adrian Bott gave him his Australian debut at Doomben in May, where he won on a heavy track.

Over the past two years, Vauban has attracted most of the Lexus Melbourne Cup publicity when trained by Irish trainer Willie Mullins. It is now history that he started at $5.50 and finished 14th behind Without A Fight in 2023 when he struggled in the warm conditions.

He returned last year with Mullins, starting at $8 and finishing 11th, only five lengths behind the winner Knight’s Choice, as he was not suited by the slow pace of the race.

Australian Bloodstock then purchased him and entrusted him to trainers Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott. He managed to win the Group 3 Sky High Stakes over 2000 metres at Rosehill in March, and subsequently finished third in the Group 1 Tancred Stakes (2400m).

In his latest race, he ran home strongly to finish fifth in The Metropolitan (2400m) at Randwick.

Five-year-old gelding, Half Yours, will carry the flag as the true Victorian in the Lexus Melbourne Cup, with his sire, St Jean, standing at Brackley Park, Avenel.

A victory would recall the 1973 Melbourne Cup when local stallion Gala Crest sired Gala Supreme to win. Half Yours is trained locally by Tony and Calvin McEvoy, who have stables at Flemington and Ballarat.

He’s an exciting prospect, as demonstrated by his spectacular win in the Group 3 Naturalism Stakes (2000m), followed by a fourth place in the TAB Turnbull Stakes (2000m), his first outing at Group 1 level. 

He was sold as part of the dispersal sale of the late Colin McKenna for $305,000 late last year and was snapped up by the McEvoys.