Melbourne Cup 2026 Results: Point Of Law Wins at Flemington

Melbourne Cup 2026 results: Point Of Law wins

Update (2026-11-02): Point Of Law (GB) won the 166th Melbourne Cup over 3200m at Flemington on Tuesday 3 November 2026 (Melbourne time), for trainer Ciaron Maher and jockey Ethan Brown, who won his first Cup. Zahrann ran second, Juja Kibo third and Sons And Lovers fourth.

Reports disagree on who started favorite. ABC News called Point Of Law the favorite, but Yahoo News Australia named Hopewell Rock as the favorite and said he did not finish in the top three. We are not naming a starting favorite until an official price confirms it.

ABC News describes the winner as a British stallion formerly owned by King Charles. "Please don't wake me up," Brown told the Nine Network after the race, ABC reported.

The top four

ABC News reported these four placings. The rest of the finishing order was not confirmed in the reports we checked, so we list only the top four. We are not giving a margin, a race time or the prize split until an official result we can open confirms them.

The winner had earned his place with a golden ticket by winning the Geelong Cup on 21 October, and started from barrier 9 carrying 53kg (see the field table below).

Why Asterix was scratched on race morning

Chris Waller's Asterix (No. 9, barrier 6) was scratched on Cup morning, announced at 11:16am AEDT, ABC News reported. Stewards found that Penetrene, a topical liniment, had been applied to both of his forelegs in his stable that morning.

Racing Victoria's rules do not allow medication of any kind on race day. Chief steward Rob Montgomery called it an honest mistake by the horse's handler, and Waller called it a simple mistake made under race-day pressure and said the responsibility was his.

The stewards' inquiry is continuing, and no outcome had been reported when we checked. With Asterix out, 23 horses started.

Before the race: the final field and barrier draw

This section is the pre-race picture, as it stood on 31 October.

The VRC confirmed the final field of 24 and drew the barriers for the A$10.2 million Group 1 Lexus Melbourne Cup after Victoria Derby Day on 31 October. Point Of Law, already the favorite, drew barrier 9. Defiantly missed out: Joseph O'Brien's stayer failed a second vet examination at Werribee that morning, and stablemate Kizlyar (53.5kg) took his place.

Racing Victoria stewards had withdrawn Japanese stayer Stinger Glass on Friday 30 October after an independent imaging panel judged him at heightened risk of injury, a day after Saint George was ruled out the same way. Stinger Glass, trained by Yasuo Tomomichi, was also stood down for the rest of the Spring Carnival.

Future History (53.5kg), trained by Gregory Hickman, moved into the field. That gave Jamie Melham, who won the 2025 Cup on Half Yours, a ride and a shot at back-to-back wins, which ended with Point Of Law's victory.

As of 10am AEDT on 30 October, 34 horses remained on the entry list, and Racing Victoria said all of them had satisfactory scans. Vauban and Litzdeel were not passed at Thursday's vet inspection, but RV vets re-examined both on Friday morning and cleared them to accept.

Saint George: out on 29 October

The Ciaron Maher-trained stayer was second in the Caulfield Cup and fifth in the Cox Plate, and was one of the leading fancies. He passed the vet trot-up, but the panel read his compulsory CT scan and a follow-up PET scan on 28 October the same way. He was ruled out for the rest of the spring.

Bendigo Cup winner So You Are took his place in the top 24, carrying 54kg, the VRC says. That scratching also secured a start for Hopewell Rock.

How the field got here

Third acceptances on Monday 26 October left 39 horses, the Victoria Racing Club said. The field went from 101 nominations to 71 at first acceptances on 29 September, 58 at second acceptances on 13 October, then 39, 34 by the morning of 30 October and the final 24 on 31 October.

Race week also brings Racing Victoria's vet checks: CT scans and two pre-race inspections before a horse can start. Three late withdrawals show they can change the field.

The numbers at a glance

• 39 horses left after third acceptances; 34 at 10am AEDT on 30 October
• 2 horses withdrawn after their scans: Saint George and Stinger Glass
• 24: the final field, the maximum allowed; 23 started after Asterix was scratched
• 11 golden ticket (ballot-exempt) races in 2026, all run by 24 October; 5 exempt horses in the final field
• Joseph O'Brien: 8 horses in contention at third acceptances
• Chris Waller: 5 horses in contention at third acceptances
• Point Of Law: barrier 9, 53kg, and the winner

Who missed the race: Defiantly, Stinger Glass, Saint George, Half Yours and Kingswood

Defiantly failed a second vet examination at Werribee on Saturday 31 October. He had presented at Thursday's inspection without a right hind shoe and with a change in gait, Just Horse Racing reported, and he was reshod but did not get the clearance he needed.

Stinger Glass was withdrawn by stewards on 30 October and Saint George on 29 October, both on veterinary advice (see the scan section below). Saint George passed the scans before the 2024 Cup and ran in that race.

Defending champion Half Yours was not among the third acceptors. He fell in the Caulfield Cup on 17 October and came away with minor cuts, but his trainer said soon after that his spring was likely over, and he has gone for a spell.

Kingswood won that Caulfield Cup, which earns a golden ticket into the Melbourne Cup. His trainer said the Caulfield Cup had been the target all along and that the horse would not run in the Melbourne Cup this year.

Other horses that dropped out at third acceptances include Aeliana, Birdman and Land Legend.

The final field and barrier draw

The VRC confirmed the final 24 and drew the barriers at the end of Derby Day on 31 October. The number is the horse's saddlecloth, which runs from the top weight down.

So You Are got a 1kg penalty for winning the Bendigo Cup. Without Saint George's withdrawal he would have been 25th, the VRC says. Future History was 26th in the order of entry when Melham was booked to ride him, Yahoo News Australia reported. Kizlyar came in when Defiantly was ruled out. Asterix (No. 9) was later scratched on race morning, for the reason explained at the top of this article.

Melbourne Cup race week: the timeline

Racing Victoria set the 4:30pm AEDT close for final acceptances, and the VRC announced the field and barriers at the end of Derby Day.

Racing Victoria's vet requirements: CT scans and inspections

Racing Victoria's protocols require a CT scan of the lower limbs for Melbourne Cup horses before they run, whether they are trained locally or overseas. RV says it is keeping its veterinary protocols in place again this year, and for 2026 it set a standing CT window from Friday 16 October to Thursday 29 October.

For international horses entered in the Caulfield Cup, Cox Plate or Melbourne Cup, RV requires a pre-race CT before each start, and it pays for the CT in Melbourne. An overseas horse that ran in the Caulfield Cup therefore needs a new scan before the Melbourne Cup.

On top of the scans, RV-appointed vets inspect the horses twice: on 29 or 30 October, and again on the day before the race. Since 2025 the Cup-eve inspection must take place in Victoria. If a CT flags a possible problem, RV says a follow-up PET scan can be used, time permitting.

The CT results that matter are Racing Victoria's. Treat any list of horses that have "passed" as unofficial unless RV confirms it.

Why CT scans became mandatory

CT scans were used only as needed before 2021. Racing Victoria overhauled its Cup vetting after Anthony Van Dyck's fatal leg injury in the 2020 Cup. He was the fourth Cup runner in eight years to suffer a fatal limb injury, after Verema (2013), Red Cadeaux (2015) and The Cliffsofmoher (2018), AAP reported when the review was released. From 2021, CT scans became mandatory, with the aim of cutting those fatal limb injuries.

CT vs PET: what each scan shows

• CT (computed tomography) builds a detailed 3D picture of the bones in the lower legs. Specialists look for signs of bone under stress and for remodelling, where bone is being broken down faster than it is rebuilt. These changes can be invisible from the outside.
• PET (positron emission tomography) is nuclear imaging: a small amount of a tracer is injected and the scanner picks it up. RV says it can help determine the status of an area of concern seen on CT. RV trialled it in spring 2024 and made it more widely available in 2025.

Saint George: how the scans ruled him out

Saint George had his compulsory CT of the lower limbs at the University of Melbourne Equine Centre in Werribee. An independent panel of imaging specialists from Australia, the UK and the USA reviews the scans; three of its seven members look at each horse separately.

The CT pointed to a heightened risk of injury. His stable took up the offer of a PET scan on 28 October, and the panel's view didn't change. He had passed the trot-up, which shows that the scans look for bone changes a horse's movement may not reveal.

Stinger Glass: MRI at home, CT and PET in Melbourne

Japan does not have a standing CT scanner for horses, so Stinger Glass was allowed an MRI there instead, on 26 August, Racing Victoria says. As the rules require when MRI is used abroad, he then had a CT of his lower limbs at the Werribee centre on Tuesday 27 October.

Three panel members reported him at heightened risk of injury. A PET scan followed on the afternoon of Thursday 29 October, and after reviewing it overnight the panel kept its view. Stewards then withdrew him on the morning of Friday 30 October from the Cup and stood him down for the rest of the Spring Carnival.

Why the checks get extra attention this year

ABC News reported that the mare Ohope Wins was euthanised by the on-course vet after a fall in the Caulfield Cup on 17 October, the same incident that ended Half Yours's spring. Both jockeys were taken to hospital, and neither was seriously hurt.

Scans look for problems in the lower legs that a normal check can miss. They screen a horse's fitness to race; they cannot stop an accident in running like that fall.

The international path

Overseas horses cannot simply turn up. Australia's agriculture department requires pre-export quarantine of at least 14 days (21 for horses from the United Arab Emirates) in a facility it has approved, right before the flight. Horses from New Zealand and New Caledonia are the only ones exempt. That quarantine does not have to be in the horse's home country: a horse can spend its required residency period across more than one approved country.

Before travelling, RV requires a CT of the lower limbs (MRI only where CT is not available), at the connections' expense. If an MRI was used, a CT is still needed in Melbourne. The Victorian quarantine base is the Werribee International Horse Centre, with room for 32 horses across three compounds.

How the Melbourne Cup field of 24 is cut

Think of it as a funnel with several checkpoints. Owners pay a fee and confirm their intention at each stage, so the list shrinks even before any ballot.

1. Nominations: connections enter a horse with a fee. This year began with 101 names.
2. First acceptances (29 September): 71 horses stayed in.
3. Second and third acceptances (13 and 26 October): 58, then 39.
4. Final acceptances and barrier draw (Saturday 31 October): the last cut to 24.

Every confirmation costs money, and press reports put the final acceptance fee at A$55,000. That is why a horse can leave the list with no ballot involved.

What "ballot" means here

When more than 24 horses are still in on the final day, the VRC ranks them in an order of entry. It works as a ranked list rather than a lottery, and horses at the bottom are "balloted out".

Ballot-exempt winners go to the top of the list. For the rest, the VRC's race conditions rank horses mainly on their handicap weight and their recent results in qualifying races, so the lowest-rated horses are the first to miss out.

Ballot-exempt "golden tickets"

Some horses skip the ballot entirely. Winning a designated ballot-exempt race guarantees a start.

For 2026 these included the Lexus Bart Cummings (3 October), Caulfield Cup (17 October), Geelong Cup (21 October), and the Moonee Valley Gold Cup and Cox Plate (24 October), plus overseas races such as the Prix Kergorlay and Belmont Gold Cup. Defiantly earned his in the Kergorlay but failed his vet check on 31 October. RacingBet reports that Point Of Law won his in the Geelong Cup and Juja Kibo in the Moonee Valley Gold Cup. Kingswood's Caulfield Cup ticket went unused.

The VRC lists eleven golden ticket races for 2026, and all of them had been run by 24 October. Not every ticket was used: Kingswood skipped the Cup, the VRC says Cox Plate winner Cosmic Crusader is not on a Melbourne Cup path, and some earlier winners are no longer in contention. That left six exempt horses at the top of the order of entry, and five reached the final field without Defiantly.

Weights: why some horses carry more

The Cup is a handicap. The handicapper assigns each horse a weight, which the jockey and gear must add up to, with lead ballast if needed. Better horses carry more, in theory evening out the contest.

Two rules are worth knowing. The minimum weight for horses aged four and older is 51kg. The top weight is meant to be at least 57kg on final declaration, so weights can rise if too few high-rated horses accept.

For a bigger picture of racing's grading, see our explainer on what a Grade 1 or Group 1 race means.

Why 3200m?

The Cup started in 1861 as a two-mile race. When Australia went metric in 1972, it became 3200m, a hair shorter than two miles.

That distance tests stamina and patience. Horses usually settle mid-pack for a long run and then need a strong finish. It is also why many entries are proven stayers, and why so many come from Europe, where long handicaps are common.

A quick checklist after the race

1. Check the top four at the top of this article; the rest of the order was still to be confirmed when we checked.
2. For the full finishing order and the Asterix inquiry, rely on the VRC and Racing Victoria stewards, not social media.
3. Use the field table above for each runner's number, barrier and weight.

The Cup is one of the spring's big international stages. For other big races, see The Everest 2026 and the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.