With another ‘Race That Stops The Nation’ over – punters are already looking ahead to the 2026 Melbourne Cup betting odds to see if this year’s winner Half Yours is worth backing for a repeat win.
See below the latest 2026 Melbourne Cup betting odds – with the layers making three horses 20/1 joint favourites at this stage.
One being the 2025 winner Half Yours, another this year’s Epsom Derby third Tennessee Stud and the third Stay True for trainer Aidan O’Brien, as he looks for his first win in the race.
Melbourne Cup Betting Odds 2026
| Horse | Odds |
| HALF YOURS | 20/1 |
| STAY TRUE | 20/1 |
| TENNESSEE STUD | 20/1 |
| OBSERVER | 25/1 |
| SCANDINAVIA | 25/1 |
| THRICE | 25/1 |
| SWAGMAN | 25/1 |
| SIR DELIUS | 25/1 |
| PINHOLE | 25/1 |
| LITZDEEL | 25/1 |
| GOODIE TWO SHOES | 33/1 |
| GILDED WATER | 33/1 |
| TREASURETHE MOMENT | 33/1 |
| MIDDLE EARTH | 33/1 |
| AL RIFFA | 33/1 |
| TORRANZINO | 33/1 |
| RIVER OF STARS | 22/1 |
| AELIANA | 33/1 |
| VIA SISTINA | 33/1 |
| ABSURDE | 50/1 |
| VALIANT KING | 50/1 |
| VIKING INVASION | 50/1 |
| GALVESTON | 50/1 |
| VAUBAN | 50/1 |
| FURTHUR | 50/1 |
| PRESAGE NOCTURNE | 50/1 |
| MEYDAAN | 66/1 |
| ONESMOOTHOPERATOR | 100/1 |
Note: All Melbourne Cup betting odds are subject to change
Half Yours 20/1 For Repeat Melbourne Cup Win In 2026
The 6 year-old gelding Half Yours powered away to win the 2025 Melbourne Cup – with 2 3/4 lengths to spare at the line – and could be back for more next year.
In winning the big Flemington Park race, Half Yours also gave top female jockey Jamie Melham a first Melbourne Cup win.
While she became the first lady rider to do the Caulfield Cup/ Melbourne Cup double and only the second female jockey to win Australia’s biggest horse race.
The first was Michelle Payne, who guided home 100/1 shot Prince Of Penzance in 2015.
Half Yours, who is trained by Tony McEvoy and Calvin McEnvoy, also became the 13th horse to win both the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups in the same season.
But can he win the huge Melbourne Cup prize money again?
The 2026 Melbourne Cup betting odds suggest he can – with the best horse racing betting sites making him one of the favourites in the market.
Half Yours is still a very lightly-raced horse, so many experts are suggesting there could be even more to come.
Yes, he’ll be shouldering a bigger weight if back in 2026, but with only six career runs (four wins), there is every chance he could take another step forward next season.
Melbourne Cup Result 2025
- 🥇- HALF YOURS (8/1)
- 🥈- Goodie Two Shoes (40/1)
- 🥉- Middle Earth (25/1)
- 4th – River Of Stars (18/1)
WATCH: Half Yours Winning The 2025 Melbourne Cup
Who Was The Last Horse To Win ‘Back-To-Back’ Melbourne Cups?
If Half Yours does make the 2026 Melbourne Cup runners – he’ll be looking to become the first repeat winner of the race since 2005.
The last horse to win ‘back-to-back’ Melbourne Cups was the mighty Makybe Diva, who won the race three times on the spin between 2003 and 2005.
Watch Makybe Diva winning at Flemington in 2005.
Melbourne Cup 2026 Details and Date
📅Date: Tuesday 3rd November 2026
⌚Time: 4:00am (GMT)
🏇Racecourse: Flemington (2m)
💰Winning Purse: $4,500,000 AUS
📺 TV: Sky Sports Racing
2025 Melbourne Cup Runner-up Goodie Two Shoes 33/1
Top Irish owner JP McManus, who has won the Aintree Grand National three times, was having his first Melbourne Cup runner in 2025 with Goodie Two Shoes.
The horse finished an excellent second too under Wayne Lordan and you feel now JP has got a taste, this will be a race he’ll like to target in the coming years.
Goodie Two Shoes, who is trained by Joseph O’Brien, is priced at 33/1 to put his best foot forward again in 2026.
While the third Middle Earth, who used to be trained by John Gosden but is now with Ciaron Maher in Australia, has 2026 Melbourne Cup betting odds of 33/1 too.
Middle Earth and Goodie Two Shoes being placed also scuppered a losing 2025 Melbourne Cup bet that saw a punter miss out on $730k.
Melbourne Cup Betting Odds 2026 See Aidan O’Brien’s Stay True Fancied
Along with Half Yours at the head of the 2026 Melbourne Cup betting odds market is Stay True for top Irish trainer Aidan O’Brien.
Stay True is still only a 3 year-old (will be 4 if running in the 2026 Melbourne Cup) and is from the last crop of horses sired by the late Galileo.
He was third in this year’s St Leger at Doncaster (watch below), with his stablemate Scandinavia winning that English Classic.
Trainer Aidan O’Brien is yet to win the Melbourne Cup – but after his first runner in 2007 with Yeats has saddled two seconds with Johannes Vermeer (2017) and Tiger Moth (2020).
Stay True has been given Melbourne Cup betting odds of 20/1 to break O’Brien’s duck in the race in 2026.
But Aidan’s son Joseph has a better record in the contest – winning the Melbourne Cup twice in the past with Twilight Payment (2020) and Rekindling (2017).
O’Brien junior could also pitch his Tennessee Stud at the 2026 renewal, with the layers making this year’s Epsom Derby third 20/1 too.
