Melbourne Cup Odds
The Melbourne Cup is always a fast-approaching event towards the end of the year as it takes place on the first Tuesday in November.
Known as “The Race that Stops a Nation”, the Melbourne Cup gets more exciting with each passing year, with several celebrations taking place inside and outside the famous racecourse. The Lexus Melbourne Cup, with a purse of $8 million, is regarded as the crown jewel of the Melbourne Cup Carnival. However, there’s still loads of social events and additional racing events that take place on the day to ensure everyone is entertained.
The Melbourne Cup features a total of 10 different racing events, each varying in prize money and race distances. As mentioned, the Lexus Melbourne Cup is considered the most prestigious event on the racing calendar for Australians, but with a distance of 3,200 meters, the entire Melbourne Cup itself is organized as an enthralling and complete package for spectators, participants, and bettors from across the globe.
Everyone loves to get dressed up for this extravagant event and place a couple of bets in the process on this special and exciting day. Women always wear the most colorful dresses along with some truly fascinating hats, while the event itself provides restaurant and corporate dining packages, season passes, grandstand seating options, and more.
The Melbourne Cup is considered the second richest horse racing event when it comes to sport in Australia which is contested by horses from across the globe. The crowd at the racecourse is usually 100,000 or more and there’s loads of live music, fashion shows, and entertainment for everyone that attends this incredible racing event each year.
2020 Melbourne Cup odds
The Melbourne Cup is considered the most renowned and popular horse racing event in Australia for thoroughbreds that occurs each and every year. Inaugurated in 1861, the Melbourne Cup is specifically designed for three-year-olds or over and participants are required to endure a 3,200 meter race at the Victoria Racing Club that is situated on the Flemington Racecourse located in Melbourne, Australia.
The Melbourne Cup forms part of the prestigious Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival and is regarded as the richest 2-mile handicap in the world, as well as one of the richest turf races across the globe. The event usually gets underway at 15:00 pm on the first Tuesday in November and impresses with a purse of around $8 million each year.
Now that you know a bit more about the Melbourne Cup, let’s take a look at the odds for the 2020 event and who are the favorites to win the race.
2020 Melbourne Cup post positions
The 2020 Melbourne Cup post positions is yet to be released. Once this becomes available, we will update our article accordingly.
How to read the 2020 Melbourne Cup odds
Betting odds for the 2020 Melbourne Cup will give you an indication of how likely it is for a certain event to happen. It will also indicate how much money you can win from placing a bet on a specific horse. However, you will realize that these betting odds are usually complex, and rather confusing, if you are new to the world of horse race betting. It’s for this very reason that we decided to include a comprehensive guide to explain how you can read the 2020 Melbourne Cup odds like an expert.
If you are new to horse race betting, you will need to understand how betting odds work long before you can start placing bets. It’s vitally important to know how betting odds work as it will give you some insight into how likely an event is from happening, and what you stand to win if you place a bet on a particular horse. Therefore, we have included some explanations on probability, calculating probability, calculating winnings, and the differences between fractional and decimal odds to help you become a seasoned pro before you even make your first bet on the 2020 Melbourne Cup.
What is probability?
Betting offers you the ability to estimate the outcome of a future event, and should your prediction be spot on, you will walk away with winnings. For the 2020 Melbourne Cup, you will notice that there are a wide range of outcomes. The same can be said for rolling a dice. If you roll a dice, there are essentially 6 possible outcomes that can occur. Therefore, if you bet that you can roll a two, there’s basically a 16.67% chance that it will happen. When you look at betting odds, you will see that they provide the likelihood of an event to happen, same as a roll of a dice. Online sports betting sites in the United Kingdom will use fractions to display the odds, while the rest of the world will display the odds in decimals.
Calculating probability with betting odds
When you look at the betting odds for the Melbourne Cup and you see two numbers that are separated by a trailing slash, such as 9/1 or 1/4, you will essentially be looking at fractional odds. These fractions will give you the opportunity to calculate the likelihood of a certain event taking place. To make life a bit easier, let’s replace these numbers with letters. For instance, 5/1 will become A/B and the calculation you’ll need at hand will look like this: Probability (%) = B / (A+B).
- 9/1 will be calculated as 1 / (9 + 1) = 0.10. This means there’s a 10% chance of the event taking place.
- 4/1 will be calculated as 1 / (4 + 1) = 0.20. This means there’s a 20% chance of the event taking place.
- 1/1 will be calculated as 1 / (1 + 1) = 0.50. This means there’s a 50% chance of the event taking place.
- 1/4 will be calculated as 4 / (4 + 1) = 0.80. This means there’s a 80% chance of the event taking place.
Now that you have a better understand of how fractional odds can be calculated with a simple calculation, we need to determine how much money you can win when you place a bet on the 2020 Melbourne Cup using these fractional odds.
Calculating winnings with betting odds
The 2020 Melbourne Cup betting odds will also give you the opportunity to calculate how much you stand to win if you manage to make a winning bet. Using the same examples we included above, replacing the numbers with letters, you’ll be able to determine the win amount quite easily. For instance, if 4/1 is seen as A/B, you can tell yourself that for every B that you wager, you will win A along with your original stake.
- 9/1 – For every $1.00 you wager, you stand to win $9.00
- 4/1 – For every $1.00 you wager, you stand to win $4.00
- 1/1 – For every $1.00 you wager, you stand to win $1.00
- 1/4 – For every $4.00 you wager, you stand to win $1.00
What are decimal odds?
Decimal odds are far more popular among bettors that are situated outside the United Kingdom. Most online sports betting sites will give you the option to choose between fractional odds and decimal odds. Decimal odds are essentially an alternative to seeing your betting odds as fractional odds, and we find decimal odds to be much easier to work with, too. The calculation you’ll need for decimal odds is as follows: Winnings = (odds x wager) – wager. Let’s look at a few examples:
- 9.0 is calculated as (9.0 x $10 wager) – $10 wager = $80 in winnings.
- 4.0 is calculated as (4.0 x $10 wager) – $10 wager = $30 in winnings.
- 2.5 is calculated as (2.5 x $10 wager) – $10 wager = $15 in winnings.
- 1.25 is calculated as (1.25 x $10 wager) – $10 wager = $2.50 in winnings.
Fractional odds vs decimal odds
In all honesty, you can’t really say that one system is better than the other. However, there’s been a spike in popularity for decimal odds in recent years. Fractional odds have been around in the United Kingdom for the longest time and you will notice that there are essentially two differences between the two. Decimal odds are far easier to understand which is why it continues to grow in popularity around the world. Secondly, you will notice that fractional odds do not include your initial wager, whereas decimal odds do.
How are odds calculated for the 2020 Melbourne Cup
There is a wide range of factors that greatly affect the odds when it comes to the 2020 Melbourne Cup. In fact, people who compile the odds spend countless hours gathering vital information before the odds are displayed. The people that set the odds usually receive assistance from a variety of other people, too, including gallop watchers, private handicappers, and form experts that are located at stables across the globe. In addition, you will find that the odds are greatly influenced by the success of the jockey and trainer.
Once all the data has been gathered, the odds makers will decide on their profit margin and will then present the odds to bettors to start taking in bets for the event.
Melbourne Cup and futures betting
As previously mentioned, the Melbourne Cup takes place during the month of November each year. However, eager bettors don’t wait until the event is a few days away before they start placing bets. Instead, they will take advantage of future betting opportunities that will allow you to place a bet on a specific horse months before the Melbourne Cup gets underway. Futures betting is extremely popular when it comes to horse racing as it provides attractive odds that you won’t find on the day of the event. Just make sure you shop around at an array of horse betting sites to ensure you get the most generous offer.
Fascinating records for the Melbourne Cup
- Oldest Winner of the Event – 8 year old, Toryboy during 1865 along with Catalogue during 1938.
- Most Attempts in the Event – Shadow King managed to make 6 attempts to try and win the cup in a span of 7 years, ranging from 1929 through to 1935.
- Fewest Runners in the Event – 7 during 1863
- Most Runners in the Event – 39 during 1890
- Record of Favorites to Win – 34 from a total of 150 have managed to win the Melbourne Cup.
- Shortest Odds Winner of the Event – Phar Lap in 1930 at 8/11
- Longest Odds Winners of the Event – There has been 4 horses that managed to win the event at odds of 100/1, including Price of Penzance (2015), Old Rowley (1940), Wotan (1936), and The Pearl (1871).