The 2018 Melbourne Cup (known commercially as 2018 Lexus Melbourne Cup) was the 158th running of the Melbourne Cup, a prestigious Australian Thoroughbred horse race. The race was run over on 6 November 2018 at Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne.
Lexus commenced a five-year naming rights sponsorship deal, taking over from Emirates.Lexus Melbourne Cup's new sponsor Racing.com 13 February 2018 It was the last Melbourne Cup broadcast by the Seven Network before Network Ten takes over in 2019.Ten wins Melbourne Cup broadcast rights from Seven Mumbrella 31 August 2018
The race was won by Cross Counter, ridden by Kerrin McEvoy and trained by Charlie Appleby.
Field NumberHorseTrainerJockeyBarrierPlacing1Best SolutionSaeed bin Suroor (UAE)Pat Cosgrave68thMatthey, James. "Melbourne Cup 2018: Final finishing order" news.com.au, 6 November 2018. Retrieved on 6 November 2018.2The CliffsofmoherAidan O'Brien (Ireland)Ryan Moore9Did not Finish3Magic CircleIan Williams (Great Britain)Corey Brown1716th4Chestnut CoatYoshito Yahagi (Japan)Yuga Kawada414th5MuntahaaJohn Gosden (Great Britain)Jim Crowley139th6Sound CheckMichael MoroneyJordan Childs1618th7Who Shot ThebarmanChris WallerBen Melham1817th8Ace HighDavid PayneTye Angland2220th9MarmeloHughie Morrison (Great Britain)Hugh Bowman102nd10AviliusJames CummingsGlyn Schofield1122nd11YucatánAidan O'Brien (Ireland)James McDonald2311th12AuvrayRichard FreedmanTommy Berry121st13FincheChris WallerZac Purton154th14Red CardinalDarren WeirDamien Oliver523rd15Vengeur MasqueMichael MoroneyPatrick Moloney215th16Ventura StormDavid HayesMark Zahra710th17Prince of ArranCharlie Fellowes (Great Britain)Michael Walker203rd18NakeetaIain Jardine (Great Britain) Regan Bayliss312th19Sir Charles RoadLance O'Sullivan (New Zealand)Dwayne Dunn147th20ZacadaMurray Baker (New Zealand)Damian Lane2413th21RunawayGai WaterhouseStephen Baster1219th22YoungstarChris WallerCraig Williams86th23Cross CounterCharlie Appleby (UAE)Kerrin McEvoy191st24RostropovichAidan O'Brien (Ireland)Wayne Lordan215th
Fatality Irish colt The CliffsofMoher was euthanised after he suffered a fractured right shoulder.
Horse naming Overseas horses may be forced to be raced under a different name if horses with the same name are raced in Australia. Sound Check was renamed as Sound, Cliffs of Moher renamed as The CliffsofMoher and Prince of Arran as A Prince of Arran (raced as Prince of Arran on 2019 and 2020 Melbourne Cup). Sound Check was permitted to be raced with its original name in the Melbourne Cup.
Penalties
After the races, 6 jockeys were fined.
Hugh Bowman was cited on three separate charges in the $7.3 million race - an incident of careless riding at the 500m, excessive whip use prior to the final 100m and the fact that he weighed in more than half a kilogram over his prescribed weight of 55 kg aboard runner-up Marmelo.
Kerrin McEvoy was fined $3000 after using the whip nine times - four more than what is permitted under the rules - on Cross Counter in the final 400m of the race.
Jim Crowley and Christine Puls were also suspended for careless riding on the undercard at Flemington.
References