Melbourne Cup 201: Tips and bets ahead of the race that stops a nation

Millions of dollars are expected to be waged on the Melbourne Cup, but just where your money should go is always the toughest part.

Here is how we’ll be tackling the 2019 Melbourne Cup trifecta and first four.

BEST WINNING HOPES

19. Constantinople

12. Prince Of Arran

11. Finche

Constantinople (19) ticks plenty of boxes and looks hard to beat provided he settles. That’s a rather big ‘if’ because he can be quite erratic at times. The horse who looks over the odds is last year’s third-placegetter Prince Of Arran (12) at $17. He’s yet to miss a place from five starts in Australia and he’s drawn beautifully here in barrier eight. The Waller-trained Finche (11) hasn’t put a foot wrong this campaign after finishing fourth in this race last year.

READ: Legend’s Melbourne Cup warning

Finche is one to include.

BEST ROUGHIES

5. Southern France

4. Mirage Dancer

8. Mustajeer

Southern France (5) looks a must for exotics at around $26. His dominant win over Downdraft two-back reads well given what we saw from Downdraft in the Hotham on Derby day. Mirage Dancer (4) ran well in the Caulfield Cup after engaging in a bit of bumping around the home turn. Mustajeer (8) was terrific winning the Ebor Handicap, which is generally a reliable guide to this race.

READ: Ultimate Melbourne Cup 2019 guide

Damien Oliver rides Mustajeer during a trackwork session.

MELBOURNE CUP TRIFECTA

1st: 11, 12, 19

2nd: 5, 11, 12, 19, 23

3rd: 1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 11, 12, 13, 18, 19, 23

$50 gets you 46%

MELBOURNE CUP FIRST FOUR

1st: 11, 12, 19

2nd: 5, 11, 12, 19, 23

3rd: 1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 11, 12, 13, 18, 19, 23

4th: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 11, 12, 13, 14, 18, 19, 23, 24

$50 gets you 4% (that may seem a little light but the last three Melbourne Cup first four dividends have been $24k, $307k, and $43k)

This article originally appeared on punters.com.au and was reproduced with permission.