On the first Tuesday in November the two mile handicap race is for horses three years old and over, run over a distance of 3200 meters, on the at Flemington Racecourse. The handicap ranges from 50kg to more than 57kg.
The Melbourne cup is weighted so that the weight of the jockey and riding gear can be adjusted with ballast to a nominated figure. It’s part weight for age, in that older horses have higher weights and younger horses carry lower weights. There is also the winning history of the horse that gets taken into account as well.