Rogers: Melbourne Cup prize increase keeping the dream alive

Racing Victoria (RV) has made some significant changes to prizemoney for flagship races for the 2025/26 racing season.

Prizemoney for the Melbourne Cup has been increased to $10 million - a record for the great race - while the Cox Plate has been boosted to $6 million - also a record.

Additionally, two more golden ticket races for the Melbourne Cup have been added with the Geelong Cup and Moonee Valley Gold Cup now ballot exempt.

Connections of horses who run 13th to 24th will now receive $100,000 for competing in the race that stops a nation. In the past, prizemoney was only paid to the top 12.

Kylie Rogers, the CEO of the Victorian Racing Club (VRC) at Flemington, revelled in the good news on Thursday morning.

“It is great news for our club. The Melbourne Cup is the race that stops a nation, it’s Australia’s most famous race,” Rogers said on SEN Breakfast.

“We want to keep the dream alive for all participants and we feel like $10m is the right amount of prizemoney for this race. We’re also celebrating the 165-year history of the race.

“10 million is a big number and encouragingly we’ve decided to distribute the prizemoney from first to 24th, so all participants will be rewarded.”

Rogers admits putting on an event like the Melbourne Cup does cost money but increasing what’s on offer should attract the very best in the game.

“It’s an expensive exercise, and it assists both our internationals and our domestic starters,” he added.

“We want the best horses, we want the best jockeys, we want the best trainers at our park racing in the Melbourne Cup. I think it will help.”

She also spoke on the addition of the Geelong Cup in conjunction with the Geelong Racing Club (GRC) and Moonee Valley Gold Cup in conjunction with Moonee Valley Racing Club (MVRC) as golden ticket races.

“Both of those races historically deliver starters for the Melbourne Cup but we wanted to reward them and formalise that,” Rogers said.

“It’s a great promotion celebrating the journey in to the Melbourne Cup. They’re thrilled and we’re thrilled and we look forward to celebrating that.”

There has also been a $7 million injection to lower end races including an increase in prizemoney for country maiden races in a bid to boost grassroots racing.

18 race meetings have been removed from the Victorian racing calendar for next season.

See below the increase in prizemoney.

Flagship races:

• $10 million Lexus Melbourne Cup (G1, 3200m, Flemington, 4 November 2025) – up $1.34 million
• $6 million Ladbrokes Cox Plate (G1, 2040m, The Valley, 25 October 2025) – up $1 million
• $5 million Sportsbet Caulfield Cup (G1, 2400m, Caulfield, 18 October 2025) – remains unchanged with other major prizemoney increases and program enhancements being delivered at Caulfield.

Other features:
• Underwood Stakes (G1, 1800m, 20 September 2025) - $1 million (up $250,000)
• Sportsbet C.F. Orr Stakes (G1, 1400m, 15 November 2025) - $1 million (up $250,000)
• Thoroughbred Club Stakes (G3, 1200m, 15 November 2025) - $1 million (up $800,000)
• Sportsbet Sandown Guineas (G2, 1600m, 15 November 2025) - $400,000 (up $100,000)

Maidens:

• Country Premier Maidens - $55,000 (up from $50,000)
• Country Premium Night Maidens - $45,000 (up from $40,000)
• Country Premium Day Maidens - $42,500 (up from $37,500)
• Country Standard Maidens - $32,000 (up from $27,000)
• Country SKY 2 Maidens - $25,000 (up from $20,000)
• Country Non-TAB Maidens - $20,000 (up from $15,000)