"What Makes a Trainer Good at Preparing a Cup Horse?"

Recorded September 2025 for Who Will Win the 2025 Melbourne Cup?. Any figures mentioned are from that time.

When I start working through a staying handicap, the trainer is one of the first things I look at. Not the name, not the reputation, but whether that trainer has prepared a horse for this kind of race before and had it at its peak on the day. Look at the history of the race and the same thing keeps showing up. Trainers who have done it already know what to do. They know how to get a horse to the optimum level when it matters.

The trainers who have done it before

Sheila Laxon is a good example. She has trained two winners in her own name, and really it is a third, because she part trained Empire Rose with her husband back in the day. She knew how to prepare a horse for a Melbourne Cup. If you were paying attention to trainer history, you were on that winner. I could not have had it myself, because I did not think the horse could run the distance, but the trainer angle was pointing right at it.

Anthony Freedman is another. He came up with his brother Lee when they all trained together and they prepared plenty of cup winners between them. They followed the Bart Cummings formula, with close to 10,000 metres in the horse's legs before the race. That was their way of doing it and it worked. Joseph O'Brien has done it before too. These are people with a method that has already been proven over the trip.

When a good trainer is not the right trainer

This is not about saying some trainers are better than others. A few years ago I was looking at Lestochka and I said at the time that I did not think Price had ever won a Melbourne Cup. He is a great trainer, no argument. But he had a horse that had only just arrived from Europe, he had only had it a few weeks, and he was preparing it for the cup. I think it might have been his first one.

That is the part worth sitting with. It is not a knock on his ability. It is just that the task is specific. Taking a horse you have barely had in the stable and getting it right for two miles is a different job to running a good campaign with a horse you have had for a year. You go, hang on a minute, and you move on.

Running style fits the same thinking

The same logic applies to how a horse races. We usually get an average to above average pace in these races, and when that is the case I want a horse that settles midfield. Not too far back. Something that can cut the corner a bit and charge, the way we have seen plenty of winners do it. Above all it has to relax. A relaxed horse in the sweet spot with a turn of foot is what you want. Anything that over races is a problem.

Leaders are rare. We have seen Might and Power and Twilight Payment, so there have been a few, but it is hard to lead over 3,200 metres unless the track is biased.

So before you get into form and weights, check who is training the horse and what they have done over this trip. It will not pick the winner for you, but it will tell you which runners have a method behind them and which ones are being asked to do something new.

Every race on the card, rated, with Kingsley's selections and the speed maps behind them. Your first day is free, no card needed.

More from Kingsley

• How Bart Cummings Trained Twelve Melbourne Cup Winners
• How Do You Price a Horse Off Ratings and Weight?
• How to Spot Patterns in a Horse's Form

From the full video: Who Will Win the 2025 Melbourne Cup?

Gamble responsibly. 18+. If gambling is a problem for you, call Gambling Help on 1800 858 858 or visit gamblinghelponline.org.au