Melbourne Cup 2025 start time: When does the race begin?

The 2025 Lexus Melbourne Cup is scheduled to run at 3pm on Tuesday, November 4 in Australia's eastern states with daylight savings.

This includes Victoria, New South Wales, the ACT and Tasmania.

In Western Australia, the main race will jump at midday, 1:30pm for the Northern Territory, 2pm for Queensland and 2:30pm for South Australia.

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The Melbourne Cup typically runs for around three and a half minutes from beginning to end.

How to watch the Melbourne Cup?

The Melbourne Cup Carnival will be broadcast live and free on Nine and 9Now across Australia.

Watch the 2025 Melbourne Cup Carnival live and free on Nine and 9Now.

On Melbourne Cup day, Nine will begin broadcasting live from Flemington from 10am until 5.30pm.

The vision will include all the pre and post-race excitement from the racecourse, as well as the race at 3pm AEDT.

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Full Flemington race card

There is a break of 40 minutes between each race, with a longer break held before the Melbourne Cup.

This year's race card is set to be announced in the coming days.

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The 2024 race card was as follows:

Race 1. 10.45am - Maribyrnong Plate 1000m

Race 2. 11.20am - TAB Trophy 1800m

Race 3. 12pm - Mss Security Subzero Handicap 1400m

Race 4. 12.40pm - The Schweppervescene Plate 1000m

Race 5. 1.20pm - Australian Heritage Cup 2800m

Race 6. 1.55pm - Furphy Plate 1800m

Race 7. 3:00pm - Lexus Melbourne Cup 3200m

Race 8. 3.50pm - The Amanda Elliott 1400m

Race 9. 4.35pm - The Hong Kong Jockey Club Stakes 1400m

Race 10. 5.15pm - Channel 9 Trophy 1400m