What time is the Melbourne Cup? How to watch and the weather forecast

A strong field of Australian hopefuls and international raiders is preparing for the race that stops the nation on Tuesday.

Tuesday's Melbourne Cup will be the 166th running of the famous horse race, with rain forecast in the Victorian capital ahead of the meet.

From start time to weather forecast, below are some key things to know before the 2025 Melbourne Cup.

Melbourne Cup Day is held on the first Tuesday of November, which is November 3 this year.

The Melbourne Cup will be the seventh race of 10 at Flemington Racecourse.

Here are the start times for the Melbourne Cup in each state and territory, including New Zealand.

The Nine Network has the television rights to broadcast the 2026 Melbourne Cup.

All 10 races at Flemington will be broadcast on Channel Nine, and streamed on Nine Now.

ABC Sport will have live digital coverage of Melbourne Cup Day with a live blog. You can also listen to the live call of the Melbourne Cup on the radio, online, or via the ABC Listen app.

There is forecast to be some rain around Melbourne for Cup Day on Tuesday.

The Bureau of Meteorology has forecast between 3-15 millimetres to fall in Melbourne on Monday, with a possible morning shower on Tuesday.

There was plenty of rain in the lead-up to last year's race, won by Half Yours, with the track rated a Soft 6 for the Cup.

There will be a field of 24 for the Melbourne Cup.

The favourite to win is number 20, Point of Law.

Point of Law is a UK thoroughbred, sired by the great Frankle, trained by Ciaron Maher.

The three-year-old colt has just five race starts for three wins, including the Geelong Cup last month.