The winning jockey of the Melbourne Cup receives $225,000, which is 5% of the winning prize money. The jockey also receives a miniature replica of the Melbourne Cup trophy, valued at approximately $10,000 to $25,000, and a small payment for the ride itself.
Of the $3.1 million first-place purse, typically 80% is awarded to the winning owner(s), while the winning trainer and jockey earn 10% apiece. The jockey's share equates to $310,000. However, the winning jockey won't keep the entirety of this six-figure sum.
Melham rides into history with $10m Melbourne Cup win. Jamie Melham has become just the second woman to win the Melbourne Cup after riding Half Yours to victory at Flemington.
Fees and Prizemoney
The current Jockey riding fees are: Riding Fee = $262.50 (ex GST) Superannuation = $30.19. Trial fee (non raceday) = $91.87 (ex GST) + Superannuation.
The official dividend for the winner was $8.60 for a win and $2.90 for a place. A $10 bet on Half Yours to win would have returned $86. Goodie Two Shoes, who finished in second place, was paying $41 to win, whilst Middle Earth, in third place, was paying a healthy $26.
The first 12 past the post receive prize money, with the winner being paid $4.4 million, second $1.1 million, third $550,000, fourth $350,000, fifth $230,000, with sixth through to twelfth place earning $160,000.
How much prizemoney jockeys win is decided by a very complicated Rule of Racing and varies from race type to race type and is dependent on how many places are being paid. However, as a general rule of thumb Flat jockeys receive around 7% of the advertised win prize and 2.61% of the advertised place prize.
Industry. Pay for jockeys varies and is based upon the experience and track record of success. In 2015, beginning jockeys earned $28 per race on the low end and as much as $124,000 for the top prize in a premier race. Even in a Triple Crown race, jockeys that don't finish in the top five make as little as $500.
Prize money earnings are tax-free if ownership remains a hobby. Prize money is paid weekly directly into owners' bank accounts by Racing Queensland. There is a 10% deduction for the trainer, 5% deduction for the jockey, 1% deduction for Insurance and 1% Animal Care.
Melbourne Cup 2025: Winning jockey Jamie Melham only receives tiny slice of $4.5 million prize money - Yahoo News Australia.
The magic formula for prize money is generally quite simple. Typically, the breakdown looks like this: 80% to the owner. 10% to the trainer.
Phar Lap is a legend in the history of Australian horse racing. In 1930 he won the Melbourne Cup, ridden by jockey Jim Pike. During the difficult years of the Great Depression Phar Lap's sensational rise captured the public's imagination.
The 2025 Melbourne Cup winner Half Yours is owned and trained by Tony and Calvin McEvoy, but that wasn't always the case. The five-year-old by St Jean was originally trained and partially owned by champion trainer Ciaron Maher.
The jockey with the most prize money banked across his career is Yutaka Take, with the Japanese legend's runners now having won 98.9 billion yen, or just over A$1 billion. He is still riding Group 1 winners at age 56.
Riding Fees And Prize Money
Jump Jockeys receive around 11.03% of the win prize and 3.44% of the place prize. The riding fee is negotiated annually between the PJA and the ROA (Race Owners Organisation).
$39.4K is the 25th percentile. Wages below this are outliers. The median wage is $45.5K / yr.
For Services Australia (Centrelink) purposes, if you receive a lump sum through winnings or gambling, it is not treated as income.
The 10 Most Overlooked Tax Deductions in Australia – Legal Tax Minimisation Strategies
The Simple Answer: Most Lottery Winnings Are Tax-Free
Whether you win a small prize or a multi-million-dollar jackpot, you keep the full amount without declaring it on your tax return. This applies to: National lotteries like Powerball or Oz Lotto. State lotteries such as NSW Lotteries or Tattersalls.
Jump outs are a less organised version of organised trials, with smaller fields, less infrastructure and no race day colours. They are traditionally seen as part of track work, with jockeys not charging for that work and in return hoping to be rewarded with rides on the horses they work.
For Horses… its Head, Heart, and Hooves. Horses on average weigh 1000 pounds, which means, when a horse dies, it takes a significant amount of effort for a full burial. Because of this, the tradition to bury only the head, heart, and hooves of a racehorse, began.
Following a stewards' inquiry, it was found the false start was ignored by Jack Dace, Taryn Langley, Jack Doughty, Alec Voikhansky and Tommie Jakes and they all received ten-day bans.
Typically, in this race, the winner receives around 8% of the first-place winnings, while the second normally gets 4%. This means that riding a winner at the Grand National will bag a jockey roughly £45,000. During the National Hunt season, some riders will receive around just £200 per race.
There are horse carrying weight limits that are set by racing authorities. The Kentucky Derby, for example, has a weight limit of 126 lb (57 kg) including the jockey's equipment. The weight of a jockey racing on the flat usually ranges from 108 to 118 lb (49 to 54 kg).