Melbourne Cup Day 2017, 2018 and onwards

Melbourne Cup Day : First Tuesday in November

Melbourne Cup Day, or just “Cup Day”, is a public holiday in Victoria on the first Tuesday of November: Tuesday 3 November 2026, Tuesday 2 November 2027 and Tuesday 7 November 2028. It is a public holiday across all of Victoria, except in non-metropolitan council areas that have arranged an alternative local holiday instead. In 2026, for example, the City of Greater Geelong has Geelong Cup Day (Wednesday 21 October) and Greater Bendigo west of the Campaspe River has Bendigo Cup Day (Wednesday 28 October), while Warrnambool and Moyne had their holiday on Thursday 7 May 2026. The list of these local holidays is published each year by the Victorian Government; the 2027 list is not published yet.

The occasion for the holiday is Australia’s major thoroughbred horse race: the Melbourne Cup. According to the organising Victoria Racing Club it is “the race that stops a nation”.

The race was run for the first time in 1861 and has become the richest “two mile” handicap in the world (the actual length of the course is 3200 metres, a little less than 2 miles). The race is full of tradition and has produced many legends. Fatal accidents, interstate rivalry, heroic victories, gambling, race day fashion, conspiracy and many other factors have made Melbourne Cup Day one of Australia’s most important and legendary sports events.