Melbourne Cup to visit 41 cities and towns in the lead-up to the 2023 race that stops a nation.

The Victoria Racing Club has revealed the 41 destinations that will play host to the 2023 Lexus Melbourne Cup Tour, with the route spanning seven countries including Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Hong Kong and Japan. 

This year the VRC received a record number of applications, with 99 communities across Australia and the world applying to host the People's Cup on tour.  

The final route will see the $600,000 18-carat-gold trophy travel far and wide across Australia, including visiting Hillston in western New South Wales, Darwin in the Northern Territory, Ballarat in regional Victoria and attending the Kimberley Cup while visiting Broome in Western Australia.  

The tour will also visit a number of communities who have experienced hardship, including Thargomindah in Queensland who have suffered periods of prolonged drought.  

The iconic trophy will make its way to a number of overseas locations, venturing to York and London in the United Kingdom, County Kildare in Ireland and Deauville in France.   The Cup will also visit Hong Kong where it will attend a race meeting at Happy Valley as well as visit one of the world's most vibrant cities in Tokyo, Japan. 

New Zealand remains a firm fixture on the annual tour due to its rich history with the Lexus Melbourne Cup and this year the three-handled trophy will stop in Auckland and Cambridge. Since 1861, 44 New Zealand bred horses have won the Melbourne Cup.  

"The $600,000 18-carat-gold Lexus Melbourne Cup trophy is recognised everywhere as the People's Cup, and we want it to be accessible to everyone and to support charity fund raising activity in each destination the cup visits. As its custodians, the VRC is proud to take it on an annual tour to share the magic of the Lexus Melbourne Cup with country towns, cities, and communities across the world. 

The Lexus Melbourne Cup Tour National Sweep will return in 2023 and give 24 rural and regional Cup Tour destinations across Australia the opportunity to be allocated a starting barrier for the 'the race that stops a nation'™.  

Destination representatives will be flown to Melbourne to watch the Lexus Melbourne Cup live on track at Flemington, with the town which draws the barrier of the Cup-winning horse presented with a cash prize of $50,000 to put towards a community charity of their choice. 

This year's tour will commence its journey on Saturday 10 June, kicking off in Tokyo.