Can AI pick the Melbourne Cup Winner?

AMI (pronounced Ahh Mee) is my Artificial Intelligence racing research assistant, who will help me analyse form, trends, and statistics as we explore the 2026 Melbourne Cup together. And I invite you to join us.

The 2026 AI Experiment

This year I’m conducting a simple experiment: Can Artificial Intelligence (AMI) pick the winner of the Melbourne Cup? I invite you to be a part of the experiment. Participation will cost you nothing. It’s completely FREE. If you already receive my emails you don't have to do anything. If you would like to receive my regular emails as we lead up to Cup Day on the 3rd of November I invite you to do so at the top of this page.

This was a recent email I posted to our database.

Nominations for the 2026 Melbourne Cup were released yesterday.

There are 101 nominations, including 78 locally trained horses and 23 internationally trained horses from England, Ireland, Japan and the USA. That compares with 120 nominations last year.

Below are the 101 horses in alphabetical order:
1. Aeliana
2. Aethelflaed
3. Aethelwulf
4. Age Of Sail
5. Amelia Earhart
6. Asterix
7. Athabascan
8. Barnavara
9. Bella Montagna
10. Birdman
11. Campaldino
12. Causeway
13. Changingoftheguard
14. Christmas Day
15. Constitution Hill
16. Darkbonee
17. Deakin
18. Defiantly
19. Don Diego De Vega
20. Enfjaar
21. Floating
22. Future History
23. Golden Century
24. Goodie Two Shoes
25. Grand Pierro
26. Green Spaces
27. Half Yours
28. Highland Bling
29. Highwayman
30. Hopewell Rock
31. James J Braddock
32. Jenni Multabella
33. Jenniwamoose
34. Johnnich
35. Juja Kibo
36. King Pedro
37. Kings Valley
38. Kizlyar
39. Klondike
40. Knight’s Choice
41. Land Legend
42. Light Infantry Man
43. Litzdeel
44. Machine Gun Gracie
45. Male Model
46. Manzor Blue
47. Middle Earth
48. Mr Monaco
49. Nearco Frod
50. Newlook
51. Nil Bua Gan Dua
52. Ohope Wins
53. Okita Soushi
54. Ommi Man
55. Onesmoothoperator
56. Piazza San Marco
57. Pierre Bonnard
58. Piggyback
59. Pinhole
60. Point Of Law
61. Portland
62. Pounding
63. River Of Stars
64. Royal Supremacy
65. Saint George
66. Sam Hawkens
67. Sapphire Siren
68. She’s A Hustler
69. Shockletz
70. Sir Chartwell
71. Small Fry
72. So You Are
73. Sons And Lovers
74. Soul Of Spain
75. Soulcombe
76. Starford
77. Starzintheireyes
78. Stinger Glass
79. Storm Leopard
80. Strictly Business
81. Suffolk Star
82. Tajanis
83. Tarvue
84. Tawny Port
85. The Euphrates
86. Thebudgiesmugla
87. Think Giant
88. Torranzino
89. Treasurethe Moment
90. Trustyourinstinct
91. Valiant King
92. Vauban
93. Vegas Jack
94. Wigmore
95. Winday
96. Wine Dark Sea
97. Wolfgang
98. Wootton Verni
99. Yellow Jersey
100. Zahraan
101. Zakouma

We were disappointed when we did not see one of our early 'cup of coffee' bets - Whisky On The Hill in the list. He received a magic bullet entry by winning the 'win and you're in' Roy Higgins race at Flemington earlier in the year.

The biggest surprise in the list was the fact that Irish trainer Joseph O’Brien has ELEVEN horses nominated. Remember, he knows what he is doing! His horse Goodie Two Shoes was 2nd to Half Yours in the 2025 Melbourne Cup. As well, Joseph WON the Melbourne Cup with Rekindling in 2017 and Twilight Payment in 2020.

If you have had any 'cup of coffee' bet on Whisky On The Hill, or any other horse in the Futures markets, we suggest you check out the list above to see if your horse is included. If your horse is not included check with your on-line bookmaker to see that your money has been refunded. Most reputable bookmakers now refund Futures bets if your horse is not nominated in this first list. But, from now on, if your horse is not in the Melbourne Cup field to be run on the 3rd of November you WILL NOT receive a refund.

Why am I doing this?

Many of you know that I’ve always been fascinated by new technology. in 1994, three friends and I began monthly Internet learning sessions with Internet Guru Craig Rispin. Those sessions continued for twenty years!

In 1995, when the Internet was still a mystery to most people, I met with the management of the Victoria Racing Club and tried (unsuccessfully!) to introduce them to this strange new thing called the Internet. When my approach failed, I went ahead and registered the domain name: MelbourneCup.com.au Seven years later… the VRC bought the name from me!

Then, another 'moment in time' happened.

ChatGPT launched on 30 November 2022. Soon after, my good friend Peter Thorpe said to me: "Max, remember when you said, in 1995, you believed the Internet was going to be a BIG thing? Well… I think Artificial Intelligence is going to be even BIGGER."So when Peter started a monthly AI Creative and Fun Group I joined immediately.

History tells us some people are negative about 'new things'...like Artificial Intelligence. But history also tells us about 'new things'...like the aeroplane. When aeroplanes began carrying passengers and mail in the 1920s and 1930s, railway companies were strident critics, as were shipping companies. They complained about potential job losses. Today, statistics tell us approximately 350 million people worldwide depend on travel and tourism.That means about 1 in every 10 jobs on Earth is connected to travel.

And, if you have been using an iPhone since 2007, you have probably used it in your car to navigate, find restaurants, pubs or churches, or even buy something online. All the time Artificial Intelligence has been quietly working in the background to help you.

So, can AMI pick AMI find the winner of the Melbourne Cup for us? Who knows? Hence the experiment!

Here’s how this experiment will work in 2026

• My Cup goal remains the same as it has always been: To select six horses on Melbourne Cup morning and suggest an each-way bet on each. Hopefully one of them wins.

• This year there will be no annual eBook.

• Instead, I’ll send occasional updates during the year as AMI and I analyse races, trends, and statistics.

• I’ll also share interesting AI discoveries with you along the way.

For example…
All the graphics in this email were created by ChatGPT. Each image took about one minute to generate.

Want to Try It Yourself?
If you’d like to experiment, go to:
ChatGPT.com
Then ask it something like:
"Please teach me how to create images like Melbourne Cup Max does — and create a cartoon of me winning the Melbourne Cup sweep."
If you get a fun result, send it to me! max@hitchins.com.au.

Nick, from Aintree in Melbourne, was the first person to try this suggestion. He sent me this image (below) created by ChatGPT. Remember, you can add additional requests for ChatGPT. Eg. "Please show me wearing a white shirt or please show me standing next to a racehorse."

Earlier this year I set myself a goal to create exceptional Melbourne Cup AI cartoons. Perhaps AI might help you with one of your goals too?

Cup Of Coffee bets

Our Cup Of Coffee bet system has been very successful in the past. For those unfamiliar with the system, during the year we attempt to identify promising horses at long prices in the Melbourne Cup. As well as involving AMI in this task I’m also delighted to tell you that my remarkable long-time friend and researcher Jamal from Western Australia is still part of the team (as he has been for the last ten years).

Jamal, AMI and I will continue searching for “Cup Of Coffee” bets throughout the year. We will be including this information in my emails to you. If you are not already on our list all you need do is subscribe (below).

Finally, may I ask a favour of you?

I'm sure you know many people who know very little about AI and the Melbourne Cup. Please think about forwarding this email onto them and invite them to join our experiment. It costs nothing, they will learn something and hopefully (with AMI's help) they will pick the winner of the Melbourne Cup. That's not a bad deal!

Talk soon.

Max Hitchins

If you have any questions, queries or quandaries, you can contact us at: info@pickthecupwinner.com.au