The basic rules
A Cup sweep is the simplest bet in the world: 24 horses, drawn at random, one per ticket. Everyone chips in the same entry — traditionally a gold coin, these days more often $5 or $10 — and draws a horse blind. Whoever holds the winner takes the pot, or a share of it. No form guides, no skill, no idea what you own until the barriers open. That's the charm.
If there are fewer people than horses, people draw multiple horses (buy more tickets, get more chances). More than 24 people? Run a second board — don't put two names on one horse, it only ends in tears.
Splitting the pot
House rules vary, but the classic split for a $240 pot (24 tickets at $10) looks like:
- First: 60–70% of the pot
- Second: 20%
- Third: 10%
- Last place: entry refunded — the traditional consolation for backing the slowest horse in Australia
Decide the split before the draw and write it on the board. Nobody argues about percentages at 2:59pm; everybody argues at 3:04pm.
The scratchings question
Every year a horse or two is scratched between the draw and the race, and every year an office relitigates what happens next. Pick one of these before you draw:
- Refund: scratched horse's holder gets their entry back, pot shrinks. Simplest.
- Re-draw: the whole board re-draws once the final field is confirmed. Fairest, and painless if your sweep is digital — one button rather than another round of scissors.
- Bad luck: scratched means scratched. Traditional, brutal, and someone will bring it up at the Christmas party.
Timing
The race runs at 3:00pm AEDT on the first Tuesday of November — 3 November in 2026. The final field of 24 is declared the Saturday before. You can draw your sweep early using horse numbers 1–24 and match them to the printed field on the day, or wait for the declared field and use names.
Twenty-four horses drawn in a minute, coins untouched
The Cup sweep generator does the drawing — paste your names, hit draw, share one link. It's free, there's no signup, and it deliberately doesn't touch the money: collect the gold coins the way your office always has. Prefer paper? There's a printable sweep sheet too, and sweep ideas for the offices where twenty-four people and a tin of coins isn’t the situation.