<P> 1877 is also the year that the trainer Etienne de Mestre won his fourth Melbourne Cup with Chester owned by Hon . James White . In 1878 , as in previous years De Mestre fielded more than one horse . He entered the favourite Firebell ( owned by W.S. Cox ) who finished last , Chester ( owned by Hon . James White ) the previous year 's winner who fell , and Calamia ( owned by de Mestre ) who , though less fancied , won easily by two lengths . First prize was £ 1,790 , the crowd was 80,000 and there were 30 starters . De Mestre 's 1878 win with Calamia brought to 5 the number of Melbourne Cups he had won . This record was not to be matched for nearly 100 years when the trainer Bart Cummings won his fifth Melbourne Cup in 1975 . Bart Cummings , regarded as the best Australian horse trainer of all time , went on to win 12 Melbourne Cups to 2008 . </P>
who has trained the most melbourne cup winners
Bart Cummings