Racing: Kiwi punters place 1.4 million bets on Melbourne Cup

Kerrin McEvoy riding Almandin celebrates winning the Melbourne Cup. Photo / Getty

Kiwi punters have placed a record number of bets on the 2016 Melbourne Cup.

TAB General Manager of Betting Glen Saville says Kiwi punters placed 1.4 million bets on the Melbourne race - up more than 400,000 from last year.

The amount of bets caused intermittent outages on the TAB website as people rushed to place their bets.

15,500 of them were on winner Almandin, with Brit Lloyd WIlliams becoming the most successful owner in the Melbourne Cup with five wins.

One Kiwi punter placed $12,000 on the German-bred horse at $14, taking home $168,000. Over $2.4 million has been paid out to punters who picked Almandin to win.

Saville says TAB customers showed overwhelming support for Kiwi jockey James McDonald, with $2.5 million or 25% of bets on third place getter Hartnell, while Kiwi horse Who Shot Thebarman also recieved local support.