Michelle Payne will forever be the first female jockey to win the Melbourne Cup, but Jamie Melham created her own slice of history at Flemington on Tuesday.
The South Australian became the first woman to complete the Spring Carnival’s big Cups double when she partnered Half Yours to an emotional win in the $10 million event.
It came 17 days after winning the Caulfield Cup and the Tony and Calvin Mcevoy-trained gelding is the 13th horse to complete the big double.
The Cups wins are the two most recent victories for Melham, who has had a light spring since her maiden major success at Caulfield and she said it was the realisation of a dream.
“This is what we dream of when we first get our jockey licence. You want to (just) ride in the Melbourne Cup, let alone win the Melbourne Cup,” she said.
“That’s something that I’ve been thinking about all week. It hasn’t sink in, this feeling is indescribable. We just won the best race in Australia.”
Melham firmly owns her place alongside Payne among the biggest trailblazers the sport has seen.
The 29-year-old has been a sensation since bursting on the scene as a teenager in South Australia and rode her first winner, Miss Fabuleux, at Streaky Bay – coincidentally the home town of Tony McEvoy – on 24 March 2012.
The following season, her first full season, Melham won the Adelaide jockeys’ premiership when known by her maiden name, Jamie Kah.
Melham had a brief stint in Melbourne not long after, but returned to Adelaide to win another premiership in 2017/18 before moving back to Victoria in 2019 and has been firmly entrenched among Australian racing’s elite.
Melham did what not even Payne was able to achieve in 2020/21 when she rode 105 winners to become the first woman to win the Victorian Metropolitan Jockeys’ Premiership.
The Melbourne Cup success was her 19th at Group 1 level.
It was an emotional win for Melham, who lost her grandfather not long after the Caulfield Cup and although Half Yours’ winning margin was 2-3/4 lengths, she is convinced he played a part in the win from above.
“I have to mention my grandpa, he died last week,” Melham said.
“The last thing he watched was the Caulfield Cup but he was such a big supporter of mine.
“He was up there opening those gaps for me, because I needed a few gaps opened.”
Melham shared a special moment with husband Ben Melham, who rode Smokin’ Romans in the race, and could not believe how the race played out for her.
“I said, ‘I rode it how you told me to’,” she said of the brief post-race chat.
“We don’t normally talk racing much, but we went through this race about 10-15 times yesterday and that’s exactly what I wanted to happen.
“It’s not normal that what you want to happen happens, in these big races there’s so many good chances, so many chances and all you need to do is give them a good ride.”
