Calvin McEvoy admits he was terrible company in the lead-up to the Caulfield Cup.
He was feeling the pressure of preparing the short-priced favourite, Half Yours, that had been set to peak.
History will show it won – so convincingly it will now take its place in the Melbourne Cup. The same nerves aren’t there for McEvoy, not yet anyway.
“At this stage he looks to have come through really well. He’s sound and hasn’t missed a beat, so he’s going down to get scanned at Werribee tomorrow,” he said.
“At this stage we’re all systems go towards the Melbourne Cup, I think he’s pulled up as good after that run as he has. He lost a little bit of weight, which is normal as it was quite a gruelling contest. They went out about, I think, 25 lengths inside standard time. So it was a good test. And I think his win was better than it probably looked because Jamie [Melham] really had to make stuff happen.”
Despite being in work for nearly 10 months and having been set for the Caulfield Cup, McEvoy holds no concerns about one more run, even if it is over 3200m.
“I think he’s proven. The horse has run every month for the last ten months or something. He’s a machine,” he said.
“He’s a machine and we were not at all worried. If he was down with his head on the ground, or not eating and tired, he wouldn’t be there. So at this stage we’re good,” McEvoy said, adding the weight Half Yours will carry in the Melbourne Cup makes the case easier to argue.
“53 kilos is a winning weight. Next year you never know what he’ll be given to begin with,” McEvoy said.
“So I think you’ve got to take the opportunity when you can. The horse comes first but, at this stage, the horse looks great.”
HALF YOURS AND JAMIE MELHAM – IT’S HISTORY AT CAULFIELD 🏆
The favourite swamps them late to win a remarkable Caulfield Cup! The McEvoy father and son combo have done it as Jamie Melham becomes the first woman to ride the winner of the 2400M Classic 💪 pic.twitter.com/e56lVA3dW5
— 7HorseRacing 🐎 (@7horseracing) October 18, 2025
McEvoy, who trains with his dad Tony, admitted he found the pressure of Caulfield Cup week tough – until race day that is.
“I was unbearable for a week leading up, but when I got to work on Saturday morning, and he’d eaten up and his temp was good and he worked, then I was relaxed,” he said.
“It was a weird feeling, because in big races you do get a little bit nervous, and when they go to the gates you get a bit nervous. I was very calm at the races, but definitely not the week leading up.”
“But it’s exciting for the whole team and I did get a bit emotional because it was a lot of relief really. I mean the horse was a short priced favourite, I think he was one of the shortest priced favourites we’ve had for quite some time. And he’s been a great horse for us and all the hype, we’ve won races and I think I’d won five group one races before that. My old man has won more than that. But even before the race, we’d had more messages wishing us good luck than what we’d have after winning races.”
“So I think Australia was behind the horse. I think it was a good story. And everyone loves seeing the internationals come out, but I think they love seeing a bit of an Aussie battler get their job done.”
McEvoy couldn’t resist a light-hearted jab at his father, Tony, recalling an unusual “quinella” the senior McEvoy once landed in the Cup.
“He told me he quinella’d the Melbourne Cup – at the other end of the field,” Calvin said, laughing. “He said that’s something no one else has done.”
