It had to be Jamie.
As the sporting world reflected this week on the 10-year anniversary of Michelle Payne’s historic win on Prince of Penzance, where she became the first female jockey to win the Melbourne Cup, Jamie Melham was quietly poised.
Melham herself already had a profile – but she had never won our most famous race. Today that changed with a brilliant ride on Half Yours.
Riding for the trainers that gave her a go as a 15-year-old, Tony and Calvin McEvoy, the now 30-year-old completed a remarkable journey for the trio.
One of Australia’s best jockeys, on an Australian horse, wins Australia’s most famous race.
There was some muttering early in the spring that Melham, arguably, entered the Spring Carnival not achieving her usual strike rate.
Some privately questioned whether she was still feeling the effects of a horror race fall in 2024.
She was forced to weave through a packed field, looking for runs, in a brave and momentous ride. Any doubts or mutterings around her are now obsolete.
“Jamie did say to me … that the horse was so brave getting through those gaps and she just had so much horse under her to get through them,” trainer Tony McEvoy said post-race.
Tony first discovered Melham in Adelaide, saying that she kept knocking them off in races, so they may as well give her a go. The rest is history.
“They’ve stuck by me for the last 15 years, you’ve been by my side, both of you, and I wouldn’t want to do this for anybody else in this industry, that was just the best to do it for you two,” she told Tony and Calvin McEvoy post-race.
Melham was emotional as she described the euphoria of what she had just achieved.
“This feeling, you cannot describe this feeling. I dreamt about it this week. I’ve hoped for it. But nothing prepares you for this feeling,” Melham said.
“That’s just insane, an insane feeling. So thank you Calvin and Tony, thank you putting me on this beautiful animal, it’s all the horse, what an absolute tough, legendary horse.”
Melham paid tribute to Payne’s trailblazing win post-race.
“It’s been long enough, ten years, I had to do it sooner or later, hopefully, you don’t dream of this day, because you think about it, you don’t think you’re actually going to win the Melbourne Cup, all week I’ve been thinking about it, been excited but no feeling can describe what I felt just then, what I’m still feeling,” she said.
“I’m absolutely speechless. Mum and Dad have brought out the tears again, I’d just stopped crying. This is what we wake up at stupid o’clock for every morning to come to these big days and win in front of the world. It looks like an amazing, glamorous industry on the outside and it’s got its good parts, but god there’s some tough parts, some really tough parts, this is why we do it, for days like this, to go down in history, winning the Melbourne Cup, what the hell just happened?”
Jamie’s husband Ben also rode in the race and gave her some pretty good advice yesterday as the duo discussed tactics.
“I said, ‘I rode it how you told me to’. 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,” she said.
“I’ve had an amazing year. Got married, had some really great days on the track but nothing ever, ever compares to this feeling right now that I’m feeling.”
Half Yours was bred by Melham’s close friend Col McKenna, who passed away in 2024.
She wore a pin inside her silks to honour him – while also paying tribute to her grandfather who recently died.
“We’ve got Col up there, him and Janice bred this horse. They’ve done an incredible job with him, obviously,” she said.
“I have to mention my grandpa. He died last week. 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.”
