A couple of the top items on her racing bucket list have been crossed off but Jamie Melham says she’s just as motivated for success now as what she was before her history-making 2025 spring carnival.
Melham made a low-key return to the races at Seymour on Thursday after a month-long careless riding suspension incurred just minutes after her Melbourne Cup triumph on Half Yours.
Her Group 1 tally now sits at 19 and there is a strong case to mount that she’s the most successful female jockey in history, not just in Australia, but globally.
Melham admits she will one day retire satisfied with what she’s achieved in the saddle but in the meantime there will be no resting on her laurels.
Her services are back in huge demand and she’s already fielding interest to ride in feature races at major carnivals all over the country.
“I’m definitely coming back just as motivated,” Melham said.
“I’m not greedy but I’ve always been competitive so there’s always that desire to want more and want another one.”
“When I ticked off the Caulfield Cup I thought ‘thank god, I’ve finally got a major so no matter what else happens, I can finish my career happy,” Melham said.
“Then I won the Melbourne Cup and it’s a different feeling again.”
“I’ve still got that Cox Plate there to win.”
“I’m not saying that I’m going to retire any time soon but I know that when I do, I’ll retire happy knowing that I’ve got a Melbourne Cup and a Caulfield Cup.”
“It (Cup success) doesn’t hit you straight away.”
“The enormity of it all probably hit me a week after the Melbourne Cup, I was sitting at home with Mum and Dad and the Cup was on the outside table and you think ‘wow, I did that’ so it takes a while to sink in.”
HerStory 🤩@jamieleemelham becomes the first female jockey ever to complete the Cups double, guiding HALF YOURS to victory in the 2025 Lexus Melbourne Cup.
🎥 @wwos | #MelbourneCup | #MelbCupCarnival pic.twitter.com/1PXMggTqVV
— Victoria Racing Club (@FlemingtonVRC) November 4, 2025
‘IT’S A CONFIDENCE GAME’
The nostalgia is at odds with the emotions Melham was dealing with prior to the Caulfield Cup.
She admits to feeling the pressure of the unusually lean patch of form leading into the $5 million Handicap in which Half Yours started a commanding $2.50 favourite.
Top be fair to Melham, her strike rate of 12% from 100 rides leading into the Caulfield Cup is only poor when compared to her overall career strike rate of 17.5%.
“It’s a confidence game,” she said.
“I wasn’t riding without confidence (before the Caulfield Cup) but you do need the stock underneath you and I don’t think I was getting on the good horses like I was the spring before.”
“I was very nervous before the Caulfield Cup.”
“I’ve never ridden a favourite going into a race like that and I thought he could win the race easily.”
“I honestly thought something would need to go wrong for him not to win the Caulfield Cup.”
“I’ve never been one that lets nerves get to me but I was a mess that week.”
“From the outside looking in, I probably looked fine but for someone like Ben, who knows me, he knew I was very nervous.”
“After that, it was the biggest weight lifted off my shoulders, it was such a relief and going into the Melbourne Cup I was not one bit nervous.”
Mentally, Melham feels in the best shape of her career.
FAMILY MATTERS
Part of that is returning fresh off the back of a hugely profitable spring. The other part is the support network she has around her.
Melham was married in 2025 and says the backing of her husband, fellow jockey Ben Melham, has been key to her success. So too has that of her parents, who moved from their native South Australia to take up residence in Melham’s pool house at her Mornington Peninsula property.
“I honestly couldn’t do this without Ben in my life and my parents,” she said.
“Everyone sees the glamourous side of it but until you’re actually involved, you don’t see how mentally taxing it is.”
“Having Ben there to come home to after a good day or a bad day is so important.”
“After a good day I’ll come home and he’ll tell me how proud he is and after a bad day we’ll sit there and talk about something else.”
“It makes you grow up pretty quickly, this industry.”
“I’ve been doing it since I was 16 but I feel like now I’m in a happy place and I’m better placed to deal with the pressure and the stresses.”
“You can get a lot of criticism but I feel like I’m much more capable of dealing with it.”
“I don’t care about the punters losing their $2 and abusing you or saying horrible things on social media.”
“Your circle gets much smaller when you get older in this industry and I’ve got my close friends and family and that’s all I need.”
