Mad Monday: Caulfield Cup Day

For the Time Poor:

Turf Talk:

• Day three of the Carnival, so naturally some wear and tear. Also, tough conditions to water the track with strong winds throughout the week.
• Jockeys were quickly onto the inside lanes being inferior.
• The crowd at Caulfield was outstanding. Sure, the weather helped, but the atmosphere was electric.

Moment of the Day: Melham the first female jockey to win a Caulfield Cup

Maybe it was just the people I spoke to, but there seemed to be a huge amount of pressure on Jamie Melham heading into Saturday.

Despite Jamie’s immense talent, plenty of quality judges were concerned when she drew gate two. Worried about Half Yours getting clean air at the required time, citing recent form as cause for concern.

The concerns may well have been valid, but like all champions, Melham stepped up to the plate and smashed it out of the park.

It ended up a brutally run Caulfield Cup – Adelaide River went out a manic 19L above standard to the 800m mark. Melham rode the perfect race down the straight the first time, aided by Absurde she was able to keep Half Yours off the fence from gate two on a day you wanted to be away from the rail when it counted.

From that point on, the strong tempo meant Half Yours was always going to get his chance. Melham presented him at the right time as they straightened for home and this emerging staying star did the rest.

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

The 28,000 strong crowd roared like it was an AFL Grand Final as Half Yours gained the ascendancy, the horse and jockey later getting a rousing reception as they returned to the yard.

Melham has had a tumultuous few years since her sudden rise to the top of the jockey ranks.
In 2020-21 she became the first female to ride 100 winners in a season when trouncing her rivals in the Jockey Premiership.

But, just as the new season rolled around, the ‘Airbnb’ scandal saw her outed for three months and thrust into the public spotlight.

In 2023, Melham suffered significant injuries after a horrific fall in the VRC Sires’ Produce Stakes at Flemington.

But Melham’s talent is obvious. She didn’t ride 100 winners in a season by chance, and when she’s at her best, she’s up there with the best we have in Victoria.

It has taken 149 runnings of the Caulfield Cup for a female to win the race, but it will be the first of many.

A hat tip to Tony and Calvin McEvoy, too. They paid a small fortune for Half Yours in an online auction – $305,000 – but they’ve well and truly made good on that decision! They have prepared this horse magnificently.

Moment of the day II: Rory Hunter claiming the Caulfield Classic

I’ve got a bit more to say on the race below, but the Caulfield Classic provided one of the feel-good stories of the spring.

Small-scale Mornington trainer Rory Hunter only has ten horses in work, but he managed to beat the big boys and claim Group 3 glory on Saturday with Autumn Mystery.

Autumn Mystery wins a thrilling Norman Robinson!

Rory Hunter has a G3 winner and a live Derby hope ❤️@blake_shinn pic.twitter.com/5S5xA4Vvru

— 7HorseRacing 🐎 (@7horseracing) October 18, 2025

Hunter has done a great job with this horse, a gelding that went around in a Blue Diamond as a 2YO and is now on a Derby path!

The post-race emotion was there for all to see. “It’s just a boyhood dream – these moments don’t come along all that often,” Hunter said post-race.

Cream rises to the top

Some of Australia’s best jockeys showed off their talents on Saturday.

Mark Zahra was superb with a double, including a last-gasp win on Tentyris to the roar of punters. He also rode the odds-on Thousand Guineas favourite Apocalyptic an absolute treat; the filly just found one better in Ole Dancer. Don’t think there’s a jockey out there who rides Caulfield better than Zahra.

TENTYRIS BRINGS THE HOUSE DOWN 💥

A stunning come from behind win for the star colt! Onto the Coolmore 👀 pic.twitter.com/OeFjKZGgtW

— 7HorseRacing 🐎 (@7horseracing) October 18, 2025

Blake Shinn was the rider who knocked off Zahra in that Thousand Guineas and he, too, enjoyed a double, booting home Abounding in the last.

Nash Rawiller showed why he’s one of the best front-running riders. His aggression on Spicy Lu brought the best out of a filly that had been bereft of luck, while his ride on the heavily backed Private Eye was simply picture perfect.

He’d like his time again…Andrea Atzeni

Wow, doubt many backers of Meydaan mapped their horse to be three wide, no cover, throughout the gruelling 2400m of the Caulfield Cup.

Sure, a few things transpired against Atzeni, but I suspect he’d love his time over, as he should’ve had his mount one off the fence, enjoying a nice trail, from such a soft draw.

Meydaan wouldn’t have won either way, but he certainly should’ve finished a lot closer.

Still looking for a run – Photograph (r5)

Photograph was all dressed up with nowhere to go in the Alinghi Stakes. She ultimately got a late split and charged up the rail, but the race was over well before that moment and she was in the worst ground.

Although it wasn’t his fault, it was just ‘bad luck’, it was another ordinary moment for Andrea Atzeni on his ‘hit and run’ mission to Melbourne.

Tactics questioned…Caulfield Classic

These horses are meant to be on trial for the Derby, but they had little more than a barrier trial!

Don’t connections want to know if their horses are going to stay?

At least Daniel Stackhouse had a crack at the 800m mark, putting Deal Done Fast into the race, otherwise they may have limped to the 400m mark.

The bunched finish wasn’t a sign of a ‘classic contest’, more a signal that they weren’t truly tested.

If Observer meets this lot in the Derby and gets the 2500m, I suspect there will be a postcode between them.

The flashing light – Steparty (r8)

This was a moderately run 1400m, which suited the on-pacers. That added merit to the performance of Steparty, who reeled off the second-best last 400/200m split of the meeting to charge home into third. It was a welcome return to form; one for the blackbook.

What a warrior he is 💪

Private Eye leads all the way in the G2 Moonga 🖤💚 pic.twitter.com/i4jhzQbq2S

— 7HorseRacing 🐎 (@7horseracing) October 18, 2025

They left it in the bag:

Apocalyptic (r7): Whilst she only held her price at $1.90, she was no doubt heavily backed throughout betting. She had every chance up on speed in the Thousand Guineas, a race that seemed like an afterthought following her Flight Stakes win.

Punters got the lot…

It was a big day for punters, who seemed to have the better of bookies to round out the Caulfield Cup Carnival.

Half Yours was smashed in betting as they paraded for the Caulfield Cup. At the start of the day you could get $2.90/$3, but as they left the yard he was in as short as $2.30. It was a massive go in such a big race.

Tentyris was hammered in the Gothic Stakes – $3.10 into $2.15. Bookies were licking their lips when he was stone motherless last turning for home, seemingly facing an impossible task, but he mowed down Raging Force in the shadows of the post to score.

Bacash (r1) and Private Eye (r8) were also very well backed, duly getting the cash.

Did you see that? A two-horse race at Bendigo

Punters turned their nose up at a two-horse race that kicked off proceedings at Bendigo on Saturday with just $2,298 in the Vic tote pool.

It was a 2yo race where the Tony and Calvin McEvoy-trained Knurl kickstarted a memorable day for the stable with a decisive win over Team Hayes with Dance The Boogie.

Interestingly, both stables had an additional runner entered in the race, which were each scratched well before race day. The other scratched runner was trained by David and Coral Feek.

Two-horse races are hugely unprofitable for the industry, field size being a key driver of turnover. For this reason, Racing Victoria has a policy that races with five or less runners at acceptance time can be deleted and had they known they’d end up with two runners, this race might have ended up in the bin.