How top Aussie jockey Jamie Melham made Melbourne Cup history TWICE as she opens up about trying to beat her husband at Flemington
Jamie Melham had already made history by winning the Caulfield Cup, even before she ran Half Yours to victory in the Melbourne Cup.
She is now the first woman to win the double title – on the 10th anniversary of Michelle Payne becoming the first woman to win the race that stops the nation.
Half Yours entered the 2025 Melbourne Cup as one of the leading favourites, trained by Tony and Calvin McEvoy.
The five-year-old drew barrier eight, a gate yet to produce a Cup winner since barrier stalls were introduced in 1958.
But it positioned the gelding perfectly for a tilt at the 2025 title.
Melham had a very familiar adversary in the barriers with her at Flemington today – her husband Ben – who came 14th.
He was riding Ciaron Maher-trained Smokin’ Romans, making them the first married couple to compete against each other in the Melbourne Cup.
Caulfield Cup winner Jamie Melham competed against her husband Ben in the Melbourne Cup – and trounced him
Melham is now the first woman to win both the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups in the same year
Jamie was riding Half Yours, which she said was appropriate because when she won, half the money would go to her husband anyway
Half Yours was always an appropriate name for Jamie’s steed, because if either of the couple win the big race, they have agreed to split the prize money.
‘Ben loves the name,’ Melham said.
‘Now we’re married, half [prize money] goes to him and half goes to me.’
Amazingly, there was no rivalry in the Melham household in the lead-up to the big race. Jamie had even been helping Ben make weight.
‘I’ve got to lock Ben in the house and make sure he doesn’t eat anything,’ she said.
‘Fifty-four kilograms he gets [at a stretch] so 53.5kg is tough … I still want to beat him though.’
Jamie proved she is not there to make up the numbers by winning the Caulfield Cup, the first woman to do so.
Her resume speaks for itself. She has recorded 1,345 career wins, including 18 at Group 1 level.
The Melhams are the power couple of Australian racing and the first married couple to compete against each other in the Melbourne Cup
The champion jockey has claimed multiple state and metropolitan titles, first in her home state of South Australia, before making her mark in Victoria.
In the 2020–21 season, she became the first Melbourne jockey to ride more than 100 city winners in a single campaign, finishing with 105 victories and earning the prestigious Scobie Breasley Medal.
And then that famous Caulfield Cup victory. And now she has beaten her husband – and made history like Michelle Payne – in the same race.
‘You don’t think about it (gender) until you see the headlines, ‘first female to win the Caulfield Cup,’ she said.
‘There’s a lot of people in the world, so, it’s pretty special when you’re the first and only one that’s won that race.
‘Ten years on (from Payne) has got a nice ring to it, to get the Melbourne Cup again (by a female jockey but) Michelle hasn’t won a Caulfield Cup and Melbourne Cup!’
Only Melham can boast that.
