Topical 6/11/25

Jamie Melham created history at Flemington, riding Half Yours to a spectacular Melbourne Cup win. ABC reports Melham became the second female jockey to win the Melbourne Cup, 10 years after Michelle Payne’s breakthrough triumph on Prince Of Penzance. The victory came mere weeks after Melham became the first jockey to win the Caulfield Cup, also riding Half Yours to victory. The Melbourne Cup champion also paid tribute to her late grandfather. “I have to mention my grandpa. He died last week. The last race was the Caulfield Cup. And he was such a big supporter of mine,” Melham told Nine.“So he’s up there opening those gaps for me because I needed a few gaps open then, and my mum and dad are here.” In another history-making moment, Jamie and Ben Melham became the first married couple to compete against each other in the Melbourne Cup. Ben finished 14th riding Smokin’ Romans. Dreams of galloping her way to the top danced in Jamie Melham’s mind throughout childhood and her mother still remembers it like it was yesterday. ABC reports ‘When eight-year-old Jamie started riding lessons on her little pony named Bessie, she hoped she would one day win the coveted Melbourne Cup. “It’s something she’s wished upon her whole life, so [I] can’t believe she’s done it,” Karen Gardiner-Kah told ABC Radio Melbourne after her daughter’s history-making win on Tuesday. “It’s all like a fairytale come true.”