THE ENORMITY OF JAMIE MELHAM'S ACHIEVEMENT IS FAR MORE THAN JUST ITS HISTORICAL CONTEXT

By Graham Potter | Wednesday, November 5, 2025

You simply cannot exaggerate the enormity of Jamie Melham’s achievement in winning the Melbourne Cup aboard Half Yours on Tuesday … and I’m not even talking about the historical aspect of that success with Melham being the first female rider to complete the Caulfield Cup / Melbourne Cup double.

There have been the hard-earned good times in terms of racing results, but Melham has also been challenged on so many fronts in her career … from significant physical injury … through scandal (yes, it can be mentioned … who of us has never made a mistake) … through the punishment of momentum-breaking ‘time out’ with testing suspensions.

A large level of adversity, which might have broken a lesser person, has come Melham’s way, some admittedly by self-inflicted wounds, and, at the worst of times, that would have placed severe pressure on her mental toughness which, contrary to some logic, appeared to get stronger the more it became hard-pressed.

So, there are many examples of situations and circumstances that Melham has had to overcome, but let’s just examine one.

Many jockey’s have suffered serious injury, and Melham’s description of what she went through following a fall from Flyball on March 11, 2023 in the Sires Produce Stakes at Flemington, the same Flemington track where she was later to claim her greatest moment in the saddle, gives a first hand idea of what jockeys are risking every time they get a leg-up onto a horse.

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