Jamie Melham: Melbourne Cup-winning jockey reveals how she celebrated historic victory aboard Half Yours
Storming home aboard Half Yours, Jamie Melham, made history at Flemington Racecourse on Tuesday as the second woman to ever win the Group 1 $10 million Lexus Melbourne Cup. She has shared how she processed the huge moment.
“It hit me at 2am this morning. I couldn’t sleep,” she told Sunrise on Wednesday morning.
“I went to bed about 11 and then just couldn’t sleep till 2am. I was watching the race about 50, 60 times. Then it hit me.”
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.The five-year-old gelding was given a dream ride by Melham, who picked her way through the pack and produced the horse to hit the front inside the final 200m, before racing to an emphatic success.
After the race, Melham spoke about the passing of her grandfather, saying, “My grandpa, he died last week, the last thing he watched was the Caulfield Cup.”
When asked on Wednesday morning what was going through her head when she won, Melham said she hadn’t processed it yet.
“I couldn’t believe what just happened. Then you stop and you think about all the people that have been around you through the bad times. Plenty of them.
“My parents, my beautiful husband and all my family friends that have been around me. That’s what made me cry, and then I saw that made me cry again. I saw straightaway crossing the line. It’s an insane feeling.
“This is what we dream about when we’re little kids, when we sign over our life and want to be a jockey, I’d love to ride the Melbourne Cup. You don’t expect you will win is the race that stops a nation.”
Melham’s win came a decade after Michelle Payne’s breakthrough win on Prince of Penzance in 2015.
Recalling Payne’s words, “welcome to the club” after the win, Melham said “It’s a pretty cool club to be a part of. All I wanted to do was tick a major off. Now I’ve got two in a row.”
Melham is the first woman to win both the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups.
“It’s exciting to be a role model and encourage younger generation. The kids growing up, jockeys to want to be like me. Something I never over dreamed of.
“Now I have so many people around me and so many kids of the younger generation wanting to like me. It’s something to be proud of, for sure,” she added.
