Jamie Melham has broken new ground as the first female jockey to win the Caulfield Cup (2,400 metres) in its 149-year history, steering favourite Half Yours to victory in the $5 million handicap.<\/p>\n
Trained by father-and-son duo Tony and Calvin McEvoy, Half Yours beat home River Of Stars in emphatic fashion.<\/p>\n
Five-year-old Half Yours \u2014 the son of bargain-priced sire St Jean \u2014 gave Melham her 17th Group 1 triumph and first in one of the Melbourne spring majors.<\/p>\n
Valiant King was third home and Presage Nocturne was fourth, while Adelaide River faded after leading by as much as seven lengths.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Melham, one of Australia’s leading jockeys, was in tears after the race.<\/p>\n
“Just hearing you say ‘Caulfield Cup’ is going to make me cry,” Melham said.<\/p>\n
“I’ve had an incredible career and ridden 17 Group 1s now, but that major has obviously eluded me.<\/p>\n
“I just wanted to get one, but now I want maybe three more, maybe a Melbourne Cup, and this horse is going to run the trip out.”<\/p>\n
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Jamie Melham is the first female jockey to win the Caulfield Cup. (AAP: James Ross)<\/p>\n
Melham said she was not distracted by the fact Half Yours entered the race as favourite.<\/p>\n
“I just wanted to come out here and ride him and give him the best ride I could because I knew he was the best horse in the race,” she said.<\/p>\n
“But everything was perfect. It worked out perfectly for him and he had to dig deep and he’s an absolute superstar horse.<\/p>\n
“What Tony and Calvin have done with him, they’ve just made this absolute professional of a horse.”<\/p>\n
Half Yours was sold last November for $305,000 at a time when he had given little indication he would develop into a star.<\/p>\n
But the McEvoys saw potential and have been rewarded handsomely.<\/p>\n
Tony McEvoy came agonisingly close to winning the Caulfield Cup in 2002 with Fields Of Omagh, narrowly beaten by Northerly.<\/p>\n
Melham had also fallen short in three previous rides, including a fourth aboard Prince Of Arran in 2020.<\/p>\n
“This is why we do it, to have a runner in these, and they’re bloody hard to win,” Tony McEovy said.<\/p>\n