‘Move over, Ben’: How Jamie Melham pushed her husband aside in incredible Cup ride

Jamie Melham had to outmanoeuvre her jockey husband Ben in a seesawing Melbourne Cup field before she found a crucial gap that allowed her to ride to glory.

The first woman to land the Caulfield-Melbourne Cup double revealed she was on the verge of screaming at her partner to get out of her road as she loomed up behind his tiring mount, Smokin’ Romans, at the top of the famous Flemington straight.

But her brave Australian-bred galloper Half Yours took the decision out of her hands, ducking to the inside through the narrowest of gaps and pushing her husband aside. From then on, the race was hers.

“There was a gap this big next to him [Ben] and I was going to yell at him, but my horse was just going too good anyway,” she said.

“He pulled me through the next gap, [then] pulled me through the next gap, where there was barely any room. My horse was just going too good.”

Melham is a rider of natural touch and feel. She prefers to settle her horses with calm hands and let a race unfold before her eyes.

In comparison, her 22-time group one-winning husband is a renowned master of speed maps and tactics. Together, they make a formidable team.

They are the first wife and husband to ride against each other in a Melbourne Cup, and they shared a moment together at the end of the race before returning to scale.

“I said, ‘I rode it how you told me, too,’” she said. “We don’t normally talk racing much, but we went through this race about 10 to 15 times yesterday and that’s exactly what I wanted to happen.”

First 200m: ‘I wanted to get to the rails’

Barrier draws are crucial to the start of the race, particularly one as crowded and unpredictable as a 24-horse Cup field.

On the Saturday night of Derby Day, co-trainer Tony McEvoy revealed he wanted barrier seven. Part owner Neville Smith picked the replica cup with the number eight underneath.

“That beautiful barrier allows Jamie to relax, ride the horse nice and smoothly,” McEvoy said.

“We don’t have to be too far back; we can be in the middle and ride him to run the trip.”

McEvoy is a trainer with a wealth of experience. He could not have been closer to the truth.

Half Yours jumped cleanly from the start, allowing Melham to roll into a comfortable position across the first 200m, as the speed came from the widest barriers.

Outsiders Smokin’ Romans and Arapaho galloped to the front, while Changingoftheguard kept a straight line from barrier 24 as it mustered pace out wide. Melham found a spot four lengths back from the front and one off the fence. She described it as “perfect”.

“You play out the race in your head 20, 30 times on how you want the race to happen,” she said. “I wanted to get to the rails as close as I could, but we got in a nice enough spot.”

The back straight: ‘He did a lot wrong’

There was little speed in the earlier part of the race. Last year’s winner, Robbie Dolan, had taken Royal Supremacy to the front, ahead of Smokin’ Romans, but they appeared to be ambling along.

This can turn a staying event into a sit-sprint affair where jockeys wait patiently until the last 600m before dashing for home – an outcome that does not suit runners with superior stamina.

But the race changed complexion when Brazilian jockey Joao Moreira gave up fighting his horse Land Legend – a Chris Waller-trained galloper that has a bad habit of reefing and pulling against his rider if restrained from the start.

As a result, Land Legend whipped around the outside of the field and bolted to a seven-length lead down the Maribyrnong River side of the track in a Pride Of Jenni-type move that is foolhardy over such a long trip.

All of a sudden, there was speed in the race, and the distance runners were back in the game.

“No manners, pushed too hard,” Moreira said later of Land Legend. “He did a lot of things wrong in the race.”

Melham is a supreme judge of pace, knowing when to hold her cards, and when to set sail for home. She stayed back in the field, conserving her horse’s energy one off the fence. She didn’t panic.

But trainer McEvoy, watching from the mounting yard, was not so self-assured.

“I lost sight of him [Half Yours] when that leader went out,” he said. “My eyes aren’t as good as they were.”

The home bend: ‘Let the first wave go’

Tearaway leader Land Legend had spent his chips as the field rounded the final bend. He had pulled himself into the ground.

As he started to tire and the chasing pack closed, horses began to fan wide as jockeys made their move.

“Ben told me, ‘Let that first wave go’ - that’s exactly what I did,” Melham said.

By this stage, Melham was sitting five lengths back and cutting the corner by hugging the rail. It was textbook stuff.

This is when she moved quickly up behind her husband, and Half Yours took the initiative by pushing Smokin’ Romans aside – Ben Melham would finish 14th.

By now, the field had come back into focus for McEvoy. He liked what was unfolding.

“I caught him [Half Yours] ducking back to the inside,” he said. “What a thrill and what a horse he is and what a joy he is for us.”

The final 200m: ‘God they’ve got this horse so fit’

All that remained was for Melham to unravel one more puzzle – finding a path between the cooked Land Legend and the tiring Royal Supremacy to her side.

After the race, she spoke of her late grandfather who had recently passed away. Perhaps the gap opening in front of her wasn’t a miracle, but it came at the perfect time.

Once Half Yours bolted through the opening, he just had to fight off Irish stayer Goodie Two Shoes and Ethan Brown on Middle Earth, who was coming wider with a late run.

Of course he could. Half Yours was bred by the late Colin McKenna to be an out-and-out stayer, and on this occasion, the genetics fell into place. Melham’s horse was full of running.

“Tony and Calvin [McEvoy], God they’ve got this horse so fit,” Melham said. “There was definitely no questions about him running out the trip today, they put that to bed very quickly.”

Melham had the race in her keeping with 100m left to unfold, and held out her whip to the side and then patted her horse on the neck as they crossed the line.

“I think I need to sit down,” she said. You’ve earned it, Jamie.

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