Melham Makes History Riding Half Yours to Melbourne Cup Win

The 8-1 winner took the lead from the field in the final stages and finished three lengths ahead of Goody Two Shoes, trained by Irishman Joseph O'Brien and ridden by Wayne Lordan, while Middle Earth finished third.

Melham and Half Yours also won the Caulfield Cup last month, making her the first woman to win the Caulfield-Melbourne Cup double.

Moments after her victory on Tuesday, Melham told the local Nine Network: "What just happened? Oh my God! That's why we do this, that's why we get out of bed at 4 a.m. every morning."

Half Yours is trained in Australia by father-son duo Tony and Kelvin McEvoy.

The 5-1 favorite Presage Nocturne finished 19th in the 165th edition of the two-mile race.

O'Brien's Al Riffa finished seventh, while Absurde, for fellow Irish trainer Willie Mullins, finished eighth, and Meydan, for British trainers Simon and Ed Crisford, finished tenth.

Melham said she knew she would finish first the moment she overtook her husband, Ben, a fellow jockey, riding Smokin' Romans. Their horse finished 14th.

The 29-year-old, who returned to racing in 2023 after a bad fall, said it had been a wonderful year for her.

"I got married, had some great days at the track, but nothing compares to the feeling I have right now," she said.

Melham also paid tribute to her grandfather, who passed away last week.

"He watched the Caulfield Cup for the last time, and he was a huge supporter of mine," she said.

"So he's opening these gaps for me because I needed some gaps opened at the time."

Michelle Payne, who was the first woman to win the Melbourne Cup in 2015 on 100-1 outsider Prince of Penzance, spoke to Melham after the race, saying: "Welcome to the club."

A crowd of 80,000 braved a cold, wet, and windy day at Flemington to watch the race often called 'the race that stopped a nation.'

The Melbourne Cup was first held in 1861 and is worth 10 million Australian dollars (£5 million), making it the world's richest handicap race – a type of race in which each horse is assigned a weighting according to its ability and past performance, to level the playing field.

However, the race remains a controversial event and has attracted protests over animal welfare in recent years.

Between 2013 and 2020, six horses died during or after the Melbourne Cup race – four of them from injuries sustained during the race, forcing race organizers to introduce additional safety measures.