{"id":478504,"date":"2025-11-04T23:15:22","date_gmt":"2025-11-05T00:15:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=478504"},"modified":"2025-11-05T02:20:46","modified_gmt":"2025-11-05T02:20:46","slug":"melham-to-miss-pas-funeral-to-deliver-his-final-wish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=478504","title":{"rendered":"Melham to miss pa's funeral to deliver his final wish"},"content":{"rendered":"

A monumental victory aboard Half Yours<\/a> saw Jamie Melham etch her name into racing folklore as only the second female jockey to win the Lexus Melbourne Cup<\/a> in 165 years.<\/p>\n

The emotional triumph was attributed to her late grandfather, who, just last week, had watched her Caulfield Cup success before he died.<\/p>\n

Melham will not be attending his funeral on Thursday. Her pa had insisted he would rather she compete and win at Flemington's Oaks Day meeting instead.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: <\/strong>Top-flight manager collapses, dies during league match<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

READ MORE: <\/strong>Selectors meet to make 'knife edge' calls for first Ashes squad<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

READ MORE: <\/strong>'Brave' moment that etched Melham's name into Cup folklore<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\"Jamie<\/p>\n

Speaking to Nine's Today<\/em><\/a>, Melham said she believed her deceased loved ones, including her pa, helped create the small gap she needed for Half Yours to surge through and take the Cup.<\/p>\n

"\ufeffIt opened a little bit of a gap for me for sure," she said of her late grandfather.<\/p>\n

"\ufeffHe would have loved to drink from this [trophy] as well. It was amazing that he watched my last Caulfield Cup win. He watched it, and in the next few days, he went to sleep and went up to heaven.<\/p>\n

"It's amazing that I've got some incredible people up there now looking \ufeffover me in him and Col (who bred Half Yours).<\/p>\n

Watch the 2025 Melbourne Cup Carnival live and free on Nine and<\/strong><\/em> 9Now<\/strong><\/em><\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

"Col McKenna must have opened a slight gap for me. It wasn't a big gap, but it was enough for me to get through."<\/p>\n

With\ufeff space limited, Melham praised Half Yours' ability to identify and move through the tight gaps in the field.<\/p>\n

\"Lexus<\/p>\n

"There wasn't much room there, but when you're on a horse like Half Yours that was travelling so well, feeling amazing, he just took me through these gaps," she said.<\/p>\n

"I didn't even have to ask him. In the end, it makes our job a lot easier when we are riding these incredible horses like him."<\/p>\n

Melham and her husband, Ben, made Melbourne Cup history by becoming the first married couple ever to compete as jockeys.<\/p>\n

With \ufeffBen aboard Smokin' Romans in the historic race, there was a split-second, high-stakes moment on the straight where she found a crucial gap beside him and shouldered past.<\/p>\n

Highlighting the humour of passing her husband during the biggest race of her career, Melham also acknowledged how special it was to share the moment.<\/p>\n

"I was going to give him a shout because \ufeffthe gap was closing, but I was already through it," she said.<\/p>\n

"He was watching me from way back there.\ufeff<\/p>\n

"\ufeffCrossing the line, he caught up to me and gave me a little pat on the back. It was an incredible feeling."<\/p>\n

\"Married<\/p>\n

When asked about the post-race celebrations, Melham said she had an early dinner, was surprised by her best friend flying in from Adelaide, and was in bed by about 10pm.<\/p>\n

However, the excitement of her victory lingered \u2014 she woke up at 2am and was unable to fall back asleep.<\/p>\n

"\ufeffI've been buzzing," she said.<\/p>\n

"It's a weird feeling."<\/p>\n

With sleep impossible, Melham rewatched the race "about 60 times". It was the first time she had actually seen the replay.<\/p>\n

Probed if the Melbourne Cup was in bed beside her, Melham laughed, explaining it was "a bit dirty" after she had been drinking champagne from it throughout the evening.<\/p>\n

The trophy required a proper wash on Wednesday morning.<\/p>\n

Before Melham can sit back and relax next week, she has a busy few days ahead.<\/p>\n

She is scheduled to ride on Oaks Day on Thursday and Stakes Day on Saturday to complete the Melbourne Cup carnival.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A monumental victory aboard Half Yours saw Jamie Melham etch her name into racing folklore as only the second female jockey to win the Lexus […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":478506,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478504"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=478504"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478504\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":478510,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478504\/revisions\/478510"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/478506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=478504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=478504"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=478504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}