Half Yours makes late charge to win Melbourne Cup

Half Yours, the only Australian-bred in a field of 24, rallied between horses in the stretch to win the Group 1 Melbourne Cup at Flemington Racecourse in Australia on Tuesday.

Half Yours, who paid $15.90 in American pools, was ridden by Jamie Melham, who became the second female rider to win Australia’s most famous race. Michelle Payne won the 2015 Melbourne Cup.

Payne worked as a commentator on Australian television for this year’s Melbourne Cup. In an interview after the race, Payne told Melham, “Welcome to the club.”

Half Yours, trained by the father-son team of Tony and Calvin McEvoy, was 14th midway through the $6.53 million Melbourne Cup at two miles. Turning into the stretch, Melham guided Half Yours toward the inside and split horses twice, including once through a very narrow gap, before reaching the front.

Half Yours finished 2 3/4 lengths in front of 35-1 Goodie Two Shoes, who had a promising lead in the stretch. Middle Earth (25-1) finished third, while Al Riffa, the 5-1 favorite, finished seventh.

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Parchment Party, a two-time stakes winner at Saratoga in June and August trained by Bill Mott, finished 20th at 11-1. Parchment Party was 60-1 in Australian pools.

The Melbourne Cup was run on Monday evening across American time zones.

Half Yours carried 116.8 pounds under the handicap conditions of the Melbourne Cup. Al Riffa was the 130-pound topweight.

Half Yours, a 5-year-old gelding by the Teofilo stallion St. Jean, has won 8 of 15 career starts, including six of his last nine. Half Yours won the Group 1 Caulfield Cup at 1 1/2 miles at Caulfield Racecourse on Oct. 18 to confirm his status as a leading contender for the Melbourne Cup. Melham has ridden Half Yours in his last four starts, which includes three wins.

Melham, 29, is married to jockey Ben Melham, who rode Smokin’ Romans to a 14th-place finish in the Melbourne Cup. As Jamie Kah, she was the leading rider at Melbourne-area tracks in the 2021-2022 season. In March 2023, she sustained a brain injury in a spill at Flemington and was briefly in an induced coma. She returned to racing five months later.

On Wednesday evening at Flemington, Jamie Melham will ride the outsider Ethereum Girl in the Group 1 Crown Oaks for Southern Hemisphere 3-year-old fillies at 1 9/16 miles. Ethereum Girl was sixth of nine in the Group 2 Wakeful Stakes at 1 1/4 miles on Saturday, finishing 4 1/4 lengths behind Getta Good Feeling, who will be an odds-on favorite to win the $649,000 Crown Oaks.

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