Meet the first female winner of the Caulfield-Melbourne Cup double
Meet Australia’s new racing royalty, the first ever female jockey to win the Caulfield-Melbourne Cup double. How did she do it? Let’s just say it all started with a pony instead of a pram
READING LEVEL: GREEN
Riding on her pony Disco Dancer at Mount Pleasant in South Australia is where the story began for Australian Melbourne Cup winner of 2025 Jamie Melham.
Proud mum Karen Kah remembers those early days vividly*. Every day of her daughter’s childhood revolved around horses, and it’s a love affair that has helped her make Australian racing history.
“Instead of having a pram, I put her on a shetland pony,” said Ms Kah, who was trackside with husband John to watch their daughter’s remarkable win in Tuesday’s 2025 Melbourne Cup at Flemington.
Melham has made history as Australia’s first female jockey to win both the Caulfield Cup and the Melbourne Cup in the same year. She was the second female jockey to ever win the Melbourne Cup, 10 years after Michelle Payne famously won Australia’s top horse race riding Prince Of Penzance.
Melham developed her love of horses from an early age, starting with her first little pony, Disco Dancer, who was just seven hands* tall. Her relationship with the black and white pinto* planted the seed for a life in the saddle, as Melham spent her childhood riding horses all day long at her parent’s 100-acre property in Mount Pleasant, north of the Adelaide Hills.
“That was it, she just adored them, she had a natural feel with them,” her mum said.
“When she was four or five she would be lunging her little pony around and teaching it to jump – she’s always been a natural.
“She went through the whole western* scene. We always surrounded her with really good horse people; she learnt lots just watching and soaking it all in.
“We couldn’t teach her anything special, so we always made sure the right people were around her. Then she got bored with western because it was so slow.
“So she got into Mounted Games* – all jockeys should do that – then all of a sudden she goes ‘Oh, I just love the speed’, and that was her stepping stone to becoming a jockey.
“She just loves going fast.”
A sporting family, the Kahs have always enjoyed going fast.
Karen and John represented Australia as speed-skaters at the Winter Olympics and World Championships.
Melham also followed the family tradition of international honours, representing Australia at England’s International Mounted Games in 2010.
At 13, she began as a stablehand* for Mount Pleasant trainer John Macmillan in school holidays.
Knowing the dangers of thoroughbred* racing, Ms Kah was hesitant about her daughter taking the next step.
“I said to John, ‘She can come and help as long as she doesn’t get on any of those stupid, crazy thoroughbreds’,” Ms Kah said.
“She was there a couple of weeks and bang, she was on top of a horse. John stuck her on a horse and the rest is history.”
Melham left her school, Trinity College in Gawler, north of Adelaide, at the age of 15 in order to start an apprenticeship as a jockey. By then it was clear she had a gift.
Mr Macmillan, an ex-jumps jockey, only had a small team of horses, but they helped nurture Melham in the saddle in those early days.
He knew that she was a rising star, and he wasn’t afraid to let everyone know.
“I told everyone that was willing to listen, ‘She is going to be one of the best jockeys in the world’,” said Mr Macmillan, who prepared Melham’s first winner, aboard Magic Tigress at Streaky Bay in 2012.
“She deals with pressure incredibly well, she always has,” he said.
“She absorbs it, acknowledges it and just moves on – she doesn’t let it affect her. They are the two things that stand out from everyone else.
“An incredible affinity* with horses, which leads into her ability to ride, and her ability to cope with pressure, that takes her to the next level.”
Tuesday’s Cup win was the ultimate display of Melham’s cool head under pressure.
She not only handled Half Yours to perfection with a ground-saving run, but rode all the emotions the past few weeks have thrown at her – particularly the sad loss of her grandfather Albert, John’s father, who passed away shortly after the Caulfield Cup.
Albert was Melham’s biggest fan, always proudly watching his granddaughter as she dominated on the big stage.
“He was a mad keen supporter of hers. He was unfortunately ill for awhile, so it was a relief now,” Ms Kah said.
“That’s all he could do, watch Saturday racing and watch her. He was very proud of her. He managed to watch her win the Caulfield Cup. He must’ve helped her out some how today, all the angels up there.”
If she had one angel on her shoulder in Albert, on the other shoulder was the late Colin McKenna, who bred Half Yours and shared a bond with Melham.
“We were in control until she jumped into our arms and started bawling,” Ms Kah said of the moment Melham became emotional after her victory.
“It was pretty emotional and the trainers (the McEvoys), we’ve known them for a long time, they helped her so much in Adelaide – it was a really sweet win.”
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GLOSSARY
- vividly: very clearly in her mind
- hands: hands are traditionally used to measure horses and ponies, a form of measurement that dates back thousands of years when tape measures and rulers were not readily available and units of measurement weren’t standardised. One hand now equates to four inches in modern standards
- pinto: a horse or pony with a spotted coat of white and dark patches
- western: a style of horse riding that came from ranching traditions in the American west where riders have a relaxed posture and one-handed control while sitting in a wide, deep saddle
- Mounted Games: a fast-paced equestrian team sport where competitors perform different challenges like relay races and weaving through poles
- stablehand: someone who looks after horses, doing tasks such as grooming them, feeding them and exercising them
- thoroughbred: a breed of horse specially bred in England to be good at racing and jumping but also known to be hot-blooded and sensitive
- affinity: a natural understanding of something or someone
EXTRA READING
11-year-old jockey who won the Melbourne Cup
How Phar Lap won the Cup and the nation’s heart
How Archer won the first Melbourne Cup
QUICK QUIZ
1. What was the name of Jamie Melham’s first pony?
2. What incredible feat did Melham achieve this year to make history in the sport of horse racing?
3. Why did Melham leave school at the age of 15?
4. What was the name of the racehorse Melham rode to victory twice this year?
5. Who was the first female jockey to ever win the Melbourne Cup?
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CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. How would it feel?
How would it feel to be the winning jockey in the Melbourne Cup? Write a story or description that will make your reader understand exactly how what it would be like to ride the winner, from the start to the finish of the race.
Time: allow at least 30 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Design and Technologies
2. Extension
What do you think would be the physical, psychological and personal qualities of a top jockey like Jamie? Write a list. Next to each quality on your list, write a sentence that explains why you chose it. Use information from the story to help you.
Time: allow at least 20 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links English, Health and Physical Education
VCOP ACTIVITY
Girls in sport
There are many sports in which we’re seeing an increase in female participants. What sports have you noticed, or maybe joined yourself, where you have seen an increase in the number of girls now playing? How do you feel about this? Why do you feel this way? Do you think it’s a positive shift? Why/why not?
Use your VCOP to express how you feel towards girls taking up more sporting roles. Explain why you feel this way. Use your emotive language to express your point of view.