Challenges overcome, Jamie Melham is back at the top of racing

Name it the handing over of the baton, name it two pals celebrating an enormous emotional second collectively.

Or simply name it historical past.

“Welcome to the membership,” Michelle Payne mentioned to Jamie Melham as the 2 most well-known feminine jockeys in Australia embraced on the Channel 9 set at Flemington after the Melbourne Cup.

A decade after Michelle Payne broke via racing’s glass ceiling with a historic win on Prince of Penzance, Jamie Melham outdid her mate within the history-making stakes, profitable the Melbourne Cup on Half Yours but in addition turning into the primary feminine jockey to win each the Melbourne and Caulfield Cups.

Her victory confirmed simply how a lot had modified in 10 years of racing — and the way a lot had stayed the identical.

It’s truthful to say that the highlight burns fiercely on feminine stars of all sports activities. Pundits, followers and the general public are glad to experience the bandwagon of their prime performances, however they’re additionally fast to leap on their lower than stellar moments.

Jamie Melham and Michelle Payne earlier than her — have seen either side of that of their careers.

Then Jamie Kah, the younger South Australian jockey left college at 15, and started an apprenticeship. She made a rapid title for herself, profitable the Adelaide Jockey’s Premiership 3 times earlier than shifting to Melbourne the place she started profitable Group 1 races.

By 2020 she was rated the world’s main feminine jockey, and by 2021 she grew to become the primary jockey — male or feminine — to experience 100 winners in a Melbourne Premiership season.

‘He is up there’: Melham’s tribute to late grandfather after Cup win

An emotional Jamie Melham dedicates her Melbourne Cup win to her late grandfather after creating historical past as she turns into the primary feminine jockey to win each the Melbourne and Caulfield Cups.

She was the darling of the racing world, however quickly she can be caught within the highlight as Australia was coping with COVID restrictions.

Kah was discovered to have damaged Victoria’s restrictions and Melbourne’s night-time curfew, gathering with three different jockeys — Ben Melham, Ethan Brown and Celine Gaudray.

They had been suspended, with Kah banned for 5 months by the Victorian Racing Tribunal.

Kah and Melham at the moment are married, and Brown and Gaudray are engaged — all 4 rode on this 12 months’s Melbourne Cup.

The backlash was robust, simply because it was in 2023 when Kah was on a leaked video with monitor rider Jacob Biddell and secure hand Ruby McIntyre as she separated white powder on a kitchen desk.

She was not charged for bringing the game into disrepute as a result of she didn’t know she was being filmed, however the high-profile story made her the centre of consideration for all of the mistaken causes.

Whereas Michelle Payne famously used the platform of her Melbourne Cup win to name out the boys within the racing business who had doubted or blocked her due to her being a girl, Melham has had robust help from trainers together with Tony McEvoy, who she thanked on Tuesday for searching for her since she was 15.

She has additionally been one of many highest-profile examples of the risks of her sport.

In 2023 she was concerned in a critical race fall, coming off her mount Flyball at Flemington. Kah suffered bleeding to the mind, and was in an induced coma for 5 days.

She nonetheless can not bear in mind the incident.

The Melbourne Cup has capped an enormous 12 months in her life, with Kah marrying Ben Melham, profitable two racing majors — and coping with the loss of life of her grandfather per week out from her greatest race win.

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Now she has received two legs of the “Two Cups and a Plate” within the area of three weeks with victories on Half Yours within the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups.

Her star is rising sooner than ever, and abroad alternatives will certainly stream.

Days like these are moments to replicate on these successes — and on the arduous occasions that needed to be overcome to get right here.

Payne is a coach and media determine, whereas Melham nonetheless has loads of time to go in her using profession.

However the image of the 2 girls collectively at Flemington tells lots — and it’ll little doubt encourage many extra feminine jockeys to interrupt via in coming years.