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Caulfield Cup winner Jamie Melham has already made history, even if she cannot ride Half Yours to victory in the Melbourne Cup.
Half Yours enters the 2025 Melbourne Cup as one of the leading favourites, trained by Tony and Calvin McEvoy.
The five-year-old has drawn barrier eight, a gate yet to produce a Cup winner since barrier stalls were introduced in 1958, but positioning the gelding perfectly for a tilt at the 2025 title.
If Melham claims the Caulfield Cup and Melbourne Cup double, she will become the first woman to do so - on the 10th anniversary of Michelle Payne becoming the first woman to win the race that stops a nation.
But she will have a very familiar adversary in the barriers with her at Flemington today - her husband Ben.
He will be riding Ciaron Maher-trained Smokin' Romans, making them the first married couple to compete against each other in the Melbourne Cup.
Caulfield Cup winner Jamie Melham will be competing against her husband Ben in the Melbourne Cup
Melham will be aiming to become the first woman to win the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups in the same year
Jamie will be riding Half Yours, which she said is appropriate because if she wins, half the money goes to her husband anyway
Half Yours is an appropriate name for Jamie's steed, because if either of the couple win the big race, they have agreed to split the prize money.
'Ben loves the name,' Melham said.
'Now we're married, half [prize money] goes to him and half goes to me.'
Amazingly, there is no rivalry in the Melham household in the lead-up to the big race. Jamie has even been helping Ben make weight.
'I've got to lock Ben in the house and make sure he doesn't eat anything,' she said.
'Fifty-four kilograms he gets [at a stretch] so 53.5kg is tough … I still want to beat him though.'
Jamie proved she is not there to make up the numbers by winning the Caulfield Cup, the first woman to do so.
Her resume speaks for itself. She has recorded 1,345 career wins, including 18 at Group 1 level.
The Melhams are the power couple of Australian racing and the first married couple to compete against each other in the Melbourne Cup
The champion jockey has claimed multiple state and metropolitan titles, first in her home state of South Australia before making her mark in Victoria.
In the 2020–21 season, she became the first Melbourne jockey to ride more than 100 city winners in a single campaign, finishing with 105 victories and earning the prestigious Scobie Breasley Medal.
And then that famous Caulfield Cup victory. Now, she can beat her husband and history-maker Michelle Payne in the same race.
'You don't think about it (gender) until you see the headlines, 'first female to win the Caulfield Cup,' she said.
'There's a lot of people in the world, so, it's pretty special when you're the first and only one that's won that race.
'Ten years on (from Payne) has got a nice ring to it, to get the Melbourne Cup again (by a female jockey but) Michelle hasn't won a Caulfield Cup and Melbourne Cup!'
Half Yours has earned warm favouritism for the Cup, but Jamie is not feeling the pressure.
'It's mainly belief, now I want to win the Melbourne Cup as well,' she said.
'It's just a bit more relaxing going into that race, I don't really let the nerves get to me usually, but I felt it before the Caulfield Cup. It's relief, it's over and done with now.
'I've got that major win. Now, I've got to try harder to win the Melbourne Cup.
'It's still pressure. It's just nice to tick that box to get the Caulfield Cup. I'll still be feeling sick [Melbourne Cup] but it's a bit easier to stomach.'
And she said wet conditions would definitely favour her steed if the heavens open at Flemington.
'I don't like the rain that much, but he loves it,' Jamie said.
'Barrier eight makes my job just a little bit easier. I would just love to get as close as I can to the rail and put him to sleep early.
'He won't have any trouble running this trip out if I can just give him a really nice, quiet run early and just save him.'
