‘Wow, what a horse!’
Superb Melham and Half Yours add their names to the history books with devastating Melbourne Cup victory
In an incredible achievement from horse, jockey and trainers, the rise of Half Yours (St Jean) hit a meteoric peak on Tuesday when he became only the 13th horse in history to complete both the Caulfield Cup (Gr 1, 2400m) and Melbourne Cup (Gr 1, 3200m) double.
Providing trainers Tony and Calvin McEvoy and his rider Jamie Melham with a first win in the Cup, Half Yours’ continued upward trajectory has been one of the stories of the season to date and was capped off with success in Tuesday’s $10 million.
“Unbelievable. Wow, what a horse,” Calvin McEvoy said. “He’s continued to raise the bar; I’ve got no words. It’s been amazing, it’s been such a big team effort. What an amazing horse. Unbelievable.”
Calvin’s father Tony also cut an emotional figure post-race and said: “What a joy, what a joy. This is our great race. It’s so special to win it.
“Incredible moment. From the days we grow up, the Melbourne Cup was everything. It’s been a great race for the McEvoy family, Kerrin winning it three times. My brother Phllip owned a horse that ran second in it and now for me to be able to win, for us to be able to win it, it’s just amazing.”
Having been something of a slow burner during the first four years of his life, including not making his debut until his three-year-old year, finishing second in a maiden at Camperdown in January, 2024, Half Yours has made giant strides this preparation.
Scoring a maiden stakes victory at the first attempt when landing the Caloundra Cup (Listed, 2400m) back in July, the gelding returned as a five-year-old with a fifth-placed finish in a Benchmark 100 (1500m) at Rosehill on August 30.
Stepped back up to stakes grade, Half Yours was ridden by Jamie Melham for the first time in his career when the pair routed their rivals in the Naturalism Stakes (Gr 3, 2000m) at Caulfield on September 20.
A gallant fourth in the Turnbull Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m) – where he was beaten less than three lengths – would follow, setting the Tony and Calvin McEvoy-trainee up perfectly for last month’s Caulfield Cup.
Sent off the hot $2.50 favourite that day, Half Yours proved much the best with a cosy half-length success over River Of Stars (Sea The Stars), leaving Tuesday’s Melbourne Cup as the obvious next goal.
Tuesday’s $9 starting price for Half Yours was one much larger than for his victory at Caulfield and, may in part, have been due to the fact he was yet to run over a trip further than the 2400 metres of his last-start win.
However, distance would prove to be no barrier on Tuesday.
As long-time leader Land Legend (Galileo) – who had scooted clear of the field at one stage – weakened rapidly moving into the final 800 metres, Melham weaved her way through the field and moved up to challenge the new leader Goodie Two Shoes (Fastnet Rock).
Melham and Half Yours battled well against the Joseph O’Brien-trained runner-up inside the final 400 metres and, having hit the front with 200 metres left to race, careered away for a dominant 2.8 lengths success.
Having been bred and raced by the late Col McKenna, Half Yours was picked up for $305,000 during last year’s Inglis November (Late) Online Sale when part of the Halo Racing Unreserved Reduction Sale.
Inglis Digital business manager Nick Melmeth said of Half Yours’ victory: “I’m so pleased for all the owners of Half Yours, Tony and Calvin and Damon [Gabbedy], what an unbelievable result for them and an unbelievable result for Inglis Digital.
“We’re eternally grateful to Janice McKenna for offering the Halo Racing draft on Inglis Digital last year after Colin’s sad passing and I’m sure Col was looking down at Flemington today and riding the race with Jamie.
“It’s a proud day for Inglis Digital. Our platform continues to go from strength to strength and the success of graduates on the track in recent times has been nothing short of extraordinary and to now have claim to a Melbourne Cup winner is amazing.’’
However, Tony McEvoy admitted that he felt the price of $305,000 may have been too much at the time.
“I was trying to get them to stop because I thought it was enough money. They pushed hard to keep going and we had no owner for him,” McEvoy said.
“We spec-ed him and wow, what a good decision that was that day. The journey that he has had us on; to be able to do what we’ve wanted to do to get him to this race. He’s a very special horse.
“If Calvin wasn’t so expensive to keep, I might have kept a share myself. There is great people in him and these people are friends of ours. They are friends for life and we’ve won the great race – it’s amazing.”
Having been bred by McKenna and first trained by Ciaron Maher, Half Yours is out of Desert King (Danehill) mare La Gazelle, who was owned and raced by McKenna and his wife Janice.
“Colin McKenna and Janice bred the horse and the way they do things, they have a farm down at Warrnambool and they don’t push their horses,” Tony McEvoy said of Half Yours.
“He was in the big system at CMR and I knew Col wouldn’t put pressure on Ciaron [Maher] to push him as a young horse.
“We basically got a young four-year-old, I suppose, no miles on the clock, plenty of raw ability and something to work with.”
For Melham, she was making her own special slice of history by becoming just the second female jockey to win the Melbourne Cup, and the first to complete the Caulfield Cup and Melbourne Cup double.
“What just happened? Oh my god!” an ecstatic Melham said.
“This is what we do it for. This is why we get up out of bed every morning at 4am, work our arses for the last 15 years I’ve been in this industry. It’s tough. It’s not all glorious and perfect as everyone can see sometimes.
“I’ve had an amazing year. Got married, had some really great days on the track but nothing ever, ever compares to this feeling right now that I’m feeling.”
The rider, who recently married fellow jockey Ben Melham, joined Michelle Payne in winning the Melbourne Cup, with the latter having scored success aboard Prince Of Penzance (Pentire) a decade ago.
“It’s been long enough, ten years, I had to do it sooner or later, hopefully, you don’t dream of this day because you think about it, you don’t think you’re actually going to win the Melbourne Cup, all week I’ve been thinking about it, been excited but no feeling can describe what I felt just then, what I’m still feeling,” Melham added.
“I’m absolutely speechless. Mum and Dad have brought out the tears again, I’d just stopped crying…. this is why we do it, for days like this, to go down in history, winning the Melbourne Cup, what the hell just happened?”
Melham said she felt the race played out exactly how she wanted it to.
“Perfect. You play out the race in your head twenty, thirty times how you want the race to happen,” she said.
“I wanted to get to the rails as close as I could but we got in a nice enough spot and Ben told me, let that first wave go, that’s exactly what I did, I cut through, there was a gap this big next to him and I was going to yell at him but my horse was just going too good anyway, he pulled me through the next gap, pulled me through the next gap where there was barely any room, but when a horse is going that well they just take you where you need to go.”
Melham also had a special mention for Col McKenna and for her grandfather who sadly died last week.
“We’ve got Col up there, him and Janice bred this horse. They’ve done an incredible job with him, obviously” she added.
“I have to mention my grandpa. He died last week. The last thing he watched was the Caulfield Cup but he was such a big supporter of mine. He was up there opening those gaps for me, because I needed a few gaps opened. My mum and dad are here. They’ve put up with all my shit for the last 15 years.”
Melham was also quick to thank the McEvoys, with whom she has built up a great relationship throughout her career.
“They’re another incredible supporter of mine,” she added. “They’ve been there for me since I was a 15-year-old kid and continue to this day to be there for me and support me. They deserve this so much. I just won the Melbourne Cup!”
Meanwhile, the tributes continued as Tony McEvoy, who was associated with three Melbourne Cup winners when based at Lindsay Park with the Hayes family, said: “You don’t get anywhere without opportunity, and I was part of that great Hayes family for so many years, and three Melbourne Cups.
“But I never thought I would be standing here with one of my own. It’s incredibly special. It’s a hard game and you don’t win all the time in this game.
“To have Cal [Calvin McEvoy] with the passion to do what I want to do, it’s made my life a hell of a lot easier and more joyous and what this horse has done will take us to another level, and we’re certainly looking forward to it.
“Before Cal came on board, I think I was perceived as a speed, two-year-old filly’s trainer and Cal has been associated with that.
“What that has done has given us an unbalanced string. We haven’t been able to go out and buy the big European horses.
“I’m hoping this Caulfield Cup and this Melbourne Cup will change people’s mindset on that and we can get involved in some of these European stayers now.
“I love training stayers. I’ve trained a Grand National Steeple winner. We get a great joy out of training stayers. Speed is speed and you put them out there and away they go, but with stayers there is a bit more work, a bit more finesse and I think this is the horse to show that we can manage a stayer and we’d love more of them.”
Half Yours is the only stakes and sole Group 1 winner by his sire St Jean, an imported son of Darley’s Teofilo (Galileo), who began his career in Europe before heading to Australia and New Zealand where he landed the City Of Auckland Cup (Gr 3, 2400m).
St Jean’s fee was raised to $11,000 (inc GST) this season off the back of the success of Half Yours.
Beaten jockey’s comments:
Wayne Lordan (Goodie Two Shoes, second): “Ran a wonderful race, got a nice position from my draw and she’s run a cracker. Just one better today but ran great.”
Ethan Brown (Middle Earth, third): “He ran great. This is obviously his trip, he showed his true colours today, he’s going to be a much better horse next prep, that’ll toughen him up, but he couldn’t have run much better.”
Beau Mertens (River Of Stars, fourth): “She was fantastic. Slow tempo didn’t suit her but when Land Legend took off, it really made her relax and in a comfortable position. She travelled in really well, probably didn’t have the sprint like the others but she sustained a good gallop through the line. Very proud of her.”
Celine Gaudray (Torranzino, fifth): “Couldn’t be more happier with the run that we got. He was a bit on the bridle throughout, but he had a really tough finish.
Blake Shinn (Vauban, sixth): “He ran super. Big turnaround from the Caulfield Cup. Hit the line well but the winner and the other horse had a bit better turn-of-foot. Very proud of the horse.”
Mark Zahra (Al Riffa, seventh): “It was ok. I was four-wide and had to find a spot to get in and there was too much to do with that weight.”
Kerrin McEvoy (Absurde, eighth): “He ran well. The pace wasn’t that strong through the first part, had to give them a start. He picked up into it well, good honest run.”
Tim Clark (Changingoftheguard, ninth): “I thought he ran really well. Just when Land Legend went around, we were in a position where we had to cart the field up, which probably cost him running a few placings closer up.”
James McDonald (Meydaan, tenth): “He ran well. Got into a lovely spot, switched off well but probably just found the 3200 a fraction far.”
Michael Dee (Furthur, 11th): “He’s very inexperienced still, he was a touch slow out, travelled very, very strong. We were getting knocked about the first time past the post but travelled strong, held up a nice gallop all the way to the line but his first half he’s just raced a little bit ungenerously.”
Rachel King (Arapaho, 12th): “Really brave. He hasn’t had the best set up coming into today, but honest as ever.”
Thore Hammer-Hansen (Flatten The Curve, 13th): “I found myself a lot further back than ideal, but he still ran a good race considering. Just probably went too quick early doors.”
Ben Melham (Smokin’ Romans, 14th): “He ran well, the old bugger. He’s just had a prep where he’s probably been running on firm ground. He’s got a bit soft ground and he’s just a bit over it. Proud of him anyway.”
Robbie Dolan (Royal Supremacy, 15th): “The wide barrier wasn’t in his aid today, once I couldn’t get cover on him, he straight away he just over-raced into the first bend, I had to flow with him to get him to relax and it just told late.”
Harry Coffey (Onesmoothoperator, dead-heat for 16th): “He had a lovely run but when the pressure came at the six hundred, he failed to quicken, the wheels were spinning on the soft going.”
Jye McNeil (Valiant King, dead-heat for 16th): “They found their spots quickly inside me; I wasn’t able to give him every chance today; he had to do it too tough three-wide facing the breeze. Initially I had cover from Land Legend but when he went, I was stranded.”
Tommy Berry (More Felons, 18th): “It was a very muddling run race, and it made it sort of hard to move into it early enough from where we were and he battled on ok.”
Stephane Pasquier (Presage Nocturne, 19th): “A bit disappointed because he was favoured in the odds.”
John Velazquez (Parchment Party, 20th): Declined to comment.
Declan Bates (Athabascan, 21st): “Disappointing. We got deleted early and it sort of put us further back earlier than we wanted. He just hasn’t quite finished off as we would have liked.”
Joao Moreira (Land Legend, 22nd): “No manners, pushed too hard. He did a lot of things wrong in the race.”
Damian Lane (Chevalier Rose, 23rd): “Disappointing. Unfortunately, didn’t race to his best today.”
Craig Williams (Buckaroo, 24th): “It was a shame we didn’t get to see Buckaroo at his best. We know how good a horse he is, but in today’s race he was not far away from the eventual winner, but he was three-wide on the back and basically put himself out of the race when they went slow.”