“I couldn’t work out why until I saw a photo of me on my husband’s phone [of] how I looked in the hospital. I could understand why Mum wanted me to give up after that,” Melham said.
But she began her comeback in August that same year.
Gradually she got her mojo back in the saddle and returned to the form she was in before the incident. She is glad that time in her life is not vivid in her mind.
“I can’t remember anything from that month when I had my fall. I was hoping I would make it back and get back to the races and be 100 per cent. It took me a while,” Melham said. “I’m glad I don’t really remember anything from that time because it’s a very tough time in my life. I can barely remember it and I have put that well and truly behind me. Days like this [mean it was] worthwhile pushing yourself and coming back.”
She knows the dangers of the sport all too well and was reminded of the reality as fellow jockey Blake Shinn suffered a fall in race nine on Tuesday. He was taken to hospital with a fractured leg.
The stewards reported post-race that “an inquiry into the circumstances into the reasons for Shinn being dislodged [from She’s Got Pizzazz] near the 200m was adjourned to a time and date to be fixed after initial evidence was taken from Melham who rode Fancify”.
She could spend time on the sidelines for her involvement, but she didn’t want to discuss the fall on Wednesday. Clearly, however, it was a relief to everyone that horse and jockey would recover.
On Tuesday as the field thundered around the turn in the Cup, Half Yours was perfectly placed, having been ridden exactly as planned by Melham, one off the fence with cover, and hidden in the middle of the field.
She waited and waited from her position before the horse pushed through two narrow gaps to find running room and kick clear.
“Racing is a confidence game so you have to be confident out there. When you are on a horse you trust 100 per cent, you are confident to take those gaps,” Melham said. “I am paying credit to the horse but I had to point it in the right direction. I wouldn’t do that on just any horse. I would only do that and take those sorts of runs on a horse such as Half Yours.”
Melham’s resilience has made her a champion jockey. Her husband and fellow jockey Ben told her on Wednesday he was “epic proud” of her effort to return to the top of her game.
Melham suspected a few angels, including her grandfather Albert who died after the Caulfield Cup (Melham calls him Grandpa Bertie), were helping her out after she took Half Yours around the track.
“Nine times out of 10 you run into some bad luck but we had no bad luck yesterday. I think a few people in the heavens up there were opening gaps for me,” Melham said.
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Melham’s life has changed forever more than once in her career, but this time the feeling is euphoric. She also understands what it means for women and girls to see her ride the winner of Australia’s most famous race.
“I just love when you get a younger generation of kids, when they come up to you or they hang across the fences at the races and say ‘we just want to be like you when we grow up Jamie’. That’s the best feeling about being a role model and encouraging the younger generation,” she said.
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