Melbourne Cup: Half Yours wins Australia’s famous horse race

The favorite Presage Nocturne and the Irish-trained Riffa finished 19th and 7th.

The Riffa team, led by O’Brien, ranked seventh, while the Absordi team ranked eighth for fellow Irish coach Willie Mullins, while Meydan ranked tenth behind British father-and-son coaches Simon and Ed Crisford.

The River Of Stars team finished fourth, with British-trained runners Furthur and Onesmoothoperator coming in 11th and 16th respectively.

Melhem, who won the two-mile race by two lengths, said she knew she would come in first when she passed her husband Ben, a fellow jockey who was riding Smokin’ Roman. His horse finished fourteenth.

The 29-year-old, who returned to racing after a bad fall in 2023, said she had had an amazing year.

“I got married and had some really great days on the track, but nothing can compare to this feeling right now,” she said.

Melhem also paid tribute to her grandfather, who died last week.

“The last thing he saw was the Caulfield Cup, and he was a huge supporter of mine,” she said.

“So he was there to open up those gaps for me because I needed to open up some gaps at the time.”

Michelle Payne, who was the first woman to win the Cup in 2015 aboard Prince of Penzance, spoke to Melhem after the race saying “welcome to the club”.

The crowd of 80,000 at Flemington faced a cold, wet and windy day to witness what is often called “the race that stops a nation”.

The Melbourne Cup, worth A$10 million (£5 million), is the world’s richest handicap race – a type of race in which each horse is assigned a weight, according to its ability and past performance, as a way to level the playing field.

Racing remains a controversial event, and in recent years has attracted demonstrations about animal welfare.

Between 2013 and 2020, six horses died either during or after running in the Melbourne Cup – four of them as a result of injuries sustained during the race.