St Jean - New Winner

This year’s Melbourne Cup provided the ultimate fairytale result when Australian bred stayer Half Yours claimed a memorable victory for champion jockey Jamie Melham and popular trainers Tony and Calvin McEvoy, but there has been a tragic twist to this story.

Growing up, jockey Jamie Melham dreamed of riding in the time-honoured Group 1 VRC Melbourne Cup (3200m), and on the first Tuesday of November at Flemington she created her own piece of history when becoming the first female jockey to win the Group 1 Caulfield Cup-Melbourne Cup double aboard Tony and Calvin McEvoy’s Half Yours.

The Grant and Alana Williams bred and trained Storyville led all the way in a bold change of tactics from champion hoop Willie Pike, which paid off brilliantly when the classy daughter of Overshare was able to hold off all challengers and post the fourth stakes win of her career in the Listed Starstruck Classic.

It was a Kiwi bred first four in the G1 Hong Kong International Sprint (1200m) on Sunday with raging hot favourite Ka Ying Rising extending his unbeaten sequence to 16 wins as fans and punters expected.

With just 51kgs on his back in the upcoming $5m Group 1 MRC Caulfield Cup (2400m), and now exempt from the ballot, the dominant victory of Tony and Calvin McEvoy's Half Yours in Saturday’s Group 3 MRC Naturalism Stakes (2000m) suggests the 5yo son of St Jean will be very hard to beat.

The big ones at Sha Tin kicked off on International Day with the Group I HK International Vase (2400m) for the stayers and in a year when the French have been on fire all around the world it was French trained Sea the Stars stallion Sosie that took the prize.

What began as a bold new initiative in August 2024, the Inglis Xtra Bonus Series has rapidly grown into one of the most lucrative racehorse ownership incentive schemes in Australian racing history.

Highly fancied for some time leading into today’s $5m Group 1 MRC Caulfield Cup (2400m), the Tony and Calvin McEvoy trained Half Yours didn’t let his supporters down as jockey Jamie Melham created history in becoming the first female jockey to win the time-honoured race.

I am someone that lives their life in a horse obsessed bubble. I can tell you anything you want to know about racing and thoroughbreds, but as to what happens in the wider world, I’m happy to leave others to commentate on that, but not in this case.

Torryburn Stud have bred and sold some great horses, but none better than Deep Field gelding Voyage Bubble, who scored a tenacious victory in the Group I HK International Mile (1600m) at Sha Tin on Sunday for the second year in a row.