Ten lessons of spring racing: Jamie Melham ruled, but they edited out the bad bits

23 hours ago 6

A successful Caulfield Cup week also took place under the stewardship of a female leader – new Melbourne Racing CEO Tanya Fullarton, who also had to deal with the fallout of chairman John Kanga’s resignation.

2. Melham’s suspension could have been avoided

Some of the shine was taken off Melham’s mountain-climbing spring after she was suspended from riding for a month. Her careless riding offence happened two races after the Cup.

But the incident could have been avoided. Instead of allowing her horse to shift out, causing fellow hoop Blake Shinn to fall and break his leg, she should have been allowed to sit in the stands.

Blake Shinn falls during the Hong Kong Jockey Stakes on Melbourne Cup Day.

It is time for racing to introduce a Cup Day sub. That way, the jockey who wins our great race can take time out to soak up their incredible achievements.

By contrast, Melham was thrust into a no-win situation.

Because of her status and the historic nature of her Melbourne Cup victory, the superstar hoop was in huge demand from media outlets immediately after the race. She was elated and emotionally drained.

Melham soaks up the enormity of her achievement.

She then had to gather her composure, change into her new silks and ride in the next two races.

Blake Shinn shared an image from hospital on social media after breaking his leg on Cup day.

But even she has limits. Two races after the Cup, Melham had a lapse in concentration. As a result, she was suspended for 30 meetings for careless riding.

It was an uncharacteristic mistake, and one that could have been prevented had she been given the option of calling in a Cup Day sub to fulfil her book of rides.

3. If you censor footage, you censor the truth

Blake Shinn’s unfortunate fall in the Hong Kong Jockey Club Stakes was all but erased from history.

Soon after the incident, Racing Victoria’s media arm, Racing.com, deleted the footage from the replay.

But such censorship is not uncommon. The industry has a long-standing policy to remove “distressing” incidents from its archives.

Unfortunately, the practice also removes transparency. Which is not to suggest stewards erred in their call on Melham. They didn’t. Existing Nine footage from Cup week shows that her actions were careless.

But the Nine footage also allows the penalty-making process to be held to account. Something that should always be the case.

4. Racing needs to be loved – too much

The industry’s mass fawning over the Racing Blogger during Cup week was understandable – because the guy was genuinely appealing – but also a little nauseating.

Haven’t heard of the Racing Blogger? Then you’ve been sucked into a social media black hole.

In real life he is known as Stephen R Power, a content producer from the UK who posts his work all over X – the site formerly known as Twitter.

He was sponsored by Racing Victoria to spend two weeks in Melbourne this spring and did a fine job of encapsulating all that is good about our sport, beaming out his content to his 223,800 followers.

But he also exposed our unhealthy desperation for the outside world’s approval. Or anyone’s approval.

Because if the Racing Blogger is the future of all media coverage, as some have trumpeted during the carnival, then we are in a lot of trouble.

Why? Because not all news is good news. Nor should it be if the sport wants to maintain integrity.

Consider what the industry-sponsored Racing Blogger didn’t talk about during his whirlwind tour of Melbourne – censorship of Shinn’s race day fall, the bewildering whip rule that reared its ugly head on Champions Day and the TAB’s ridiculous quadrella sub rule that also reared its head on Champions Day (more on that later).

If you ignore the negative, you ignore credibility.

5. The AFL does not need to be loved

The racing crowd had barely shuffled out of Flemington on Champions Day when footy dropped news of its controversial wildcard round.

Fan reaction was swift and harsh.

The footy public, ex-players and media commentators were quick to accuse the AFL of introducing a new finals system that was a blatant cash grab and rewarded mediocrity.

But, sadly for racing, the blowback meant the AFL had also snatched back the news cycle.

While racing was fawning over the blogger, everyone was talking about footy again.

6. There is life after Kanga

A number of things happened at Caulfield Racecourse after Kanga’s shock MRC resignation in early October, on the eve of the club’s Caulfield Cup carnival.

John Kanga resigned as Melbourne Racing Club chairman on the eve of the Caulfield Cup carnival.

There had been upheaval around the club for months, including the departure of key figures at the top.

But come Caulfield Cup week, crowds flocked to the track.

Beers were poured, hot chips served and bets placed.

Horses paraded in the new (old) mounting yard in front of the members’ grandstand.

A Chris Waller-trained colt won the Caulfield Guineas. Again. The Caulfield Cup was run and won. Actually, it will go down as one of the most talked about in history because of Melham.

Caulfield’s spring was a success, despite any turmoil in the lead-up. Racing once again proved that the sport, and clubs, are bigger than any individual.

7. There is life after James Cummings

For the first spring carnival in a gazillion years, there were no Cummings horses running in Melbourne.

As sad as it was, the carnival rolled on regardless.

James Cummings is moving to Hong Kong to further his training career.

While James Cummings was preparing for his new life in Hong Kong, his former employer, Godolphin, was getting on with business, celebrating several big winners with their new public-trainer model.

The Blue Army dominated Derby Day, winning the group 1 Victoria Derby with the Ciaron Maher-trained Observer and the group 1 Coolmore Stud Stakes with the Anthony and Sam Freedman-trained Tentyris.

They had another winner on Melbourne Cup Day in the Waller-trained Burma Star, while Pericles, trained by Bjorn Baker, finished a narrow second in the Champions Mile.

On top of that, the Freedman-trained Tom Kitten finished third in the Champions Stakes.

Godolphin also benefited from the dominance of jockey Mark Zahra who rode eight winners across Cup week, including two for the Blue Army in Observer and Tentyris.

8. Whip rule needs more clarity

It is against the rules of Australian racing for a jockey to use the whip on a horse more than five times before the final 100m of a race.

But the penalties for enforcing this rule continue to cause confusion.

Chad Schofield on Ceolwulf (right) fights out the finish with Ben Melham on Pericles in the Champions Mile.

Chad Schofield was fined $35,000 and suspended for 11 race meetings for using his whip nine times – four more than permitted – when winning the $3 million group 1 champions mile on Ceolwulf.

But Ceolwulf was allowed to keep the race, despite beating Pericles by a nose.

Here in lies the problem – it is highly unlikely that Ceolwulf would have won the Champions Mile if Schofield did not show a blatant disregard for the whip rule. By rights, he should have lost the race, a decision that would have cost connections $1.26 million in prizemoney.

But leaving such a judgment up to stewards on a race day is unfair. It is time for Racing Australia to remove all conjecture and make it a hard and fast rule: three more strikes than allowed, and you’re out.

9. Time to scrap the quaddie sub

For too many years the TAB’s quaddie sub rule has let punters down.

It happened again on Champions Day at Flemington when Tentyris was scratched at the barriers.

Instead of quaddie punters getting their money back, the TAB automatically replaced Tentyris on betting tickets with race favourite Joliestar. This has been a longstanding, and unpopular, practice.

Joliestar finished third and punters did their dough.

To encapsulate the widespread disappointment, we refer to a social media post from sports commentator Dr Turf, who has never been one to pull his punches.

“There was over $3.2m in the Quaddy pool yesterday. It’s not unreasonable to suggest that nearly $1m of that went through Tentyris in the first leg. Despite the fact that you selected Tentyris, the TAB said you were on Joliestar. That money was stolen from you,” he wrote.

Hugh Bowman is trapped on the rail on Aeliana, back right, in the 2025 Cox Plate.

10. Gerard Whateley was wrong

Are we allowed to say that in Melbourne?

Of course we are. He might be the country’s preeminent sport broadcaster, but he is also human like the rest of us.

Whateley opened the sentimental floodgates in the days after this year’s Cox Plate, declaring he was heartbroken by Moonee Valley Racing club’s decision to rip up its famous velodrome-like track.

The crestfallen, and slightly peeved, commentator called the planned redevelopment madness and sporting vandalism, and a decision that “sacrificed racing at the altar of commerce”.

But that’s just one man’s opinion.

Another man had an equally valid opinion. That was Hugh Bowman.

When asked about the prospect of losing the track on which he won four consecutive Cox Plate’s on champion Winx, Bowman did not dwell on the past.

“The only thing I would say is, ‘I hope it proves to be a fair racetrack, and every horse gets their chance’,” Bowman said.

“I mean, it’s not maybe such a great track for your average horses who need everything go their way to win.

“Because you take your chance and ride for a bit of luck, and if you don’t get it, well, you’re out of commission.

“So that’s probably something that may change with the new track. Who knows? But only time will tell.”

Time indeed. If the new, longer straight means every horse gets a better chance to win at Moonee Valley, a venue slagged off as “Death Valley” by angry punters in the past, then that has to be better for the sport.

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