As Jamie Melham returned to the mounting yard, she sought out Michelle Payne, who had created history a decade ago when riding Prince of Penzance to victory.
Her blue and black silks were caked in mud. She had two glittering earrings in her ears, both sparkling like her eyes. And her face was glistening with tears as she described her joy.
The superstar then found Tony McEvoy, who had been a strong supporter of the South Australian-raised jockey, weaving her way through a crammed mounting yard just as she had found a passage through the Melbourne Cup field.
Watch live coverage of the 2025 Spring Racing Carnival events with Racing.com available on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.
Her next target was her mum Karen, before she tracked down her dad John standing nearby for an emotional embrace.
Both were former speed skaters for Australia, but surely they have never moved faster than what Half Yours did as she surged to the front.
As she reflected on becoming the first woman to complete the Caulfield-Melbourne Cup double, Melham shed a tear while speaking to reporters in the mounting yard.
“It’s been long enough (since Michelle won it). I had to do it sooner or later, hopefully,” she said.
“Oh God. You don’t even dream of this day. You think about it but you don’t think you are actually going to win the Melbourne Cup.
“But all week I’ve been thinking about it, getting excited, but no feeling can describe what I felt just then, what I am still feeling. I’m absolutely speechless.
“Mum and dad just brought out the tears in me. I had just stopped crying. But this is why we wake up at stupid o’clock every morning.
“We work our arses off to come to these big days and to win in front of the world, it is indescribable.
“It looks like this amazing, glamorous industry on the outside, and they have got their good parts, but God there are some really tough parts. This is why we push through and do it, for days like this.”
Discussion about this post