A legion of fans of champion lady jockey JAMIE MELHAM are asking ‘have the wheels fallen off’ her riding career this season?
Their reason: Only two wins from her last 50 rides and 23 losers since she saluted on Satono Glow in the Group 3 Cap D’Antibes at Flemington on September 12.
Jamie and husband Ben had a two-month overseas break during the Winter but since their return the latter has been the one attracting the headlines.
Ben showed that given the opportunities he, too, can match it with the best in the land with a Group 1 double on the Chris Waller-trained duo Angel Capital (Ruper Clarke) and Birdman (Underwood) at Culfield on September 19.
This season Ben has ridden 10 winners from 51 rides for a Return on Investment of 27 per cent. In contrast Jamie has saluted seven times from 58 rides but her ROI is a minus 10 percent.
The best Jamie could do at Mornington and Caulfield over the weekend was two seconds (Tres Magnifique and Pretty Baby) from nine rides.
All top jockeys have form slumps – if you can call it that in the case of the best lady jockey in the world – but it is certainly out-of-character for Jamie who is chasing back-to-back Melbourne Cup wins on Half Yours (the topliner some might say is in a similar form slump).
LGHR warns: WATCH FOR A BIG RESURGENCE.
