The mother of group 1-winning jockey Ben Melham can no longer go to the races to watch him ride after being placed on Racing Victoria’s disqualified persons list.
Mandy Melham has been warned off indefinitely by Racing Victoria stewards as part of an ongoing investigation into the purchase of a horse at a horse sale.
The Ballarat-based Melham was placed on the list on May 22 this year after refusing to hand over documentation to stewards.
Racing Victoria would not release further details of the investigation, saying it did not comment on individual cases.
But under the rules of racing she is prohibited from attending all Victorian racecourses, including Caulfield and Flemington during the coming spring carnival, when her son will be competing in million-dollar races.
She is also banned from betting on horses, or racing horses in her own name.
This masthead made several attempts to contact Melham about her name being on the list, but was unable to get in touch directly.
Melham’s son Ben, 38, has ridden 23 group 1 winners, including the $2 million Blue Diamond in February for trainer Clinton McDonald, and is married to star jockey Jamie Melham, who became the first woman to ride the Caulfield-Melbourne Cup double last year.
There is no suggestion that Melham’s ban has any connection to her son or daughter-in-law.
It is possible for Melham’s blacklisting to be lifted if she complies with stewards’ directions.
A person who is disqualified or warned off by Racing Victoria can appeal to the Victorian Racing Tribunal.
Melham’s son is considered among the country’s most talented jockeys, having won a Golden Slipper and ridden placegetters in the Melbourne Cup and Cox Plate, but has had a rocky path with officialdom.
He was banned for five months on betting-related charges in December 2020 and then for another six months in 2021 for his part in the infamous Mornington Airbnb party.
Other names added to Racing Victoria’s disqualified persons list in May included Ponzi scheme fraudster Bill Vlahos, who was released on parole in December after serving four years in jail, and violent criminal Mark Dosen.
Footage was sent to this masthead last year showing Nick Williams leaning on a rail in front of Flemington’s mounting yard and chatting with Dosen, a former Macedon Lodge employee, in 2023.
Speaking through his lawyer, Nick Williams said in November last year that Dosen allegedly threatened him and his family during the conversation before the covert recording commenced.
The 4½-minute meeting took place in full view of the public. It begins and ends with the men shaking hands.
Racing Victoria did not respond when asked why it had taken until May this year to ban Dosen – eight years after he was jailed and six months after this masthead’s story.
Vlahos, 60, was jailed for nine years in December 2021 for defrauding friends, family and others of $17.5 million over six years in a betting scam called The Edge.
Vlahos famously bid a record $5 million for Black Caviar’s half-brother at Sydney’s William Inglis Yearling Sale in Sydney in April 2013.
The colt, known as “Jimmy”, was bitten by a spider and died from laminitis before it had the chance to race.
Racing Victoria did not respond when asked why it had taken until May this year to ban Vlahos.
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