The apprentice jockey has just launched her professional riding career and horses have always been a prominent feature in her life.

On both sides of her family there is no escaping the immense love and passion for equestrian pursuits.

Her father Geordie was a champion jumps jockey in Australia and New Zealand and her pa is Warrnambool racing legend Leo Dwyer, a trainer and clerk of the course.

After Michelle Payne’s thrilling 2015 Melbourne Cup win, there is no better time for women to join the male-dominated racing industry.

Julius had her first ride at Penshurst Cup on Boxing Day and on Friday she rode at Terang’s New Year’s Day race meet, gaining a second place aboard the Deanne Taylor-trained Real Finniss.

A large crowd of family and friends gathered at the track to support Melissa and no one was more nervous than her mother Kate.

Julius spent her early years in Kirkstall, where weekends and school holidays were spent with her brothers Ben and Josh, riding around the roads, practising bareback on the lunge rein and jumping cavalettis in the small paddock before progressing to the big paddock, which featured cross country jumps.

“I rode before I could walk,” she said.

“I was born to be around horses. I just never knew which avenue I was going to take. Because we have always had horses, naturally I was going to ride. We were always outside and doing something.”

Her first horse was a quiet black Shetland named Rocky, closely followed by a much-loved palomino pony called Mr Squiggle.

“I was three when I first joined pony club,” Julius said. “Mum was the district commissioner at Heywood Pony Club and my brothers were members as well. It’s by far the best grounding and learning you can do. You do every discipline, you play mounted games, do flatwork, dressage, show jumping and eventing as well as horsemanship.”

By the age of 10 she had qualified to compete at the Royal Melbourne Show on a grey pony named Smokey. It wasn’t long after she made the switch to showjumping.

“Eventually the thrill of jumping took over,” Julius said.

“I had a show pony named Jazz that had never jumped before and he turned out to be great eventer. Tickle was the first pony that was a real showjumper and I had a lot of success on her. I had a good team of horses going through the grades.”

Julius represented Victoria twice in New Zealand and three times in Australia for showjumping. She was also selected for the Equestrian Australia young rider squad seven years running.

After completing year 12 she went to university for a semester before deciding to work part-time to fund her showjumping team.

She began working with Woolsthorpe trainer Shayne Fisher before joining Wilde Racing in Warrnambool.

“My brother Ben had been at Wildes and I asked them for a job in March 2012,” she said.

“I started just riding around the paddock and it built up from there. The racing bug bit pretty hard. I’d always said, ‘the one thing I’d regret in life is not having a go at becoming a jockey’.” 

After 12 months she realised she was going to stay light enough to pursue her dream and asked her boss Symon Wilde about the pathway to a new career.

“As they say, the rest is history,” she said.

“I was a blank canvas. Symon taught me all about the racing side of things. I had a lot to learn when I started, that’s for sure.”

Julius applied for the 2014 intake of Racing Victoria’s Apprenticeship Training Program.

“It’s very extensive, they don’t usually take more than 10 apprentices a year,” she said.

“Originally I didn’t get into the 2014 program. I was pretty devastated about it. They told me not to stop trying. I went away and kept working and figured I would apply the next year.”

It’s hard to believe Julius was knocked back with all of her prior equine experience, but her luck changed in May last year. 

“The week after the May Racing Carnival I found out a spot had opened up for me in the 2014 intake. I nearly cried, I was so happy,” she said.

Julius has now finished the second year of the apprenticeship and said it had been a great start to getting her “racing brain on”.

“Being in the program you understand how dangerous racing can be,” she said.

“The things we have access to at apprentice school are amazing. We have jockey coaches and psychologists, we do a lot of race analysis and learn how to talk to the media. You have to be 110 per cent ready to ride.”

The process to being ready to ride in a race is a lengthy one.

Julius rode in more than 100 jump outs at south-west racecourses before moving to official trials.

“They are a bit more open to the public,” she said.

“There are more stewards and more footage. Being from Warrnambool, it was hard to get to the trials. The closest ones are at Cranbourne. I went up on loan from October to the start of December with Richie Laming at Cranbourne to get my trials done.”

Julius and Wilde agreed the summer period across the south-west was the perfect chance for an apprentice to start riding, with smaller race meets offering more opportunities.

“It was really good to be able to set a goal to ride on Boxing Day,” she said.

“I had targeted it all along. I came home two weeks before and my jockey coach said I was good to kick off at Penshurst. Then I spent a day at the races in the stewards’ room before I got the go-ahead.”

The week before her first ride, she kept everything as normal as possible – including working on Christmas Day at the stables.

“I was ridiculously excited,” she said.

“I wasn’t nervous at all and I think that showed I was ready.”

Arriving at Penshurst early on Boxing Day, Julius said everything went smoothly in the lead-up to her ride.

“I couldn’t believe how many friends and family were there,” she said.

“Once I got on the horse and cantered around to the barriers my training kicked into gear. I was naturally a little bit nervous, but it was a perfect first ride. It was the mare’s first run in a long time and the trainer was great. It was all about momentum as it was a 1000-metre race. I had no pressure or higher expectations. She ran well, and even though she finished towards the end of the field I was so happy.”

The next day at the Woodford Cup meet she fulfilled a dream and rode her pa Leo and nan Maureen’s horse, Buffer Hill.

“My next goal is to ride at the May Racing Carnival,” Julius said.