Ballarat welcomes home Melbourne Cup heroes Michelle Payne and Darren Weir
THE people of Ballarat had no doubt about who this year’s Melbourne Cup belonged to, as they celebrated their returning hero Michelle Payne.
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THE people of Ballarat had no doubt about who this year’s Melbourne Cup belonged to.
Hundreds of people gathered outside the Ballarat Town Hall to welcome home Ballarat-born Cup-winning jockey Michelle Payne, local trainer Darren Weir, Michelle’s brother and strapper Stevie Payne, and winning bay gelding Prince of Penzance, who trained at Miners Rest.
Payne became the first woman in the race’s 155-year history to win the race on the 100-1 outsider.
After fans watched a re-run of the Cup on a giant screen, a nervous Payne took to the stage to rapturous applause.
Wisely choosing to wear a white jacket over her green dress under the grey Ballarat skies, Payne spoke of her pride at winning the world’s richest handicap race.
“I’d like to say a huge thanks to everybody for coming today, I didn’t expect it actually, it’s incredible,” Payne said.
“When I was told this was being organised, I’ve been so excited ever since.
“I can’t be thankful enough after what’s happened to me over the past week.
“I’m a proud Ballarat girl and to come up here and see all you guys is unbelievable. I’m so proud to be here and to have won a Melbourne Cup.”
Trainer Weir said he had set Payne a target of a top-10 finish before the race.
“It’s hard enough to get in the Melbourne Cup, let alone win the Melbourne Cup,” Weir said.
“I wasn’t interested in making up the numbers, so I thought the horse needed to be a genuine top-10 chance to push on with the dream.
“It costs you about $45,000 to run in the race, so you need to be thinking top 10 because the prize money from fifth to 10th is $100,000 each position and then it gets higher up to first. We were realistically thinking it would be good to run between fifth and 10th and any higher was a bonus.”
Weir said the team issued Payne with a plan to follow Max Dynamite and Criterion prior to the race.
“I said to Michelle just follow them for as far as you can and they will cart you to the top of the straight,” Weir said.
“So she listened to me for about 2400m of the race and then I’m glad she took it into her own hands.
“There were some of the world’s best riders out there and she outrode them.”
Students from Lady Help of Christians Parish School in Wendouree and Ballarat’s Loreto College were among the large crowd to greet former student Payne.
Lady Help of Christians Parish School librarian Helen Woods, who taught Payne 25 years ago, was among the crowd of wellwishers.
“She actually told me she was going to win the Melbourne Cup aged five and I said ‘well don’t forget to mention your teacher in your speech’ but she forgot me,” she said.
Loreto College student Lauren McKenzie described Payne as an inspiration.
“Now we all know that dreams can come true.”
Originally published as Ballarat welcomes home Melbourne Cup heroes Michelle Payne and Darren Weir
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