Michelle Payne looks to future after achieving lifelong dream of winning Melbourne Cup
ELATION and thoughts of retirement hit Michelle Payne as she crossed the finish line at the Melbourne Cup. Racing’s golden girl describes her record-breaking ride.
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- What you need to know about Payne
- Payne triumphs over all odds
- Cup champ to chauvinists: ‘Get stuffed’
THERE was a moment after winning the Melbourne Cup that I asked myself if it was time to finish riding.
Winning the Melbourne Cup has always been the dream, and I was probably going to find it hard to retire without it.
I definitely thought about saying, “That’s it, I’m done”.
But it just it doesn’t feel like the right thing to do. I will know when the time is right.
It’s not the first time I thought about the end of my riding career. I almost gave it away a couple of years ago after a fall at Ararat.
I came home and it was the eighth or ninth vertebrae I had fractured for the year and I said to my Dad, “I think someone is trying to tell me something here, I’m so unlucky”.
I was quite surprised at Dad’s reaction. I thought he would be happy, but he was like, “Don’t panic, you don’t have to make a decision now”.
I’m so grateful for him saying that. I had two months off with the injury but it didn’t take me long to decide, the next morning I was looking forward to getting out there.
I wanted to go out on my own terms.
I don’t like to dwell on the sexism aspect of being a female jockey. But it happens.
A couple of years ago one owner said it should be like the 1920s: women should not even be allowed on a racecourse.
I trialled his horse, it trialled beautifully, I was getting it ready and he went and said that, but not to my face, he wouldn’t even speak to me. It makes me laugh a bit that they say that, but it doesn’t really matter.
There are have also been some of the younger guys who have treated female riders as if they are inferior to them.
I’ve been in this industry riding for 15 years, and some of the boys are like, “You are a girl, get out of the way” kind of thing.
It does slightly get under my skin but I don’t take it too seriously, as it’s a maturity thing more than anything else and we’re all even competing out there once the gates open.
I’m just hoping that my success will give people more confidence to not shy away from putting us on.
I tend to work for trainers who are loyal and do give you a go. I don’t waste my time with the ones who aren’t.
I always feel my mother and sister are with me when I ride. My Dad is a religious man, he always says his prayers and you can’t help but take after your parents.
I always say a little prayer to myself in the barriers, and hope Mum is looking after me.
And before the Cup I felt a bit of Bart Cummings in there as well. So who knows, he might have been right with me as well.
Bart always gave me confidence that he believed in me. I had never really felt that before, apart from my brothers, that someone had the confidence that I could go out and do it. Darren Weir is pretty much the same.
He just says, “This is what we think will happen and if it does, that will be great, and if it doesn’t work it out it doesn’t work out”.
As a trainer, Darren just knows how to read his horses and he has all the bases covered. He is so loyal to jockeys, and it is repaid to him because we know his horses.
Once the Melbourne Cup starts it is hard to explain, it’s not like any other race. It sort of feels like an out of body experience — you’re in there, you’re doing it, horses are racing so close together.
But I knew at the 600m that I would be very hard to beat, and I hadn’t even asked Prince Of Penzance to go yet. He was just ambling.
Then at the 300m I thought, “I don’t think anything can beat me now”.
I couldn’t believe we were about to win the Cup. When we crossed the line I felt numb, I was like, “Oh my God ...”
In August next year, I want to get a dual trainer’s and jockey’s licence.
I’ve got a little farm at Ballarat, Nottingham Farm, which I set up a couple of years ago and I know where I want to put the stables. That’s where I want to train from.
It’s right next door to my Dad’s 40-acre paddock and next door to the uphill training track at Ballarat.
I’m pretty excited about that. I love preparing horses with trainers, doing all their gallops and getting them ready for races. It’s my favourite thing to do.
My brother Stevie has a share in my farm. He has a third and he’s farm manager. I might steal him as a strapper off Darren Weir.
After the Cup I caught up with all my family and they were saying, “It’s so unbelievable, we can’t believe it!”
It was so good to see them all, they were so happy and it was a really nice moment.
We had not planned to catch up.
We hadn’t spoken about winning the Cup, except with one sister Margaret who I told two years ago that the Prince would win this Cup.
She backed him but most thought I was crazy, ha ha! I’ve always been an optimist.
Bec’s out-of-this-world Caulfield Cup outfit
Melbourne’s most fashionable frocked up and flocked to the Caulfield Cup on Saturday, with bold colours and dramatic headwear trackside favourites. But it was one fashion-forward WAG whose holographic jumpsuit had the punters talking.
What’s open on Melbourne Cup day
THE RACE that stops the nation is here. If you’re confused on what’s open or what services are running, look no further because we have all you need to about the Melbourne Cup public holiday.