Michelle Payne says she defied orders to win the Melbourne Cup in 2015 on Prince of Penzance

Melbourne Cup winning jockey Michelle Payne opens up on how she almost left the sport after another nasty fall, several years before her historic Flemington victory.

TRUSTING her judgment above all else continues to be the secret to success for star jockey and emerging trainer Michelle Payne.

After becoming the first female Melbourne Cup winner in 2015 – and just the sixth to ride in the race’s 161-year history – overseeing a stable of horses has helped further sharpen the skill which ultimately guided her to victory at Flemington.

“I’ve learned a lot over the last four years, training,” Payne told the NT News Club on Friday night at Darwin Casino.

“To back your judgment, trust your instinct, try not to let anyone interfere with that, stick to what you know.

“The majority of the time, if you really believe something it’s usually the right decision, so you have to trust it.”

Following her gut amid the chaos of race day paid ultimate dividends more than six years ago when Payne won on the back of Prince of Penzance.

The 36-year-old estimated she would “easily” ridden around 30,000 horses over her career, but the gelding proved her initial feeling true he was a rare breed.

“I’ve probably come across five that have given me that X Factor … they were something special,” she said

She realised after a Colac ride when Prince was just three: “This horse is going to win me the Melbourne Cup one day.”

How right she was, even if the race started poorly for the pair.

Having drawn barrier one, which Payne thought gave her the best chance of winning, Prince “basically walked out” of the barrier.

“I thought: ‘Oh god, I wish we could start this again’,” she said.

However, a strong believer in fate, Payne said the rest “unfolded like it was meant to be”.

That included defying orders from trainer Darren Weir to follow main rivals Max Dynamite and Criterion until they hit the straight.

“For some reason, around the 1200m mark a gap appeared where I could get on the back of the second favourite Trip To Paris,” Payne said.

“I threw out his instructions and basically got on the (back of) Trip To Paris. He gave me a beautiful lead into the straight.

Michelle Payne says she is slowly making the switch from jockey to full time trainer. Picture: Glenn Campbell

“It was at that point where all the years of learning, to back your judgment and to not listen to what you’ve been told and ride the race in the moment, kicked in.

“When the time came to come off the fence, I just trusted my instinct.

“It was fate and I think it was meant to be my day.”

She said making the correct decision, sometimes within a split second, was often the marginal difference between victory and defeat.

“That’s one thing some jockeys will never get, they don’t handle the big occasions,” she said.

“(It) defines a good jockey over a bad jockey.”

Riding, however, is becoming less of a focus these days.

With a 40 acre farm near the Ballarat racecourse, Payne has begun to “wean” herself off after more than two decades in the saddle.

While she won’t miss the sleep deprivation, the constant, nagging feeling of being famished or thirsty, or the battle with pre-race nerves, it will be difficult to walk away from the pure rush of winning.

“It was too hard to do everything … I still ride when I can,” she said.

“It’s hard to break away (from riding), the adrenaline of winning a race … is like nothing else.”

So much so, she was lost for words after winning the 2015 cup: “I couldn’t think of another explaining word (other) than unbelievable”.

It was also an obvious massive win for racing’s sisterhood, too.

After years of hearing women simply weren’t good enough to compete at the esteemed November meet, Payne told the doubters and the dissenters to “get stuffed” during that famous post-race interview.

“It was the right time to speak up and say something,” she said.

Payne admits life became “crazy” for several years after the win — especially in the month after where she couldn’t leave her house and was so overwhelmed with well wishers on Facebook, she enlisted a team of friends to respond to hundreds of messages.

“It was really hard to sit back and take it all in. I wished it every day as a child growing up,” she said..

Payne at Flemington in 2019. Picture: Michael Dodge.

However, Payne admits it almost never happened.

The historic victory came just a few years after she considered retirement following a nasty fall which left her with fractured vertebrae but fortunate to still be walking.

“It was the first time I thought: ‘Maybe I’m not listening to someone’,” she said.

“Am I taking too many risks?

“That was the very first time I thought: ‘Sh*t, should I reconsider?’”

After consulting with her father, famous jockey turned trainer Paddy, it took less than a minute lying on her bed that she realised: “I’m not finished yet”.

Payne admits starting from zero again after serious injury never got any easier over the years.

“Every time I stopped you had to start to build the momentum again,” she said.

“It dints your confidence.

“As brave as you can be, it’s human nature to protect yourself.

“That’s probably been one of the hardest things, because you’re trying to build people’s trust.”

Payne was a special guest at the NT News Club on Friday night at Darwin Casino. Picture: Glenn Campbell.

While she has no memory of her mother Mary – who died in a car crash when Payne was just six months old – her father’s loss more than 30 years ago has often put her personal problems into sharp perspective.

Paddy would speak of her in such glowing terms, Michelle would have “the feeling like she was always around”.

Then there was a second family tragedy when she lost her sister Brigid in her 30s in 2007, suffering a fatal heart attack following a track fall.

“It hasn’t been easy, but that’s everyone’s life, you have to soldier on,” she said.

Originally published as Michelle Payne says she defied orders to win the Melbourne Cup in 2015 on Prince of Penzance