Prince of Penzance, a 100-1 shot, revived the notion that a battler local horse can win Australia’s biggest race despite the overwhelming presence of well-credentialed overseas raiders.
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The Melbourne Cup has been run 155 times, but it took Michelle, a girl from rural Victoria, riding the Prince of Penzance to become the first ever female to win the country’s most prestigious race.
The 30-year-old jockey thanked the horse’s trainer Darren Weir and part owner Sandy McGregor for their commitment.
“I can’t say how grateful I am to them and I just want to say that everyone else can get stuffed because they think women aren’t strong enough, but we just beat the world”.
Celebrity Italian jockey Frankie Dettori, who rode Irish-trained Max Dynamite, was later charged with careless riding in the final straight and promptly suspended for a month with a fine of A$20,000.
“Imagine how big it will be when a female jockey wins the Aintree Grand National – enormous – and they were saying the same in Australia about the Cup before today”.
“It is unbelievable. It is like a dream come true and this horse is awesome”, Payne said immediately after the historic victory. Payne credits her older sisters for being trailblazers who helped ease her way into the male-dominated sport.
“Darren has been such a great supporter of me for the past five or six years”, she said.
“And I hope that it helps people with dreams, young kids and not just females, anyone, that if you’ve got a dream, never give up, always have faith in yourself”. She had ridden Prince of Penzance in 22 of his 23 race starts ahead of yesterday’s memorable ride at Flemington.
One of the best images in the lead-up to this year’s race was Michelle’s brother, Stevie, picking the No. 1 in the barrier draw on Saturday. At 18, she fractured her skull and suffered bruising on the brain when she fell headfirst in a Melbourne race.
“This horse is $50,000 and he won a $6 million race”.
“We travelled quite strong the whole way, he didn’t get to rest, but he was still in a rhythm and from the 100 everything opened up”.
One fortunate punter turned a $9 bet into a massive $125,000 after they somehow predicted the first four horses past the post in the Melbourne Cup.
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Payne’s victory and her blunt comments after it have thrown the spotlight on the field she works in.
