"To everyone else (they) can get stuffed because they think women aren't strong enough but we just beat the world.”
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Those fighting words from an ecstatic Michelle Payne after her historic Melbourne Cup victory aboard Prince of Penzance will no doubt become the defining feature of the 2015 race.
The first female jockey to win the coveted race sent the strongest of messages to her detractors, labelling horse racing a “chauvinistic sport” where many had stood in the way of the determined 30-year-old.
As Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull remarked on social media following a phone call with the newly-crowned winner, “Michelle smashed another glass ceiling today”.
Michelle’s father Paddy said like all jockeys, his daughter’s dream had been to win a Melbourne Cup.
“I thought it’s a certainty that a girl is going to win the Melbourne Cup, but I didn’t think it would be one of mine,” Mr Payne said.
While others may have granted themselves leave from the following day’s race commitments after such a momentous occasion, the Ballarat-born jockey was straight back in the saddle at a country race meeting.
A run on another of Darren Weir’s stayers, Azkar, awaited Payne at the Kyneton Cup.
However, the helicopter ride from Melbourne to Kyneton may have been a luxury not previously afforded to the jockey.
