Michelle Payne hasn't been seen in the saddle on raceday since late February, but will be back in action on her home track this afternoon.
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The 2015 Melbourne Cup-winning jockey has three riding engagements on the nine-event card at the Ballarat Turf Club, which gets underway from 1pm.
Payne will ride Mark The Horse, a galloper she also trains, as well as two runners for her father Paddy. Mark The Horse is still looking to win his maiden, while Ronay and Miner's Miss will run in separate BM58 races.
Payne last rode a horse by the name of Stevie at Kilmore on February 27. She also trains the son of Pride of Dubai, which is owned and named after her brother.
Prior to that, Payne hadn't ridden since partnering Miner's Miss in a race in Ballarat back in November 2019. The mare provided a memorable moment for father and daughter by running third at big odds in the 2018 group 1 VRC Oaks.
Payne's most successful combination as a jockey has been with her brother Patrick, riding a total of 91 career winners on his horses.
Patrick's star filly Rubisaki continued an unbeaten season with a brilliant display in the group 3 PJ Bell Stakes at Randwick on Saturday.
The 34-year-old Payne has scaled back her riding commitments in a big way in recent years as she looks to focus on a training career. In the Melbourne Cup-winning season of 2015-16, she had over 370 rides, but the following season she had 124. There was only 42 in 2017-18, 34 in 2018-19 and 18 this season.
Over the journey, trainers Darren Weir (73 wins), Michael Kent (57 wins) and Andrew Payne (25 wins) have been among her other biggest supporters.
The meeting at the BTC is the first in Miner's Rest since March 22. There is strict protocols in place across all venues in the state to stop the spread of COVID-19. Only essential staff are allowed to attend meetings.
The training complex at the BTC has also kept going throughout the coronavirus crisis.
Last week, Racing Victoria announced it would be cutting prizemoney and standing down staff in a bid to reduce expenditure during the pandemic.
RV also announced that maximum field sizes and race meetings had been altered as follows:
- Metropolitan - maximum field limit of 14 starters per race
- Country - maximum field limit of 12 starters per race
- Black type and features - maximum metropolitan and country field limits may be increased at the discretion of RV
- Maximum nine-race meetings