It’s a dream come true ! Michelle Payne is the first female jockey to win the Melbourne Cup. Beating all odds, the 30-year-old enthusiastic jockey rode Prince of Penzance to victory on Tuesday in the biggest race of Australia. In its 155-year history, Michelle Payne is the first woman to win the cup and she is the only fourth female jockey to ride in the Cup.
In an interview, she said, “It’s such a chauvinistic sport, a lot of the owners wanted to kick me off. Everyone else can get stuffed [who] think women aren’t good enough.”
Payne said, “I would like to thank all of the owners, John Richards specifically, I think he is the main man who kept me on Prince Of Penzance, maybe a few of them who wanted to take me off.”
“I would like to say that, you know, it’s a very male-dominated sport and people think we are not strong enough and all of the rest of it … you know what? It’s not all about strength, there is so much more involved, getting the horse into a rhythm, getting the horse to try for you, it’s being patient and I’m so glad to win Melbourne Cup and hopefully, it will help female jockeys from now on to get more of a go. Because, I believe that we sort of don’t get enough of a go and hopefully this will help”, she added.
