Michelle Payne has endured an emotional fortnight.
The trailblazing jockey stood proudly beside her new statue at Flemington on Thursday, leaving behind a week she might care to forget.
Payne parted ways with her older brother Patrick on Friday, ending a fruitful training partnership that lasted 18 months. It followed a tragedy linked to their stable just four days earlier.
The Paynes lost three young horses in a road accident that also claimed the life of 59-year-old truck driver Peter Butler. Employed by South West Horse Transport, he was a regular at their stables.
“The accident was just so tragic, nobody could anticipate that something like that could happen,” Payne said.
“Our heart just goes out to Peter and his family and South West [Horse Transport].”
As is typical, the elegant Payne arrived at Flemington on Thursday with an endearing smile. She had overcome another testing period of adversity.
The statue is testament not only to her history-making abilities as a jockey, but also her grit.
The bronze likeness will be visible to racegoers as they first enter the course from Epsom Road, standing next to the new grandstand beside the bookmakers’ ring.
It is now one of five statues at Flemington, alongside Roy Higgins, Bart Cummings, Phar Lap and Makybe Diva.
“A day like today lifts the spirits,” Payne said.
Payne has experienced exhilarating highs and devastating lows throughout her career, and, indeed, her life.
Winning the 2015 Melbourne Cup was her Everest, as she became the first woman to ride the winner of our famous race.
It was a moment she first dreamt of as a girl at the age of five, a goal that took shape during her formative years.
But hardship was never far away.
She lost her mother Mary in a road accident when she was six months old. She has lost two of her 10 siblings, and in September last year, her nephew and stable apprentice Tom Prebble fell from a horse and suffered a spinal injury that has confined him to a wheelchair.
As a jockey, she suffered several serious falls that almost prematurely ended her career.
But throughout it all, Payne willed herself to stay positive.
“You have to roll with the punches. Things go wrong,” she said.
“The same with Patrick and I dissolving the partnership, you know, we are still brother and sister, we have a great relationship, and it’s not the end of the world.
“It’s just a different chapter, and we’re both looking forward to that.”
Payne said having a statue that acknowledged her 2015 Melbourne Cup victory on 100-1 shot Prince Of Penzance was “an amazing honour and just an unbelievable privilege”.
She said artist Judith Leman had created a likeness that she described as proud and resilient.
“I had to work really hard for it [winning the Cup], and that’s what the statue really shows today,” she said.
Payne’s victory broke a glass ceiling. She would famously declare in her post-race speech that racing was a “chauvinistic sport”.
“Honestly, I didn’t know what was coming out of my mouth. It was just raw emotion,” she said on Thursday.
“But we had just won the Melbourne Cup, so it felt like the right time to stand up and say something about years of fighting and working hard.
“I stand by those words strongly, and I’m so proud that our industry is changing and is so much more inclusive.”
Payne said she hoped the statue would provide inspiration for children to follow their dreams.
“I’m really proud that we got to see another female jockey win the race last year in Jamie Kah [Melham] because it’s hugely important that we continue to get the opportunities. Not only get them but make the most of them,” Payne said.
“I was lucky enough to grow up in a racing family, but my older sisters were in an era when it was really hard to dream about the Melbourne Cup.
“So I feel so privileged that I was the youngest, and I just looked up and thought, ‘wow, that’s one day what I want to achieve’.
“So how lucky I came at the right time, and all the young girls coming through and women that are hoping to achieve the same thing, they can really look at it [the statue] and see that it is all achievable.”
The statue was sculpted by Leman and funded by philanthropist Lady Marigold Southey AC. The concept was championed by retired race caller Bryan Martin and launched by Victoria Racing Club chairman Neil Wilson.
Payne said she would now dream of winning the Cup as a trainer.
“What else do you do it for?” she said.
“I’ll only have a small team, but a really nice team of horses that I have at my farm in Ballarat, which is nice and close to Dad and [brother] Stevie, which is at a time when I think it’s really important [to be close to them]).
“And, who knows, I have a few exciting prospects.”
Racing returns to Flemington on Saturday for the Australia Cup meeting. The winner of the 2600m Roy Higgins event will gain automatic entry into this year’s Melbourne Cup.
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Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: www.smh.com.au
