MICHELLE PAYNE ON RESILIENCE

For every gold trophy, there’s been setbacks along the way for Melbourne Cup-winning jockey Michelle Payne. But whether she’s taking to the track or training here on her farm in Victoria’s Miners Rest, the fire in her belly is blazing, and she’s not ready

My last fall was in May last year. I had already achieved my dream of winning the Melbourne Cup and it was the worst injury I’ve had in terms of downtime. I had to completely rest for six weeks, so I lost all fitness. Coming back to training after you’ve achieved what you’ve had your sights set on your whole life, you have to ask: what is my goal now? With the effort that had to go into it, I was questioning whether I wanted to do it again. But the way I see it, I don’t have a lot longer left doing what I love – that competitive feeling, it’s hard to explain. I wasn’t ready to retire yet and I knew I’d regret it in later years. That thought pushed me to come back and do well again.

I think my resilience comes from my upbringing, having lost my mum when I was a baby and seeing my dad’s faith and attitude – it was never too hard for him. That was life and he had to get on with it – there was no other choice. He had 10 children and he was a single father. We had to work hard from a young age so, at the time, we felt we were a little hard done by, but the older I got the more I began to appreciate the work ethic he bestowed in us. My older sister Therese was 15 when my mum passed away and she basically took on that role. I remember watching her and thinking how she just got things done, there was no fuss – if it had to be done, it had to be done. When things get tough, I think back to those days and I’m sure that helps me.

As a female jockey, you get so many people putting you down. You hear male jockeys and trainers say you’re inferior. It’s frustrating because there’s been so many times when we’ve proven ourselves. We’re not given the opportunities the guys get, but we make the most of the ones we have. I try to turn those comments into a positive, a way of pushing me to be better – train harder, try harder – to really prove them wrong. I’m a huge believer in the power of positivity. The power of your mind is so strong, it can turn your life around. I’m also a big believer in perseverance. When things get tough, you don’t give up. That’s the difference between people who really succeed and people who don’t.

You have to have an open mind and take on as much constructive criticism and advice as you can, but at the same time you still have to believe in yourself and trust your gut instinct, because at the end of the day it really comes back to that. If you have a passion for something and you believe you’ve got what it takes to do it in a certain way, don’t let somebody tell you that’s wrong.