Payne delight at twist of gate

MICHELLE Payne watched the Melbourne Cup barrier draw with her best mate — brother Stevie — and neither could believe the “eerie” twist of fate.

Five years earlier, Stevie famously drew barrier one for Payne’s Prince, and now Jamie Kah’s Prince had drawn the same gate.

On reflection, Michelle Payne thinks she could have become the first female jockey to win the Cup only if she had either barrier one or two for Prince Of Penzance in 2015.

She is sure the barrier matters less to Kah who is trying to walk in Payne’s footsteps when she rides popular UK raider Prince Of Arran on Tuesday.

“We were sitting here together and we all looked at each other and shook our heads — it was really eerie,” Michelle Payne said.

“Jamie getting the same barrier as I did was amazing and then there is the names of the horses as well, both ‘ Princes’.

“Stevie didn’t draw this barrier, but he absolutely loved watching it.”

Payne and Kah are great mates and have already forged a special bond, holidaying together in the US last year with a fellow female hoop, the now retired Nikita Beriman.

Payne has no doubt history can repeat and Kah can win the Melbourne Cup and inspire another generation of up- and- coming female riders.

“Jamie has now got so many options as to where she wants to place her horse in the run.

“You still need a lot of luck from barrier one, but you would prefer to be drawn there than the outside.

“I’d say her horse is pretty straightforward and probably could have drawn anywhere between one to 10 and been quite comfortable with the draw.”