Cup star tells of her battle
IF you are looking for a hot tip at the Darwin Cup in August, star jockey and emerging trainer Michelle Payne has the answer: her six-year-old gelding Mark The Horse.
Speaking at the NT News Club on Friday, the first female hoop to win the Melbourne Cup dropped the inside word on some of the key horses within her burgeoning stable. Payne also told of finding the strength to overcome serious injuries and the special relationship with her strapper brother Stevie, which was immortalised in the film Ride Like a Girl.
She said she was “absolutely infatuated” with the idea of winning the cup from the age of five, but could not have done it without perseverance, resilience and self-belief.
“It’s still so hard to believe to be honest,” Payne said of her Flemington win.
“I could literally take you through every step of that race, it’s so embedded in my mind.”