PLEASURE & PAYNE
As she prepares for the release of a film based on her historic Melbourne Cup win, jockey Michelle Payne opens up about sharing not only the highs of her life on the big screen, but the tragedies, too. By Jessica Montague.
As she prepares for the release of a film based on her historic Melbourne Cup win, jockey Michelle Payne opens up about sharing not only the highs of her life on the big screen, but the tragedies, too.
AS THE YOUNGEST of 10 children growing up on a farm near Ballarat, a young Michelle Payne had more than her share of hand-me-down clothes. “I used to say to myself when I was seven years old that I couldn’t wait to get older so I could make money and buy my own clothes,” she says, smiling. “I had a lot of sisters, so as we got older the hand-me-downs got better, but it wasn’t until I was about 15 that I was able to buy my own stuff.”
Now the almost 34-year-old can not only afford her own wardrobe, but gets into trouble from her big sister Margaret (who is also her accountant) for her shopping habits. “I’m just sticking to the deal I made with myself as a young child,” she says, laughing.
On set on a crisp winter’s day, Payne is indulging the feminine and fashion-loving side of her personality. Ditching the jockey silks and farm gear to be rugged up in an Armani coat and navy Hugo Boss boots (which have her standing much taller than her 152 centimetres), Payne still can’t quite fathom how she arrived here. “It’s still just so surreal for me,” she says of her first shoot with Vogue. “I was telling the hairstylist how I wish all my friends were here to see everybody working on me and the outfits I’m wearing. It’s just incredible.”
Payne might not be able to reconcile her fame, but the rest of the country can. When she crossed the finish line on Prince of Penzance – a horse paying 100 to 1 – in the 2015 Melbourne Cup, she became the first female in the carnival’s 155-year history to take top prize. It’s been four years since that victory and this is Payne’s first shoot in a few years. Sartorial talk aside, there’s a calmness that wasn’t necessarily there in the aftermath of her Cup win. On the eve of sharing her story on the big screen – not just her historic victory, but the tragic parts as well – Payne is ready for her second stint in the spotlight.
Australians love a great sporting moment, particularly one etched in history. When Michelle Payne won the Melbourne Cup wearing the colours of the suffragettes and Paspaley pearl earrings, it ranked up there with Cathy Freeman taking gold at the Sydney Olympics. It was only a matter of time before film offers started to land and one of those came from actor Rachel Griffiths, who had dabbled in directing and was on the hunt for her first major feature film.
“I wanted to make a really powerful coming-of-age story about a girl and having a dream,” she tells Vogue. “So this [idea] was resonating for three years in my mind: ‘I’ve got to find that Australian heroine who we’re going to root for.’”
Griffiths knew after Payne’s post-race interview, when she called out chauvinism in racing and told critics “they can get stuffed if they think women aren’t strong enough”, that she’d found her protagonist.
One particular comment from Payne – “that we just beat the world” – made an impact. Griffiths felt the ‘we’ referred to all outsiders. “They were as unlikely as that horse,” she says. “A motley crew of owners, plus the [trainer] who had never won the Cup before, plus Michelle and her brother. She seemed to be speaking to all women generally, too.”
Barely a month after the race, Griffiths waited 45 minutes in line behind other fans at Randwick Racecourse to get a photo with Payne and her brother Stevie, who was Prince of Penzance’s strapper on Cup Day. Payne remembers the pitch clearly. “[Rachel] was so warm about it. She tracked me down a second time later on and said it again: ‘I really want you to know how much I want to make this film and share your story.’ I was pretty much sold that day.”
The resulting project, Ride Like A Girl, which stars Teresa Palmer in the lead and Sam Neill as Payne’s dad Paddy, will soon be released to national audiences after three years in the making.
While the ending of the film will come as no surprise, the number of setbacks Payne endured makes for an emotional story arc. At six months old, Payne’s mother Mary was killed in a car accident, leaving Paddy to raise 10 children by himself on the family farm. Then came a major fall in 2004 that left Payne with a fractured skull and bleeding on the brain – injuries so severe it took seven months for her to recover. (Two separate falls in 2012 also resulted in fractured vertebrae.)
In 2007, the eldest Payne sibling Brigid, also a jockey, was killed following a seizure doctors believe was linked to a fall from a horse.
“I think they’ve been very sensitive,” says Payne of seeing her family’s story on display. Given she was “a little bit overwhelmed”, she chose not to be involved in the making. “I trusted Rachel and [producer] Richard Keddie. I didn’t want to have to be putting in my two cents’ worth and upsetting their plan.”
Naturally, there were a few lump-in-the-throat moments when Payne saw the final cut. “I found it really confronting the scene when my sister Brigid passed away,” she says. “That brought back so many memories and I think it will for my family as well.”
Reliving the dark days of her recovery from her career-threatening accident was also tough, but Payne says: “I feel proud to share that story of fracturing my skull … how tough it was and then being able to get through that and live a great life. I want to share that with people who might have a similar situation and for them to think: ‘Oh, there’s hope.’ Because if I was watching a film [with this message] back then, it would’ve helped me.”
The scene where a 16-year-old Payne defies her dad’s wishes by moving away to pursue her riding career hit home, too. “That was hard, because we were really close, but I didn’t feel like it was fair,” Payne says of the estrangement with her dad, which lasted a year. “I understood why, but I didn’t want to allow him to do that.”
What the audience will take away from Ride Like A Girl is that it’s a father-daughter love story and a heart-wrenching one at that. “I think Sam [Neill] is incredible as Dad – he couldn’t have been better,” says Payne. “I always grew up thinking how amazing my dad was, how strong he was. If ever I was having a bad day, he would be like: ‘You know what, it’s not a bad day, that’s a bad day,” she continues, alluding to when her mother was killed. “So that gave me strength, his strength, and I feel so lucky to have had that in my life.”
Sam Neill may have nailed the resilience of Paddy Payne, but the breakout star of Ride Like A Girl is actually Stevie. Rather than casting an actor to play Payne’s older brother, who has Down syndrome, Griffiths offered him the role after he auditioned in her home.
“I had a scarf on a hatstand and he was talking to it like a horse,” she recalls. “He picked up a hairbrush and was brushing it like it was a horse’s mane. The tenderness of it was so beautiful, Richard [Keddie] and I just looked at each other and knew he was going to be great.
“He was wonderful on set because you could also say: ‘How was Paddy feeling here?’ or: ‘What was Michelle doing at this point?’” she adds. “He would talk to the actors and made it very magical for everybody. It also gave us an extra layer of responsibility – Stevie was a constant reminder that to be entrusted with a real person’s life story, someone who belongs to a family, is an enormous responsibility.”
Speaking of her brother’s star turn, Payne couldn’t be prouder. “He’s takes it to another level. He is really funny [in person] and that’s what I said to them – he’ll surprise you.
“It’s great for Down syndrome,” Payne adds. “I think it’s important for people to see how much more people with Down syndrome can get out of life when given responsibilities.”
Payne and her brother remain the best of friends and live just 500 metres away from each other: Stevie still with Paddy and Payne down the road on her own property, Nottingham Farm, where she is building a new house. While Payne hasn’t retired from horseracing, she has slowed down (thanks in large part to another injury in 2016, which resulted in major pancreatic surgery). There have been other public setbacks, too – including a one-month ban for taking an appetite suppressant prescribed by a doctor in 2016 and a falling out with trainer Darren Weir after it was decided Payne was no longer the right jockey for Prince of Penzance. Weir has since been banned for four years after illegal ‘jiggers’ (electronic shock devices to make horses run faster) were found on his property last January.
Payne is now looking for her next challenge as a trainer – at Nottingham Farm she houses 25 horses and trains 16 of them. “I’m waiting for when it feels right [to retire],” she says. “I know it’s coming, but I’ve got a few dreams in mind I hope will come before then.” Payne reveals top of the list is to train and ride a horse of her own at Royal Ascot and win. “Her name is Sweet Rockette; she’s probably my best horse. That would be the ultimate.”
Payne says she might also like to become a nurse one day (“I’ve spent so much time in hospitals so it would be nice to give something back”) and that she also can’t wait to be a mum. “I’m dying to have a family, and that’s probably the next step.” Since she’s in “a very new relationship”, she won’t be drawn on details. “It’s going really well but I think it’s a bit unfair to share at this point.” She does, however, reveal that if it “continues as strongly as it has been going” she will have a date on her arm at the film premiere. “He’s red-carpet ready,” she jokes.
Payne hopes the film will inspire hope. If her life has any lessons, it’s that things will be okay if you stay strong. “Also the fact that no dream is too big,” she adds. “For any child growing up, anything is possible. We were poor growing up and you had to work hard and make it happen for yourself. But I think if you really want to do [something], you have to believe in yourself.”
Her win was about more than a horse race and a cup. “I feel like there was some [higher] reason for me winning and I think it’s to do good with it. I felt that straight after the race – when I got off and was being interviewed I could feel there was more to this than my achievement of winning the Melbourne Cup.”
Something shifted inside Payne that day: “I must have thought subconsciously it was the right time to stand up for what I felt so strongly about and had to battle through, because I didn’t know what was coming. It felt really strong and I’ve felt it just as strongly ever since.”
Ride Like A Girl is cinemas from September 26.
“I must have thought subconsciously it was the right time to stand up for what I felt so strongly about and had to battle …”