Payne ‘embarrassed’ at failed drug test
Australian jockey took appetite suppressant Melbourne Cup winner faces four-week ban
The first woman jockey to win one of the world’s most famous races yesterday admitted taking a banned substance after failing a drugs test.
Michelle Payne, the 2015 Melbourne Cup-winning rider, was said to be “disappointed and embarrassed” after a urine sample provided this month was found to contain the appetite suppressant Phentermine.
The 31-year-old was informed she had tested positive on Friday, three days after making her Royal Ascot debut on Kaspersky, who finished fifth in the Queen Anne Stakes, nine days after providing the sample in question at the Swan Hill Cup meeting in Victoria.
She will not be allowed to ride pending the findings of a Racing Victoria inquiry into the results, due to be conducted today.
Des O’keeffe, the Australia Jockeys’ Association chairman, said Payne had taken the drug on her doctor’s advice, but failed to check if it was on the banned list.
“She acknowledges that is an error of judgment,” he told BBC Sport, saying he expected her to be punished with a four-week suspension. “I’ve spoken to her at length and she’s disappointed and embarrassed by what’s happened.”
He said Payne took a weight suppressant after returning from a lifethreatening fall, which prevented her making her Ascot debut last year, and fell foul of the rules when her medication changed. “She had a very serious fall 13 months ago, where she split her pancreas and had to undergo major surgery. She struggled a little bit more with her weight when she came back,” said O’keeffe.
“The medical advice she had was to try something that didn’t breach the rule in any way. It wasn’t really working for her and her GP suggested Phentermine, but it’s on the banned substance list.
“The onus is on Michelle to make her GP aware of what she can and can’t take. She knows she should have been a bit more careful.”
After making Melbourne Cup history with victory on Prince Of Penzance, Payne famously exclaimed: “I want to say to everyone else, get stuffed, because women can do anything and we can beat the world.”
The Australian jockey’s life story is being made into a film, produced and directed by actress Rachel Griffiths, who starred in Muriel’s Wedding.
On the day she tested positive at Swan Hill, Payne rode and trained two horses, finishing third over 1,600 metres on Sovereign Wealth and 10th over the same distance aboard Our Zariah.
After obtaining her trainer’s licence, Payne revealed in December that she had ambitions to become the first rider-trainer to win the Melbourne Cup.
On the eve of Royal Ascot, she gave an interview to The Daily Telegraph in which she said of the Melbourne Cup outburst that made her a feminist icon: “It’s nothing I regret. I just hope that, as women, we can continue to be recognised as a force rather than a hindrance.
“Watching female jockeys ride, the good ones are so beautifully balanced, I can’t understand how trainers don’t see that.
“I felt that the moment of winning our greatest race was a time to speak up.”