Michelle Payne

Michelle Payne is a retired Australian jockey, born on 29 September 1985, who became the first woman to win the Melbourne Cup when she rode Prince of Penzance to victory on 3 November 2015. The youngest of ten children, she grew up on a farm at Miners Rest near Ballarat in Victoria and entered racing at fifteen. She won her first Group One race, the Toorak Handicap, in 2009 and the Thousand Guineas in 2010. After her Melbourne Cup win she spoke publicly about the capability of women in racing, received the Don Award in 2016 and the Longines Ladies Award in 2017, and was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in 2021. Her story became the 2019 film Ride Like a Girl, and she later became a trainer.