She had dreadful falls, two completely freakish ones where the horses just fell and flung her forward for no apparent reason-torpedoed into the turf, the news reports said. Many times over the last ten years, Michelle wasn’t able to pack her bags and come home. Big family, small house, lots of work, not enough beds. Michelle’s mum died in a car crash when Michelle was only 6 months old, so her 11-year old sister did the night feeds, while the older sisters (15 and 16), who were already out of school and apprenticed to Paddy, took over the mother duties. How Paddy maintained this outlook and kept the family together is a story in itself. She’s got the fierce determination of another famous Swiss sports star, Roger Federer (whom she quotes as saying “It’s nice to be important but it’s more important to be nice”, a motto she has taken to heart.īut she also has the look-on-the-bright-side perspective of her Irish father who always reminds her after a bad race “At least you got to pack your bags and come home.” Read this book, and find out what made her who she is: a Swiss-born mum and an Irish dad who had 8 kids in New Zealand before they moved the family to Australia and had 3 more. A kid at school asked the teacher why the Paynes could get away with being late, and she said “Well, the whole family’s done half a day’s work before your alarm’s gone off.” As kids, they worked hard with all the horses and on the family dairy farm near Ballarat. Her whole family is involved in horses and racing, and this book will have special meaning for anyone in or around this challenging business. She didn’t get there by accident, but by guts and determination. Even a scriptwriter wouldn’t dare add that! And Stevie drew Barrier One for the race. Win-win! The family is full of jockeys and trainers, but her dad said the Little Girl might beat the lot of them. Stevie has Downs Syndrome and was one of Prince of Penzance’s strappers. Many of us didn’t know who she was, except she was the only female rider in the Cup race.Īnd next we noticed her best mate, Stevie, the Payne family’s Little Boy to her Little Girl. I say “pretty, delightful” because that’s what people probably noticed. Whether you saw the 2015 Melbourne Cup or not, if you’re an Aussie, you can’t possibly have missed the media coverage of the pretty, delightful Michelle Payne who rode the winner in what felt like a movie.

Life As I Know It by Michelle Payne