Michelle Payne: the Aussie jockey on ITV Racing's Royal Ascot team

Michelle Payne with Smokin' Princess after winning the Brandt 3YO Maiden Plate at Sportsbet-Ballarat Synthetic Racecourse on June 13, 2023 in Ballarat, Australia. (Photo by Pat Scala/Racing Photos via Getty Images)

(Image credit: Racing Photos via Getty Images)

Michelle Payne is an Australian jockey who became the first female to ever win the Melbourne Cup, and this year will be part of the ITV Racing presenting team at Royal Ascot for the first time.

Find out a little bit more about her…

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Gemma is an experienced journalist, who was a member of H&H staff from 2014 to September 2025. She is passionate about all equestrian sports, including racing and point-to-pointing. She has enjoyed riding out for top trainers Nicky Henderson and Charlie Appleby and took part in a charity Flat race at Epsom in August 2018. Gemma’s has reported from numerous five-star events around Britain and Europe, as well as European championships.

11 things you need to know about top jockey Michelle Payne

2. She is the youngest of 10 children.

3. Michelle Payne’s mother was killed in a crash when she was just six months old.

4. At the age of seven, she told school friends she would win the Melbourne Cup.

5. She won in her first race at Ballarat aboard Reigning, a horse trained by her father.

6. In March 2004 Michelle Payne fell heavily in a race at Sandown Racecourse in Melbourne, fracturing her skull and bruising her brain.

7. She won the Melbourne Cup in 2015 aboard Prince Of Penzance, making her the first woman to win the race in its 155-year history.

8. Prince Of Penzance went off at odds of 100/1 in the 2015 Melbourne Cup and when he won under Michelle, her brother Stevie Payne, who has Down’s Syndrome, led her into the winner’s enclosure as he works as a stable lad.

9. In 2019, the feature film Ride Like a Girl was released telling Michelle’s life story.

10. To-date she has ridden 769 winners, including five at Group level.

11. Michelle’s achievements in the saddle earned her the prestigious Don award for Australia’s most inspirational sporting performance of 2015 and in 2021 she was awarded an Order of Australia medal.

Don’t miss the full report from Royal Ascot 2023 in the 29 June issue of Horse & Hound magazine, plus we will be bringing you all of the top stories from the meeting as and when they happen on horseandhound.co.uk

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