Superstar jockey Michelle Payne has retired but Melbourne Cup trailblazer won’t be heading out to pasture

One of Australia’s most iconic sporting stars, Michelle Payne, has officially retired from race riding but the trailblazing Melbourne Cup winner is already transitioning to her latest challenge.

Famous for riding 100-1 ‘longshot’ Prince Of Penzance to victory in the 2015 instalment of the ‘race that stops a nation’, Payne rode her last race finishing fifth on Pop Quiz at Pakenham in March this year, but officially handed in her jockeys licence yesterday.

‘’I’ve handed in my license so that’s it for me,” Payne said.

“It was a tough decision to come to and took a lot of time to decide on. But I’ve achieved my biggest dream of winning the Melbourne Cup and had my time in the sun.’

‘’I really enjoyed it and obviously loved the competitive side of riding and being out there and being connected with the horse,” she added.

The Payne family are racing royalty in Victoria and she has had no lack of work offers from her group of 10 siblings who were raised by their legendary single father, Paddy Payne Snr.

Payne is now set to turn her attention to a training career with her brothers Patrick and Andrew.

“I’m really looking forward to the training side of things, you still get as much of a kick out of it just watching it,’’ Ms Payne said.

‘’I probably get a bit more nervous, which is interesting because it gets taken out of your hands a bit. But at the end of the day, it was always going to come to an end and I’m content and looking forward to the next step.”

Payne has worked as part of Channel 7’s racing commentary team and in various ambassador roles and her triumphant moment was immortalised in the big screen movie Ride Like A Girl.

She was awarded an Order of Australia Medal in 2021 and was Queen of Moomba, alongside her brother, Stevie, in 2016 after Stevie was immortalised alongside his sister as the horses strapped on that famous ‘first Tuesday in November’ at Flemington.