Melbourne Cup win by Michelle Payne has not changed attitudes towards women in racing

There is a scene in the movie Ride Like a Girl during which our heroine Michelle Payne waits outside a ritzy Melbourne restaurant while the connections of Prince of Penzance debate her fate.

Should they let a female ride their Melbourne Cup runner or replace her with, well, you know, a "proper" jockey?

Viewed in glorious retrospect, together with the other incidences where Payne is treated as a second-class citizen, this dramatisation provides the context to one of the greatest moments in Melbourne Cup history.

As we know while watching the movie, in which Payne is forced to squirm impatiently as the owners ruminate over beef and red wine, she will go on to sool the 100 to 1 shot to victory and then use the spotlight to make an impassioned stand on behalf of all female jockeys.

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Article written by: Richard Hinds