44 The Australian Women’s Weekly | OCTOBER 2019
Champion
home,a 1970sranch-stylebrickhouse
surroundedbylush-greenhorse
paddocks,rightnexttotheBallarat
Racecourse.Thismorning,beforeThe
AustralianWomen’sWeekly’s arrival,
Michelleis upwiththehorsesat 4.30
onherneighbouringproperty.She
arrivesat herdad’splaceruddy-faced
in herdustyblackPorscheCayenne,
stillin hermud-spatteredtraining
gear,wearinganear-warming
headbandanda plaitdownherback.It was a true Hollywood moment –
something clearly not lost on the
millions watching, or the dozens of
filmmakers who approached Michelle
after the Cup win, intrigued by the
compelling tale of a woman who
weathered adversity to emerge
triumphant, fortified by the love
of her family.
This month, Michelle’s extraordinary
story comes to the big screen in Rachel
Griffiths’ directorial debut, Ride Like
a Girl, with Teresa Palmer as Michelle,
Sam Neill as New Zealand-born Paddy,
and Stevie as himself. Stevie, who has
Down syndrome, was dead keen to
play the part. “They asked me and I
wouldn’t say no,” says the 36-year-old,
“because that’s me – I don’t say no to
anything!”
For Michelle, Stevie’s brush with
movie stardom is the best bit – and
his involvement has helped ease some
of the wariness among the siblings.
“I think people will fall in love with
him,” says Michelle. “It’s important
for people to see how capable and
smart [those with Down syndrome
are] and how much responsibility
they can take on if they’re given it.”
Michelle and Stevie have seen Ride
Like a Girl, but Paddy and the rest of
the siblings are waiting for the premiere.
Although she describes the feel-good
film as “excellent” and the family as
excited, Michelle admits she probably
would have denied permission if she
could have. Instead, she took the
opportunity to have a say in the script.
At her request, the film doesn’t include
her mother’s car accident – “I didn’t think
anyone needed to relive that” – and
Brigid’s death is dealt with only briefly.
Still, Michelle was reduced to tears
four or five times. “It touches on some
moments that were really hard that
you’ve half-forgotten or put at the
back of your mind,” she says. “It
was tough to go over it again, but
it’s also nice to know that you’ve got
through that. Life’s not always easy
for anyone, but you’ve got to persist
and work through it. I think that’s
an important message.”
Michelle Payne is resilience
personified – a quality that was
ingrained here, in her childhood
She eats two bowls of her manager’s
broccoli soup as we chat at the dining
table, amid baby photos of Stevie and
Brigid, and a portrait of her mum,
Rosa Mary, with the cricket playing
on a giant TV in the corner.
It’s a drizzly winter day but Paddy
reckons it’s too expensive to use the
central heating, so he relies on a wood
stove in the chilly slate-floored kitchen.
These days the whole clan only
descends at Christmas; it’s just Paddy
and Stevie living in the five-bedroom
home, and it’s strewn with groceries,
dirty dishes and power tools, which is
why Michelle’s sister Bernadette is
here to do an emergency clean-up.
Teeming with seven girls and three
boys, it would have been a far more
chaotic scene three decades ago. BackAbove, right: Michelle
with dad Paddy and
brother Stevie. Right:
Teresa Palmer and Sam
Neill in Ride Like a Girl.