Life As I Know It

In Life As I Know It, Michelle Payne tells her deeply moving story. It will lift your spirits, stir your heart and give you courage.

Michelle was six months old, the youngest of eleven children, when the family was hit with the tragic death of their mother, Mary. Their father, Paddy, a renowned horseman, raised his children alone. As a family, they all took on the daily demands of racehorses and a dairy farm as well as school and work. Family meant everything.

Michelle was put on a horse aged four. At five years old her dream was to win the Melbourne Cup. At thirty she rode into history as the first female jockey to win the Cup. Her strapper was her brother, Stevie.

When she declared that anyone who said women couldn't compete with men in the racing industry could 'get stuffed', the nation stood up and cheered.

It was a moment that inspired everyone who dreams of beating the odds.

Michelle Payne entered racing aged 15, winning her first race in Ballarat on Reigning, a horse trained and owned by her father. She won her first Group 1 race, the 2009 Toorak Handicap, aboard Allez Wonder, trained by Bart Cummings. She rode the same horse in the Caulfield Cup the following week, becoming the third female jockey to ride in this race, and went on to ride Allez Wonder in the Melbourne Cup later that Spring Carnival. She rode Yosei to three Group 1 victories over the next two years.

Michelle became the first female jockey to win the Melbourne Cup in 2015 on the local one-hundred-to-one horse, Prince of Penzance, trained by Darren Weir and strapped by her brother Stevie.

In January 2016 she was named The Australian newspaper's Australian of the Year. Film rights to her life story have been sold. She continues to be a working jockey and hopes to ride in the next Melbourne Cup.

John Harms is a Melbourne-based writer, historian, and broadcaster. His books include Confessions of a Thirteenth Man, Memoirs of a Mug Punter, Loose Men Everywhere, The Pearl, and nine editions of The Footy Almanac annual. He appears on ABC TV's Offsiders. He is the editor of the popular sports writing site www.footyalmanac.com.au.